Netanyahu aide incarcerated with terrorists and placed on suicide watch – what’s behind the leaked documents scandal?

The prosecution of Eli Feldstein, a spokesman working for the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), on the suspicion of leaking sensitive material to a foreign newspaper, has been the eye of a media storm for weeks now.

With the report on Monday that Feldstein had been placed on suicide watch after a suspicious object had been found in his cell, coverage of the case reached a sad peak.

In this explainer, we'll seek to clarify one of Israel's notoriously complex court cases.

The story fittingly began with a news story, published in the German Bild newspaper in September. The report was based on a note, initially said to have been authored by former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, that listed recommendations regarding the terror group's negotiating strategy.

The note, purportedly found in a document on a computer from Hamas intelligence, includes instructions on how to maintain psychological pressure on Israeli society, and in particular on former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The IDF later clarified that the note wasn’t authored by Sinwar - but then the story took a turn, as the military announced it would investigate the unauthorized leak of the “top secret” document as part of an influence campaign directed at the Israeli public. 

The IDF, and the domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, which later took over the case, claim the document was leaked by an intelligence officer who turned to someone in the PMO – this later turned out to be Feldstein – in order to circumvent the proscribed military process and send the document to the prime minister directly.

According to information later cleared for publication by an Israeli court, Feldstein then met face-to-face with the intelligence soldier when doubts about the news report began to emerge.

Feldstein allegedly received a hardcopy of the original document and two more “top secret” documents detailing the “unusual” actions of regional actors against Israel during the war.

In late October, Feldstein, the intelligence soldier, two officers and a non-commissioned officer were arrested and initially held without receiving access to their attorneys.

Questions then arose as to the degree of connection between Feldstein and the prime minister. The PMO has denied any direct connection between Netanyahu and Feldstein, despite many pictures showing Feldstein as part of Netanyahu’s entourage while visiting military and government offices.

According to Kan News, Feldstein wasn’t technically an employee of the PMO but was working for its director-general, after failing the security clearance required to work at the PMO.

Last Sunday, the State Attorney’s Office informed the court that it intends to indict Feldstein and another unnamed individual of interest on suspicion of transferring classified information and collecting classified material with the intent to harm the state, and conspiring to commit a crime, among other charges.

The statement followed the decision by high court justice Yosef Elron, who is seen as right-leaning, to grant the extension of the two suspects’ arrest, overturning earlier decisions by lower courts to release them to house arrest.

In his decision, Elron wrote of “very unusual circumstances” and said he was convinced to extend the detention by the state attorney’s appeal, for the sake of national security.

This, and the statement that Feldstein was put on suicide watch after a rubber strip was found in his cell that could have been used to hang himself, led to a uproar, especially on the right side of the political divide.

Summing up the sentiment of many politicians and right-wing commentators, Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli wrote: “The treatment of Eli Feldstein as someone who sought to harm state security and to deny him basic civil rights is a disgrace. The injustice done here, when all of a sudden the handing over of confidential information is investigated with the full rigor of the law by the state attorney himself, screams to the heavens.”

Attorney Ephraim Damari, who represents one of the suspects, argued that his client only wanted to help return the hostages: “The suspects did not harm the security of the state, and at most they can be accused of disciplinary infractions.”

Amit Segal, possibly Israel’s most influential right-wing journalist, wrote that family members of Feldstein said he was being held under terrorist-like conditions, in a wing with 15 Arab terror suspects.

Segal also sharply criticized the seeming over-eagerness of State Attorney Isman to personally prosecute the case, while not involving himself in cases like the prosecution of the protesters who shot flares at Netanyahu’s private home.

Moriah Asraf, a political correspondent for Channel 13 News, also criticized the circumstances of Feldstein’s detention as “illogical.”

“He is not a terrorist and did not kill anyone. I have said and will say as many times as necessary that in this war there are many who leak and many who circumvent the censorship, even from within the security establishment itself. The excessive motivation of the prosecutor's office is subject to a big question mark and I can only hope that there are no political motives here,” she added.

“Anyone who holds democracy dear to their heart should be very disturbed by this.”

For now, the motivation for the leaks, both by Feldstein and the other main suspect, as well as the degree of connection between Feldstein and Netanyahu remain as open questions.

A report by Kan News alleged that the prime minister had seen the document before it was shared with Bild, implying the operation was done on his behalf. Allies of the prime minister have repeatedly alleged that the overarching goal of the prosecution is to tie the leak to Netanyahu directly in order bring him down.

The PMO has also characterized the arrest of Feldstein as “politically motivated,” alleging the goal was to extract "false statements against the prime minister" from Feldstein.

Summing up the prosecution’s position, lower court judge Menahem Mizrahi said: “The information was illegally removed from the IDF and transferred to an unauthorized party, which led to serious security damage.”

“In the investigation conducted in cooperation with the IDF, the Shin Bet and the police, a serious axis of leaks was exposed and the expansion of the damage to the state’s security was prevented.”