Police Detain Netanyahu Chief of Staff in Classified Leak Investigation
Israeli police on Sunday detained Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, for questioning in a probe into the leak of a classified military document to Germany’s Bild, a case that investigators suspect may have been used to shape public opinion during Gaza ceasefire and hostage talks.
Police said the detention was tied to suspected obstruction of an ongoing investigation being handled by Lahav 433, Israel’s major-crimes and anti-corruption unit. “This morning, a senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office has been detained by Lahav 433 officers on suspicion of obstructing investigative procedures,” police said in a statement. Hebrew media reported that investigators searched Braverman’s home and seized his phone.
The questioning followed public allegations by Eli Feldstein, a former Netanyahu spokesman charged in the leak case, who said Braverman told him in 2024 that he could “shut it down,” referring to a covert inquiry into the document’s release. Braverman and the Prime Minister’s Office have accused Feldstein of lying.
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The leak case surfaced publicly in late 2024, when courts lifted gag restrictions and identified Feldstein as a suspect in the theft and transfer of the document to Bild. The publication presented it as evidence that Hamas was not rushing toward a deal to free hostages seized during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid urged the government to freeze Braverman’s planned appointment as Israel’s ambassador to the UK, writing that “it cannot be that a man suspected of involvement in obstructing a serious security investigation will be the face of Israel in one of the most important countries in Europe.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar pushed back, saying Braverman “was lawfully appointed to the position of Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom,” and arguing that “harming an individual—whether in their employment or in their official role—at the preliminary stage of an investigation is inconsistent with the fundamental values of human and civil rights and with the right to due process.”
Democrats leader Yair Golan, attacking Netanyahu’s inner circle, wrote: “If it looks like a crime family, acts like a crime family, and protects each other like a crime family, don’t be confused: This is a crime family that has taken over Israel.”
