What’s New in the Case of the Document Leaks Roiling Israel

A judge revealed more details about how and why an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave sensitive information to the news media.

An Israeli judge on Sunday revealed more details in a case involving an official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and a military officer suspected of leaking and mishandling classified intelligence documents — an accusation that has been roiling the country in the midst of war.

The judge said in his ruling that the leak was intended to influence Israeli public opinion in a way that would reduce popular pressure on Mr. Netanyahu to reach a deal to secure the release of hostages and end the war in Gaza.

State prosecutors also asked the court to extend the detention of the aide, Eliezer Feldstein, and the military officer, who has not been publicly named. The men were arrested last month along with at least two other soldiers, who are being held under house arrest.

What’s the back story?

The Israeli authorities have been pursuing several lines of inquiry in recent weeks involving officials in Mr. Netanyahu’s office and several military officers. They are being investigated for trying to bolster Mr. Netanyahu’s reputation for his handling of the war, by leaking classified military documents, altering official transcripts of his conversations and intimidating people who controlled access to those records.

One strand of the investigation centers on the manipulation and publication of sensitive intelligence information that was leaked to the German newspaper Bild for an article that ran in September. The article cited a Hamas document laying out the group’s plan for psychological warfare against Israel on the hostage issue.

Critics viewed it as part of a disinformation campaign by Mr. Netanyahu or by his supporters, intended to dampen a popular push for the hostages’ release and to influence Israeli public opinion in favor of the prime minister’s negotiating positions.

Two weeks ago, the same judge, Menahem Mizrahi of the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court, partly lifted a gag order to identify Mr. Feldstein, a civilian who was hired last year to work as a spokesman in Mr. Netanyahu’s office, as a main suspect in the case.

Mr. Netanyahu has not been questioned about the allegations, and his office has denied leaking information. Many details of the case have remained murky because of the gag order.

What’s new as more details have emerged?

In another partial lifting of the gag order on Sunday, the judge detailed how the document was leaked and why. He wrote that a noncommissioned officer in the military reserves, acting on his own initiative, illegally transferred the classified material to Mr. Feldstein via social media networks in April. Mr. Feldstein first tried to expose the information in the local news media, but Israel’s military censors barred its publication.

Mr. Feldstein and another colleague then bypassed the military censors by getting an article based on the document published abroad, and alerted the Israeli news media, expecting that they would quote it. Mr. Netanyahu also referred to the Bild article in remarks broadcast from a cabinet meeting.

After Israeli reporters questioned the authenticity of the document that formed the basis of the Bild report, Mr. Feldstein sought proof. He met with the noncommissioned officer, who gave him a physical copy of the document as well as two additional documents that were classified as top secret.

The officer and other suspects in the case have not been publicly named.

What did the judge say about motive?

In his decision on Sunday, Judge Mizrahi wrote that Mr. Feldstein’s actions were intended “to influence public opinion in Israel on the negotiations that were underway on the hostage issue and in particular, on the matter of the contribution of the protests to the strengthening of Hamas.”

The judge noted that Mr. Feldstein’s attempts to get the information published came soon after the Israeli military announced on Sept. 1 that six Israeli hostages had been found dead in a tunnel in Gaza after being shot by their captors, setting off widespread antigovernment protests. Mr. Feldstein’s actions, the judge wrote, stemmed from a “desire to change the public discourse and to turn the finger of blame” for the lack of an agreement toward Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, who was subsequently killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

About 100 people taken captive by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, remain in Gaza. At least a third of them have been declared dead by the Israeli authorities.

Myra Noveck and Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting.