AG said soon to file indictment against PM’s ex-chief of staff, who has been named ambassador to UK

Police reportedly finish probe of Tzachi Braverman, who’s suspected of interfering with investigation of classified document leak; report says police wanted Netanyahu to testify, but he did not

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara is reportedly expected to announce her decision to file an indictment, subject to a hearing, against Tzachi Braverman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former chief of staff, in the coming weeks.

According to a Channel 12 report on Saturday, police have completed their investigation into Braverman, who is suspected of having interfered with an investigation into Eli Feldstein, a former spokesman for the premier, over his alleged leak of a classified document to the German newspaper Bild.

Braverman has been appointed as Israel’s next ambassador to the United Kingdom. A judicial order banning him from leaving the country has been annulled, but he would be required to return should the police request that he do so. It is unclear how a potential indictment could impact the appointment. Netanyahu’s new chief of staff, Ido Norden, took up the post in mid-April, following the brief tenure of Braverman’s successor Ziv Agmon.

Despite his proximity to the case, Netanyahu has not given testimony to investigators.

At the end of February, Baharav-Miara approved summoning Netanyahu to give testimony, Channel 13 reported at the time.

According to the Saturday report, police made repeated efforts to coordinate with the premier, allowing him to pick any date and time for the testimony and noting that the interview would not take more than a couple of hours, but never managed to bring him in.

The case has been passed to the State Attorney’s Office without Netanyahu’s testimony, according to Channel 12.

Police suspect that Braverman told Feldstein he could quash a military investigation into the leak to Bild.

He allegedly set up a nighttime meeting in the underground parking lot of the IDF’s Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv with Feldstein in October 2024.

During the meeting, Feldstein alleges that Braverman told him he was aware of what should have been a secret IDF investigation into Feldstein’s leak of classified intelligence, which Braverman said he could stop.

The probe stems from the broader investigation into the Bild leaked documents affair, in which Feldstein and a reservist NCO who leaked the material to him have already been indicted, and in which two other senior aides to Netanyahu — Jonatan Urich and Israel Einhorn — are key suspects.

The documents purported to show that the Hamas leadership was not interested in a ceasefire and hostage release deal, and were leaked as part of an effort to buttress Netanyahu’s claim that it was not he who was holding up such an agreement.

Feldstein, Urich, and Einhorn are all also implicated in the so-called Qatargate investigation, in which they are suspected of taking money to spearhead a public relations campaign to cast Qatar in a positive light for over a year after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, despite the Gulf state’s strong ties to the terror group, and while Feldstein and Urich were working as aides to Netanyahu.

Netanyahu has given police testimony in the Qatargate affair.

In March, the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court declined to extend some key restrictive release conditions on Braverman, ruling that his position made it necessary for him to be able to work during the ongoing war with Iran.

The judge did, however, prohibit Braverman from speaking with the prime minister about the investigation.