The chief of staff to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been summoned for questioning by the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit, amid investigations that have shaken the Prime Minister’s Office, officials said.
Tzachi Braverman was called in as part of a probe launched last month into claims by Eli Feldstein that Braverman attempted to interfere with an investigation into the leak of a classified document to the German newspaper Bild. That inquiry later developed into the so-called classified documents affair, in which Feldstein and Ari Rosenfeld have been accused. An indictment is also expected against Netanyahu adviser Jonatan Urich.
Feldstein, who served as Netanyahu’s military spokesman, told Kan public television that Braverman, one of Netanyahu’s closest associates who was recently appointed ambassador to Britain, summoned him late at night to the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv. Feldstein said the meeting took place in an underground parking lot, where Braverman told him there was an investigation by the Defense Ministry’s information security department.
According to Feldstein, Braverman showed him a list of five or six names and asked whether he recognized any of them. Feldstein said he replied that he did not. He said Braverman told him an investigation was underway to determine whether Feldstein or others were involved and added, “I can shut it down.”
Feldstein said he shared the details of the meeting that same night with Jonatan Urich, whom he described as his direct superior. He said Braverman was aware of an investigation within the Israel Defense Forces that extended to the Prime Minister’s Office and chose to meet him in the middle of the night at the Kirya.
Feldstein also described the meeting during questioning by the Shin Bet security agency, but at the time did not identify Braverman by name, referring instead to a “senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office.”
Braverman has denied that the meeting ever took place.
An associate of Feldstein said investigators could have easily identified Braverman at the time had they chosen to pursue the matter, noting that Feldstein’s mobile phone was in their possession. The associate said call records, location data and entry logs at the Kirya would have pointed to Braverman, but claimed authorities did not seek to fully examine the case at that stage.