Senior Israeli Army Officer among Suspects in ‘Leaks Scandal’

 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.
 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.
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Senior Israeli Army Officer among Suspects in ‘Leaks Scandal’

 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.
 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.

The arrest of a new senior army officer involved in a suspected leak of classified Gaza documents has sparked a wave of political controversy and public outcry in Israeli politics.
In the past few days, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some individuals close to him tried to downplay the so-called “leaks scandal” and portrayed it as “just an ordinary incitement against the PM.”
But on Monday, an Israeli army officer was arrested by police investigators as part of the probe into leaked classified documents from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Hebrew media reports said the officer was relaxing with his wife and children in a hotel in the southern city of Eilat, when a force of masked policemen raided the place, arrested him, and took him to an investigation room in the Tel Aviv area without providing further information.
Observers suggest this officer is one of the security personnel who leaked and falsified documents from the military to compromise efforts to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
The arrest is the fifth so far in the high-profile investigation. The five suspects include a civilian spokesman from Netanyahu's circle and four members of the security establishment.
Hebrew media outlets on Monday uncovered new information about the central suspect in the case, Eli Feldstein, the only person whose name was allowed to be published. Feldstein has previously worked for National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. He then worked as a spokesman for Netanyahu from soon after the Hamas attack in southern Israel in October 2023.
According to people close to the investigation, one of the tasks assigned to Feldstein in the PM’s office was to “share with various media outlets security information that serves Netanyahu.”
Feldstein is suspected of receiving secret documents from army officers and then sharing them with a false interpretation to both the German Bild newspaper and the UK’s Jewish Chronicle, which are both close to Netanyahu and his wife.
The scandal started when details from a secret document were published by the German Bild newspaper on Sept. 6.
The report cited a document captured in Gaza indicating that Hamas’s main concern in ceasefire negotiations with Israel was to rehabilitate its military capabilities, and not to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s civilian population. Bild said it had obtained the spring 2024 document exclusively, without offering further details. It said the document was found on a computer in Gaza that belonged to now-slain Hamas leader Sinwar.
Around the same time, Jewish Chronicle published a report saying that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar planned to smuggle hostages through the Philadelphi Corridor to Egypt.
Netanyahu has used those reports to justify his control over the Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza's border with Egypt and to thwart the hostages deal.
In the past days, the scandal has provoked sharp criticism from opposition leaders and the families of hostages.
The independent media said it highlighted “the corruption that knows no bounds” in the Netanyahu government.
Yossi Verter wrote in the Haaretz newspaper that, “Recent scandals among those in Netanyahu's inner circle reveal the nature of his entourage – a crime organization that places him above the country and national security concerns.”
Speaking about the main suspect in the case, Feldstein, Verter wrote, “The new star, burning with motivation to prove himself, quickly adapted to the office's corrupt semi-criminal atmosphere, its moral and ethical decay and its culture of lies, manipulation, and disinformation.”
At the Maariv newspaper, Shimon Hefetz, a colonel in the army reserve and military secretary to three Israeli presidents, spoke on Monday at the 29th anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, saying: “(The assassination) will forever be a shocking day for Israeli democracy, as it is happening in the Prime Minister's office today.”

 

 



Russia Expels Two UK Diplomats as it Negotiates to Restore US Ties

A flag flies at the British embassy in Moscow, Russia September 13, 2024. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A flag flies at the British embassy in Moscow, Russia September 13, 2024. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Russia Expels Two UK Diplomats as it Negotiates to Restore US Ties

A flag flies at the British embassy in Moscow, Russia September 13, 2024. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A flag flies at the British embassy in Moscow, Russia September 13, 2024. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Russia accused two British diplomats on Monday of spying and gave them two weeks to leave the country, reinforcing the downward trajectory of Moscow's diplomatic relations with Europe even as it negotiates to restore ties with the United States.
Britain's Foreign Office rejected the allegations against its diplomats as "baseless".
Moscow has been angered by Britain's continued military support for Ukraine and by Prime Minister Keir Starmer's recent statements about putting British boots on the ground and planes in the air in Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping force, Reuters said.
The expulsions also come days after three Bulgarians were found guilty in a London court of being part of a Russian spy unit run by Wirecard fugitive Jan Marsalek to carry out surveillance on a US military base and other individuals targeted by Moscow.
The two Britons appear to be the first Western diplomats to be expelled from Russia since Moscow and Washington opened talks on restoring staff at their respective embassies that have been depleted by tit-for-tat expulsions, part of Donald Trump's rapprochement with the Kremlin that has alarmed European allies.
Similar expulsions have sharply curtailed the functioning of Russian embassies across the West and of Western missions in Russia since President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022.
Russia's Federal Security Service said the two British diplomats had provided false information when getting permission to enter the country, and it had "identified signs of intelligence and subversive work" they had carried out, harming Russian security.
The Kremlin said Russia's intelligence services were doing everything necessary to safeguard national security.
Responding to Moscow's decision, Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement: "This is not the first time that Russia has made malicious and baseless accusations against our staff."
RELATIONS IN DEEP FREEZE
Russia's Foreign Ministry said it had summoned a British embassy representative over the expulsions and had complained that the diplomats were "undeclared" employees of Britain's intelligence services, something Moscow would not tolerate.
The ministry said it would "respond in kind" if London now decided to "escalate" the situation.
Russian police in February opened a criminal investigation into an alleged assault on a freelance journalist by a person believed to be an employee of the British embassy, an allegation London dismissed as "an interference operation" designed to intimidate legitimate diplomats.
That announcement came a day after Britain announced it was expelling a Russian diplomat in retaliation for Moscow throwing out a British diplomat last November.
Relations between Britain and Russia have plunged to post-Cold War lows since the start of the Ukraine war. Britain has joined successive waves of sanctions against Russia and provided arms to Ukraine.