Netanyahu’s Chief of Staff Under Investigation as Feldstein Testimony Deepens Legal Crisis
A late-night meeting in an underground garage, corroborating location data, and competing testimonies have placed the prime minister’s chief of staff at the center of a widening probe tied to the Bild leak and Qatargate
Tzachi Braverman, until recently the chief of staff to the prime minister and Israel’s designated ambassador to the United Kingdom, has emerged as the central figure in one of the most sensitive criminal investigations to reach the Prime Minister’s Office in years. What began as a probe into the leaking of a classified document to the German newspaper Bild has evolved into a far broader legal confrontation, one that now includes allegations of obstruction of justice, corroborating phone location data, and a direct police confrontation involving senior officials.
At the heart of the case is the testimony of Eli Feldstein, a former Prime Minister’s Office staff member who has already been charged in connection with the Bild leak itself. In a recorded statement broadcast by KAN, Israel’s national public broadcasting corporation, Feldstein described a late-night encounter that investigators are now examining as a possible attempt to interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation.
According to Feldstein, he received repeated late-night phone calls and WhatsApp messages from the Prime Minister’s Office, urging him to come immediately to the Kirya in Tel Aviv. Initially, he said, he did not view the summons as exceptional.
“At the beginning, I didn’t think it was anything special,” Feldstein said, explaining that he assumed there was no specific task requiring his presence. As the calls continued into the early morning hours, however, he decided to comply. “Around one or two in the morning,” Feldstein said, “I said, OK, I’m on my way.”
Feldstein emphasized that arriving by private vehicle was highly unusual. Access to sensitive areas of the Kirya, he said, is typically coordinated on foot or as part of an official convoy with the prime minister. He described calling a colleague already inside the compound to help guide him, explaining that he was not properly dressed, did not intend to exit the vehicle, and needed assistance navigating the area.
According to his account, they descended together to parking level minus four beneath the Kirya, near an area associated with the General Staff. Feldstein said the colleague exited the vehicle and entered a cabinet discussion, while he remained waiting inside the car. Shortly afterward, Braverman approached the vehicle and entered, sitting beside him.
“The first thing he does is ask me, ‘Where is your phone?’” Feldstein recalled. He said he handed over his device, after which Braverman also removed his own phone.
“He takes his phone as well, and both phones are taken out of the car,” Feldstein said. According to his testimony, the phones were handed to the Prime Minister’s Office staffer who had accompanied him into the parking area.
With the phones removed and the window closed, Feldstein said Braverman took out a small handwritten note. “He pulls out a piece of paper, a small note with names written by hand,” Feldstein said. Braverman then read the names aloud and asked whether Feldstein recognized anyone on the list.
“I told him no,” Feldstein said. According to his account, Braverman read the list again, five or six names in total, and pressed him once more.
“Are you sure?” Feldstein recalled him asking. Feldstein said he again replied that he did not recognize any of the names and asked why he was being questioned.
There is an investigation involving leaks within the IDF, and the investigation reaches as far as the Prime Minister’s Office. … If it’s connected, I can shut it down.
According to Feldstein, Braverman then explained that “there is an investigation involving leaks within the IDF, and the investigation reaches as far as the Prime Minister’s Office.” Feldstein said Braverman urged him to say whether the matter was connected to him or to “us,” and then made the statement that has become central to the investigation.
“If it’s connected,” Feldstein quoted him as saying, “I can shut it down.”
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That alleged remark, if substantiated, carries significant legal implications. Under Israeli law, obstruction of justice applies not only to attempts to influence judicial proceedings but also to efforts to interfere with or derail police investigations. Feldstein has said that the content of the meeting was known only to those present and warned that revealing it could endanger him and his family.
Braverman has categorically denied Feldstein’s characterization of the meeting. According to people familiar with his testimony, he does not dispute that a conversation may have taken place but rejects the claim that he referenced any investigation or suggested he could influence or halt one. His position is that Feldstein’s account attributes to him statements and intentions that he says never occurred.
Investigators have nevertheless obtained phone geolocation data placing both Feldstein and Braverman at the Kirya on the night in question, data that supports Feldstein’s description of the timing and location of the meeting and served as a basis for questioning Braverman under caution. As part of the inquiry, police conducted a direct confrontation between Feldstein and Braverman, as well as with Omer Mansour, a Prime Minister’s Office employee whom Feldstein identified as a third participant in the events.
During that confrontation, Braverman did not categorically deny that a meeting occurred but rejected Feldstein’s claim that he warned of an investigation or offered to interfere with it. Mansour, who had previously denied being present, told investigators that he might have been there but could not recall the substance of the conversation. Investigators have stressed that the confrontation was intended to test credibility rather than to establish definitive findings.
The investigation intensified further when Braverman was detained and questioned under caution for many hours by police investigators. His interrogation included an additional face-to-face confrontation with Feldstein, highlighting the seriousness with which authorities are treating the allegations. Following his release, Braverman was placed under restrictive conditions, including a temporary ban on entering or performing duties at the Prime Minister’s Office, limits on contact with individuals connected to the investigation, and a prohibition on leaving Israel for a defined period.
Once the investigation is concluded, the competent authorities will determine that there is no truth to the claims made against him
Braverman’s legal team has rejected the allegations in unequivocal terms. In a statement issued after his release, his lawyer said Braverman “answered all questions put to him and denied every version of events attributed to him,” adding that he is confident that “once the investigation is concluded, the competent authorities will determine that there is no truth to the claims made against him.”
The broader context of the case extends beyond the alleged meeting itself. The Bild leak investigation centers on the unauthorized transfer of a classified Israeli document published in Germany in 2024. The document addressed Hamas’ positions on hostage negotiations and was widely cited in public discourse to argue that Hamas was not genuinely seeking a deal, reinforcing calls to continue military pressure. Feldstein has already been indicted in that case, along with other suspects, including the alleged military source of the document.
Running in parallel is the so-called Qatargate affair, involving allegations that senior aides to the prime minister maintained undisclosed ties to Qatar, a country with influence over Hamas and complex relations with Israel. While the two cases are legally distinct, critics argue that together they reveal a troubling pattern in which sensitive information, foreign interests, and political messaging intersect inside the Prime Minister’s Office.
Those concerns have been articulated most forcefully by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, which has taken legal action in response to the unfolding investigations. In an interview with The Media Line, Rotem Bavli-Dvir, head of the organization’s legal wing, said the accumulation of senior figures under investigation is what makes the case exceptional.
“As time goes on and we are dealing with such serious affairs like Qatargate and Bild, involving suspicions of harm to state security and foreign relations, we see more and more names of people close to the prime minister being questioned,” Bavli-Dvir said. “Each time, the closest advisers and senior figures in the Prime Minister’s Office are added to the list of suspects.”
Each time, the closest advisers and senior figures in the Prime Minister’s Office are added to the list of suspects
She stressed that Braverman’s position amplifies the gravity of the allegations. “The fact that someone who was until recently the chief of staff, and is supposed to be Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, is being summoned for questioning shows that the most senior figures in the Prime Minister’s Office knew what was happening,” she said. “According to the publications, they allegedly tried to prevent the investigation so that the truth would not come out.”
Addressing Feldstein’s testimony directly, Bavli-Dvir emphasized its legal implications. “According to the publications and Feldstein’s testimony, Braverman told him that if there was an investigation, he could shut it down,” she said. “If those statements are accurate, this raises a serious suspicion of obstruction of justice. Obstruction of justice refers also to obstruction of an investigation, not only to court proceedings.”
Alongside criticism from civil society, the investigation has also drawn firm defense from within the governing coalition. In an interview with The Media Line, Likud MK Moshe Saada, a former senior prosecutor, argued that from a professional legal standpoint, the case does not meet the threshold required to justify its current scope.
“From a professional perspective, I don’t see a criminal case here,” Saada said. “Feldstein was questioned in real time and did not name Braverman. He described someone else, and only later went public.”
Saada said Feldstein’s decision to speak publicly rather than fully cooperate with investigators undermines the credibility of his claims. “If he wanted the truth to come out, he should have said everything in the investigation room,” Saada said. “Going to the media does not help uncover the truth. It disrupts the investigation.”
According to Saada, Feldstein’s conduct could amount to interference in itself. “When someone goes public like this, he gives the other side time to coordinate versions or erase material,” he said. “That is something investigators take very seriously.”
Saada also dismissed the significance of the restrictive measures imposed on Braverman. “If there had been real suspicion, he would have been arrested and brought before a judge,” he said. “That didn’t happen. In most cases, when there is no arrest, it’s because the investigators know the court will not support it.”
If there had been real suspicion, he would have been arrested and brought before a judge. That didn’t happen.
At the same time, Saada said the investigation should be allowed to conclude. “We need to wait until the end,” he said. “Only then will we know whether there is anything here.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has said he does not believe the situation has reached a stage that justifies suspension, while opposition leader Yair Lapid has called for Braverman’s immediate removal from his diplomatic post.
For now, the investigation remains ongoing. Police and the Shin Bet continue to examine whether Feldstein’s testimony, the phone location data, and the confrontations are sufficient to meet the legal threshold for indictment, or whether additional corroboration is required.
As the legal process unfolds, the case surrounding Netanyahu’s chief of staff has become a broader test of institutional safeguards inside the Prime Minister’s Office, raising questions not only about individual conduct but about oversight mechanisms, employment practices, and the handling of sensitive information at the highest levels of government.
