'Midnight meeting': AG to indict Netanyahu's chief of staff in Bild leak affair
Tzachi Braverman suspected of telling Netanyahu aide Eli Feldstein he could "shut down" a covert probe into the leak of classified intelligence to Germany's Bild in a late-night meeting at the Kirya
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman informed Tzachi Braverman, chief of staff to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Tuesday that they are considering indicting him on criminal charges, pending a hearing, in the affair surrounding the leak of a classified document to the German newspaper Bild.
According to the statement from the prosecution, Braverman is suspected of offenses of fraud and breach of trust, as well as obstruction of justice. It is suspected that in October 2024, he learned in the course of his duties that a covert investigation was underway regarding the leak of highly classified intelligence information, which had been obtained through a sensitive intelligence means and transferred for publication in the German newspaper.
Shortly after learning of the probe, Braverman allegedly summoned Eli Feldstein, then a media adviser to Netanyahu, to an urgent late-night meeting in a parking lot at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv. During the meeting, he is alleged to have read out names from a sheet, including that of a reservist non-commissioned officer, Ari Rosenfeld, and asked whether Feldstein knew the people involved. "Is this related to you? Is this related to us? Because if so, I can shut it down," he allegedly said.
Feldstein reportedly answered in the negative, and the two parted ways. The investigation later became overt, with the arrests of Feldstein and Rosenfeld and the filing of serious indictments against them. Feldstein was charged with passing and holding classified information and with obstruction of justice.
The affair centers on the September 2024 leak of a classified military intelligence document outlining Hamas's position on hostage negotiations, which Bild published in a way widely seen as bolstering Netanyahu's argument that only increased military pressure would free the hostages. Braverman has been designated as Israel's next ambassador to the United Kingdom, but the investigation has prevented him from assuming the post.
Braverman's attorneys, Jacques Chen and Professor Yaniv Vaki, rejected the decision. "This is a mistaken decision that continues the enormous injustice already caused to Mr. Braverman," they said. "The basis for the decision is the testimony of Mr. Feldstein. This is a false witness driven by ulterior motives," adding that it was "very strange" that the prosecution was relying on a witness against whom it had itself filed an indictment while rejecting his "far-fetched versions and false claims."