Israeli PM Netanyahu advisors questioned by police over leak accusations

The office of Israeli Prime Minister has been embroiled in accusations of leaks of classified documents related to Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the 7 October Hamas attack and the Gaza war.

In the latest incident, one of Netanyahu’s advisors, Jonatan Urich, was questioned by police on Friday on suspicion of involvement in the leaking of classified documents, according to Israeli media reports.

Urich is an "outside advisor" to Netanyahu and is not part of the official office staff, but is regarded as being close to the prime minister's media approach in particularly and has been involved in briefings, according to Israeli daily Haaretz.

Other members of the prime minister's circle have been arrested and questioned by police on criminal allegations since the scandal was exposed earlier in November.

Netanyahu has  faced criticism for his handling of the 7 October attack, which saw over one thousand Israelis killed and some 200 taken into Gaza by Hamas and other armed groups. The attack triggered Israel’s latest brutal assault on Gaza.

In a separate accusation this week, the prime minister’s chief of staff Tzachi Braverman was questioned by police on suspicion of altering Netanyahu’s phone records when he called military officials after the 7 October attack.

Braverman allegedly changed the timestamp by ten minutes to in an attempt to show Netanyahu had acted swiftly in response to the reports of Hamas’ infiltration.

Braverman said he only altered the time because he “knew it was incorrect”, according to Israeli broadcaster Channel 12.

Israel’s political establishment has been increasingly at odds with the prime minister’s supposed war objectives and large swathes of the public have called for his resignation, particularly over the inability to see the safe return of the Israeli captives.

The three investigations are looking into whether the prime minister’s office fiddled with minutes of the meetings held in the days following the war, if a government official blackmailed an army officer, and whether an official leaked sensitive information to the media which could have harmed national security.

The third incident led to the arrest of aide Eli Feldstein on suspicion of leaking intelligence documents from security officials which then ended up in international media reports.

According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the reports in the international media “served the narrative of Netanyahu’s office after they were manipulated”.

Two newspapers, British weekly The Jewish Chronicle and Germany’s Bild tabloid paper, published articles in September based on classified military documents which led to Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet to launch an investigation.

Earlier in November, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum which campaigns for the release of the 97 captives in Gaza called for an enquiry into the alleged leak over fears it undermined efforts to secure a release deal.

"The families demand an investigation against all those suspected of sabotage and undermining state security," said a statement by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

"The suspicions suggest that individuals associated with the prime minister acted to carry out one of the greatest frauds in the country's history," the forum said.