Netanyahu aide leaked classified document to influence public opinion on hostage negotiations, court says

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is alleged to have leaked classified information to foreign press in the hopes of influencing public opinion on hostage negotiations, according to a court release published Sunday.

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is alleged to have leaked classified information to foreign press in the hopes of influencing public opinion on hostage negotiations, according to a court release published Sunday. Eliezer Feldstein was arrested earlier this month for allegedly leaking “classified and sensitive intelligence information,” according to court documents. Sunday’s court release outlines more of the details surrounding this alleged leak. According to the magistrate’s court of Rishon Lezion, the leak began when a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in the Israeli military reserves took a “highly sensitive and classified document” from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In April this year, the NCO sent a copy of the document to Feldstein, who distributed it to Israeli media outlets in September “with the aim of influencing public opinion on the ongoing negotiations concerning the hostages,” the court release said. This came shortly after the Israeli military announced on September 1 that six Israeli hostages were killed in Gaza. Four of them were due to be released in the first wave of a potential deal. Israeli media outlets were prevented from publishing articles related to the leaked document by the country’s censorship authorities, the court release said, so Feldstein “decided to bypass censorship and publish the document in foreign media.”