Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was fully aware and even involved in the leaking of a top-secret document to the German newspaper Bild, according to a newly released protocol of a closed-door court hearing in the classified documents case.
The hearing was held on December 5 with High Court Justice Alex Stein presiding. At issue was the state’s appeal against a decision by a regional court judge to free the two main suspects in the case to house arrest.
Ari Rosenfeld, a reserve NCO, allegedly leaked the document in April 2024 to Eli Feldstein, a member of the prime minister’s media team, who allegedly leaked the document to Bild after its publication in Israel was rejected by IDF censorship.
On September 1, a day after the bodies of six recently executed hostages were retrieved from the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu held a press conference in which he argued, among other things, that the protests that were gaining momentum at the time were playing into Hamas’s hands.
According to Feldstein’s lawyer, Oded Svorai, following the press conference, Feldstein whispered into the prime minister’s ear that he had a top-secret document that “said the same thing but is more relevant” and was “working to publish it,” the court protocol showed.
Svorai mentioned Netanyahu’s involvement in arguing that Feldstein did not intend to harm national security since he believed he was acting with the prime minister’s backing, as the protocol showed. Svorai also pointed out the involvement of Netanyahu’s long-time media aide, Yonatan Urich.
According to Svorai, Urich told Feldstein that he “needed the prime minister” to get the information out. Svorai also pointed out that when Bild published the document’s content on September 6, Urich texted Feldstein saying, “The boss is happy.”
Potential future indictments
Urich maintained silence during investigations of the issue and was not indicted. Netanyahu was not investigated, but the new information raises the possibility that the prime minister himself committed a crime.
The protocol also reveals new facts about the NCO, Ari Rosenfeld. The state’s representative in the hearing, Noa Ezra Rachmani, said Rosenfeld was “euphoric” when the information was published and quickly supplied Feldstein with a physical copy of the material.
In addition, Rosenfeld’s lawyer, Uri Korb, said that at the start of the war, Rosenfeld had considered leaking information directly to Ynet military reporter Yossi Yehoshua but eventually decided against it.
Korb also alluded to another document put together by six IDF Intelligence soldiers, three of them officers, that they attempted to bring to the prime minister via the Rosenfeld-Feldstein channel.
The document was an analysis of reports between 2018 and 2024 regarding the potential involvement of a “foreign body” in the October 7 massacre. According to Korb, senior intelligence officers refused to pass it on because it “made them look bad,” which is why the six soldiers turned to Rosenfeld.
Stein eventually ruled on December 9 that Feldstein could be released to house arrest but that Rosenfeld must remain in custody.