(Al Jazeera Media Network) A fresh political storm has engulfed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the arrest of a number of people in connection with an alleged leak of classified documents from his office.
The documents in question are alleged to be Hamas military strategy documents, found by Israeli military intelligence in Gaza and subsequently manipulated by suspects within, or close to, the prime minister’s office and defence establishment.
The documents are then said to have been leaked to the German newspaper, Bild, and the UK’s Jewish Chronicle, just as a potential ceasefire deal for Gaza, which ultimately failed, was being hammered out in September this year.
It is unclear how changes to these documents might have been made, however they are believed to have made it appear that Hamas intended to smuggle the Israeli captives held in Gaza to Egypt and then to either Iran or Yemen.
Among the five arrested on suspicion of leaking and manipulating the intelligence is the prime minister’s spokesperson, Eli Feldstein.
Announcing the arrests on Friday, an Israeli court in Rishon LeTsiyon said a joint investigation by the army, police and Israel’s internal security services, the Shin Bet, had led them to suspect a “breach of national security caused by the unlawful provision of classified information.”
The leak, judge Menachem Mizrahi said – lifting parts of the previous gag order that had limited reporting – posed a risk to “sensitive information and intelligence sources,” and harmed efforts to achieve “the goals of the war in the Gaza Strip.”
Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing by members of his office and, according to a statement issued on Saturday, claims he was only made aware of the leaked document via the media.
Many observers, including Netanyahu’s critics within Israel, have accused the prime minister of deliberately prolonging the war for his ends.
Netanyahu has been charged with fraud and breach of trust in two cases, and bribery, fraud and breach of trust in a third. Lawyers representing the prime minister have repeatedly appealed for court hearings to be delayed out of consideration for Netanyahu’s role as a wartime leader.
However, to remain a wartime leader, Netanyahu must also retain the backing of his coalition cabinet, where hardliners such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich will be satisfied with nothing less than absolute victory in Gaza – meaning they would not agree to a ceasefire – and potentially the expulsion of its population.
Following a series of provocative statements on Gaza, the UK is said to be considering imposing sanctions upon Smotrich after he suggested starving the population of Gaza may be justified, while Ben-Gvir, also under consideration for sanctions for terming violent West Bank settlers “heroes”, has also spoken of resettling Gaza, following the population’s “voluntary migration”.
In October, after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, whose support Netanyahu needs to maintain his fractious coalition cabinet, called for an increase in military pressure on the enclave, where Israel has already killed more than 43,000 people.
“Now the IDF (Israeli army) must make sure that there is no resident of Gaza who does not know that Sinwar is dead. It must increase intense military pressure in the Strip, and at the same time offer safe passage and financial reward to those who return our hostages to and agree to lay down their arms and leave the Strip,” Smotrich posted on X, according to a report in The Times of Israel.
Ben-Gvir was equally forthright, calling for Israel to “continue with all our strength until absolute victory.”
