With gag order lifted, reservist charged in PM’s office leak case named as Ari Rosenfeld
Court lifts order at Rosenfeld’s request, as he says he hopes he can now ‘fight for his good name’ publicly; details on his military past remain barred from publication

Aaron “Ari” Rosenfeld is the second suspect charged in the Prime Minister’s Office security documents theft and leak scandal, the Tel Aviv District Court revealed on Monday, after lifting the gag order on his identity at his request.
The IDF reservist lives in Bnei Brak and is married, with a toddler.
The State Prosecution waived its prerogative to appeal the ruling, despite previously opposing the move over concerns that it would inevitably lead to the revealing of other secret information to which the intelligence soldier had access during his service.
Details such as Rosenfeld’s rank, the material he dealt with, his military past, and his area of expertise remain prohibited from publication.
His family told Ynet that Rosenfeld was born to parents who made aliyah from the US, that he volunteers for organizations serving children with cancer and disabilities, and that he has a degree in psychology and criminology.
Rosenfeld was charged last month with transferring classified information, an offense that is punishable by seven years in prison, as well as theft by an authorized person and obstruction of justice, together with Eli Feldstein, an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The allegations surround the alleged leak of a highly classified document to the German tabloid, Bild, in September, which ostensibly detailed Hamas’s priorities and tactics in hostage negotiations (though it later became apparent that the document was written by lower-level officials in the terror group and did not necessarily reflect the leadership’s position).
The document was allegedly unlawfully removed from the IDF’s military intelligence database by Rosenfeld, who gave it to Feldstein, who then saw to it that it was transferred to Bild.
Rosenfeld is still in custody, while Feldstein has been released to house arrest.
Feldstein, a spokesman who worked closely with Netanyahu over the past year and who is the central suspect in the affair, was charged with transferring classified information with the intent to harm the state, a charge that can carry a sentence of life in prison, as well as illicit possession of classified information and obstruction of justice.
Information released by the court last month indicated that the apparent motivation behind Feldstein’s leak was to alleviate public pressure and criticism against Netanyahu following the murder of six high-profile hostages by Hamas in late August.
The murder of the six hostages by Hamas spawned an outpouring of grief in the country, as well as intense protests against Netanyahu, in which he was accused of blocking a hostage release deal.
The court indicated that Feldstein leaked the document to Bild in order to influence the public discourse over the fate of the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza; have Hamas leader Sinwar blamed for the impasse in hostage release negotiations; and imply that protests demanding the release of the hostages were playing into Hamas’s hands.
Lawyers for Rosenfeld said this week that the indictment filed against him indicates that he sought to convey the document to Netanyahu, and believed he was doing so, in order to help enable the release of hostages.
During a hearing on Sunday, where Rosenfeld requested the gag order on his identity be lifted, he told the Tel Aviv District that he made a mistake, but said, “I cannot fight for my good name when I am in the dark. The public needs to know who I am, what I did, and what my intentions were.”
Noting his wife and child at home, he lamented, “I don’t understand how it came out that I am still in jail.”
Speaking to Ynet after his identity was published, his father, Shmuel Rosenfeld, said that the family hoped “that justice will be reached now. He’ll be able to clear his name and prove his innocence.”
Saying that he hoped Ari would be home in time for Hanukkah, which begins on Wednesday night, Shmuel added that, “usually, incarceration is for someone who has been charged, but the next stage of their trial hasn’t begun, but he (Ari) is in prison for something he might do because of the information he has in his brain. You keep someone in prison because of what they might do in the future? Why do you continue to hold him? What information does he have? Let him go home.”