The October Council, an organization representing former hostages, bereaved families and survivors of the October 7 massacre, has appealed to Shin Bet chief David Zini, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs and State Archivist Ruti Abramovitz, raising concerns that individuals close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have concealed information related to the events of the massacre, ynet learned Thursday morning.
"According to people in the prime minister's inner circle, transcriptionists were threatened and pressured to alter official transcripts," the letter states.
Gallery
Former Netanyahu chief of staff Tzachi Braverman. 'He behaved as though he could do whatever he wanted'
(Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)
The appeal by the October Council families follows a July 2024 report by Nadav Eyal in ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth revealing that Maj. Gen. (res.) Avi Gil, Netanyahu's military secretary at the time of the massacre, had contacted the attorney general to express concerns that attempts had been made to alter official transcripts in the Prime Minister's Office during the war.
Even before that report, officials in the Prime Minister's Office had alleged that attempts were made during the war to change some of the transcripts of security Cabinet discussions and even transcripts of security-related telephone conversations.
The former military secretary said in media interviews that he had noticed early in the war that Netanyahu associates were engaged in what he described as a "disproportionate collection of materials."
He added that a stenographer in the Prime Minister's Office had told him that Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu's former chief of staff, who was later implicated in the "late-night meeting" affair and whose appointment as ambassador to Britain was delayed, had demanded that the stenographer change the recorded time of a conversation Gil held with Netanyahu on the morning of October 7.
Asked whether he could assess why Braverman had done so, Gil replied: "First of all, this is a pattern of criminal conduct by people who think they can do whatever they want, and the chief of staff behaved like someone who could do whatever he wanted."
According to Gil, "It's possible they were already working on the narrative we're seeing now, portraying the prime minister as the only one functioning when the chaos began, supposedly because he had issued all the necessary instructions from the very beginning. That's a serious but plausible scenario."
"There's another possibility, one that is far more serious. Eleven minutes passed between the first and second calls. During that time, I received intelligence and information I didn't have during the first call, intelligence and information that I passed on to the prime minister during the second call. And if they can prove that this intelligence and information already existed at 6:29 a.m., that would mean someone already knew at that point what was going to happen. In other words, there had been a betrayal."
Allegations against Netanyahu and Braverman
In the October Council's letter, which alleges that transcriptionists in the Prime Minister's Office were threatened and ordered to alter official transcripts, the families raised a question:
"The transcriptionists are heroes who came forward and told the military secretary what had happened. Otherwise, the alteration of the transcript would never have been discovered. Who knows how many other transcripts were changed?"
Maj. Gen. (res.) Avi Gil. 'The transcriptionists felt they were being asked to do something they were not allowed to do.'
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
The families' letter further stated: "An associate of Avi Gil, who was serving as Netanyahu's military secretary at the time, told us what Gil had revealed to him about the alleged alteration of the transcript.
"'Braverman definitely changed the time in the transcript. The transcriptionist told Avi that she had said to him, "But Tzachi, I'm not allowed to. The time is 6:40 a.m. It's recorded in the computer.'
"'He told her, 'Don't argue with me. Change it to 6:29 a.m. I was on that call."
"'That was her testimony to Avi. She then says that Tzachi looks at the transcript [after it was altered] and enthusiastically tells her, "Look how sharp the prime minister is. As soon as he's woken up, he immediately gives instructions."
"And that, of course, was a lie. The transcriptionists felt they were being asked to do something they weren't allowed to do, so they turned to Avi. They told him that Braverman would walk around carrying stacks of transcripts. He had collected a large amount of material."
The families added in their letter: "Another senior official, who had extensive information, documents and records related to October 7 in his possession, told us: 'I have three hidden folders containing all the documents related to October 7. One will go to the State Archives and the other two will go to the state commission of inquiry. For now, everything is being kept in safes at different locations because I'm afraid the documents could fall into the wrong hands.'
In their appeal to the senior officials, the families added: "One of the most senior officials serving on October 7 told us: 'It bothers me that the prime minister of Israel is breaking the law and the system doesn't know how to deal with it. He takes transcripts from sensitive discussions, presents half-truths from them in a manipulative way and tries to turn them into the truth, even though he knows that isn't the case.
"'If he has already taken it upon himself to exercise authority he doesn't actually have to release excerpts, then why release fragments of sentences taken out of context?
"'Netanyahu publishes 55 pages, and I was there. I saw a large portion of the original documents. Who gave you the authority to publish partial quotations rather than the full discussion?
"Yet Netanyahu repeatedly chooses to present only part of the picture rather than the whole story in an attempt to manipulate the public."
The families' letter to the Shin Bet chief, the attorney general, the Cabinet secretary and the state archivist also stated: "Another senior official, who headed a security agency at the time, testified: 'As time passes and more reports emerge on the matter, it is becoming clear that we did not necessarily know everything and that some people chose to conceal things from us.'"