Report: Netanyahu’s campaign against Winter rooted in anger over advice to Eli Feldstein
Israeli TV says People of Israel leader, who was Feldstein's army commander, advised his father against hiring PM's personal lawyer: 'You need to think about your son, not Netanyahu'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aggressive campaign against People of Israel party leader Ofer Winter is rooted in hard feelings over the latter’s advice to embattled former Netanyahu aide Eli Feldstein, Israeli television reported Thursday.
According to Channel 12 news, Winter advised Feldstein’s father, whose son has been charged with transferring classified information in the Bild affair, not to hire Netanyahu’s lawyer, Amit Haddad, for his son.
Winter was once Feldstein’s commander in the IDF.
“Anyone but Amit Haddad,” Winter told the elder Feldstein in October 2024, four days after Feldstein was arrested, according to the report. “Eli needs someone who will take care of him and go on the straight and narrow, and not someone who will take care of Netanyahu. You need to think about your son, and not Netanyahu.”
Under Winter’s recommendation, Feldstein ultimately took on Oded Savorai as his lawyer. Savorai has sought to shift the blame to Netanyahu and urged Feldstein not to protect the prime minister or his advisers during police interrogations.
There has been a growing public campaign by Likud and its allies to pressure Winter to withdraw from next week’s election, warning that his party could take votes from right-wing parties and waste them if it fails to cross the electoral threshold. Winter has rebuffed the pressure to withdraw, vowing this week that he “will not surrender.”
Feldstein is charged with leaking a classified document to the German tabloid, Bild, in September 2024, which ostensibly detailed Hamas’s priorities and tactics in hostage negotiations.
Feldstein is accused of leaking the document to influence public opinion on negotiations for the release of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in a more favorable direction for Netanyahu.
Jonatan Urich, a senior Netanyahu aide who is represented by Hadad, was also indicted for his alleged role in the leak. Urich has since been cleared to return to work in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Urich and Feldstein have also been investigated in the Qatargate affair over suspicions that they took money to spread pro-Qatari messaging to reporters, to boost the Gulf state’s image as a mediator in hostage talks between Israel and Hamas, while in the prime minister’s employ.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.