DID NETANYAHU LEAK DOCUMENTS TO UNDERMINE CEASEFIRE NEGOTIATIONS?
November 5, 2024Israeli internal intelligence arrested four Israelis, one of whom works in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, on charges of leaking and falsifying classified documents concerning the ongoing war on Gaza, an Israeli court revealed over the weekend.
The fabricated documents allegedly leaked by one of Netanyahu’s aides were falsely attributed to the late Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar. The revelations of the recent fabrications repudiate Israeli propaganda claims of Hamas’s alleged intransigence in ceasefire negotiations throughout the war, especially during the last round of negotiations over the summer. During those negotiations, Netanyahu had insisted that Israel must maintain a permanent military presence along the Philadelphi corridor, a strip of land bordering Gaza and Egypt, because he claimed that Hamas was using it to smuggle weapons and supplies. At around the same time, the leaked documents falsely claimed that the Philadelphi corridor was to be used by Hamas to smuggle Israeli captives out of Gaza alongside Sinwar.
According to Israeli media reports, the main suspect in the leak affair, Eli Feldstein, works as a spokesperson at Netanyahu’s office. The Israeli Prime Minister’s office initially denied that any of its members had been arrested in the case, and later clarified that Feldstein is not an official employee but a private contractor who has been working with Netanyahu for the past year and a half. The clarification came after Israeli media outlets pointed out images and footage of Feldstein accompanying Netanyahu in government meetings and in field visits to sensitive military sites.
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English Script:
BBC reporter: So, these were documents that were given to two European newspapers. One, the Jewish Chronicle in London and Bild in Germany, and these came out around September. Now, they were seen as being very helpful to the narrative, the political position of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Now, to explain the context in which this all happened. On the 1st of September, it was announced that six of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza had been killed, had been murdered, and there was outrage and outcries of despair in this country about not just the deaths, but the failure of the government to get a hostage deal. Now, shortly after that, the Prime Minister started to say that there were fears, there was intelligence that the hostages could be smuggled out of Gaza, the remaining hostages smuggled out and into Egypt. Now, on the 5th of September, a report was published in the Jewish Chronicle Newspaper by writer called Ellen Perry, which said secret intelligence documents said that this was part of the plan. On the next day, on the eighth or two days later in Bild, a similar report came. That was on the sixth, I should say, and this started to build a narrative arxound the idea that it wasn’t going to be possible to do a hostage deal and it’s seen at the time that those were very useful to the Prime Minister, he amplified those reports. And what emerged is that shortly after that, an investigation was begun into how these documents had got out. That then led to the arrest of a man called Eli Feldstein, this was only announced yesterday. And that man, Eli Feldstein, was a spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s office. There were three other people who’ve been arrested as well. We haven’t had their names released, but what it’s emerged as happened or it’s being alleged has happened, is that somebody within the Prime Minister’s office was involved in allegedly leaking secret documents, some of which were indeed fabricated to international newspapers in order to build a case that was useful to the Prime minister. The families have been outraged. They said that, if true, this shows that they’ve been used as political pawns. They’ve been criticized in order to scupper a deal and to put forward the agenda of Mr. Netanyahu. Now, it’s been alleged by many people. I was just speaking just a moment ago to a leading commentator here who says it’s widely considered that Mr. Netanyahu doesn’t want to do a deal because as soon as peace happens, he might be forced from office, which is something he’s clearly keen to avoid.
