IDF Intelligence Cell Conspired to Steal Top-Secret Intelligence and Passed It to Netanyahu

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
…Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed…

–W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming

The scandal widens.  The ever-widening gyre.

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Israeli media now reports that multiple new suspects (Eli Feldstein, a Netanyahu aide, was arrested earlier) in the spy case have been arrested.  At least five IDF military intelligence officers are among them.  The new detainees include a major in the military reserves, who worked in the information security directorate.  Ironically, this is the very unit tasked with ensuring that intelligence data is secure. One of their main objectives is to detect and prevent just the sort of leak involved in this scandal. Apparently, the foxes were guarding the chicken coop and let in their fox friends to wreak havoc.

This cell within military intelligence acted as a conduit to Netanyahu, providing him top-secret materials he might otherwise not see or have access to.  That permitted him to pursue his own military-security agenda independent of the defense ministry and IDF command. It was a secret political operation in the heart of army intelligence.  The PMO’s bag-man was Feldstein, who received the stolen documents and “fenced” them to the PMO.

The state broadcaster, Kan, says that the compromised intelligence documents–memos written by Hamas intelligence officers–were not found in Gaza, but rather obtained by “other means.”  Since Unit 8200 is responsible for signals intelligence, they were almost certainly collected via electronic intercepts or cyber-hacks.  This means that someone within that Unit likely transferred the intelligence materials either to Feldstein or others within AMAN (military intelligence). The process of publishing the leaked material endangered the methods used by 8200 to surveil Hamas communications. If the Shin Bet had an informant inside Hamas, that individual would be endangered as well. That’s why mid-level officers aren’t supposed to make independent judgments about the value of such intelligence, or leak it to the world as they did.

This is a huge scandal obviously for Netanyahu, whose staff was ultimately responsible for publication of the top-secret material; but also for the IDF and the Shin Bet. The latter is responsible for counter-intelligence. That is, ferreting out spies and double agents who endanger Israeli security from within.  This is about as “within” as you can get.  Officers compromising the entire intelligence system in pursuit of what the conspirators believed was the national interest.  Putting their own judgment above that of their superiors and the entire intelligence apparatus.

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Eli Feldstein, 32, had been considered for chief spokesperson for the Likud.  Two years later, he became Netanyahu’s press liaison for security affairs. In that role, he obtained the top-secret intelligence which he leaked.  He in turn passed them to pro-Israel foreign media outlets, Bild and the Jewish Chronicle, as I noted last month.

Feldstein obtained his position despite failing polygraph tests and a rejected background check. He should not have access to any intelligence-related matters. Yet he accompanied Netanyahu on military-intelligence related travel and even entered the confines of the prime minister’s office in the Kirya, IDF headquarters.

What role did PMO director general play?

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A few weeks after 10/7, the director general (DG) of the prime minister’s office (PMO), Yossi Sheli, decided to add a new position to his staff: press liaison for security affairs.  This was out of the ordinary since the defense ministry and IDF central command normally handled interaction with the media.

Sheli has a scandal-ridden past.  As a teenager, he was accused of breaking into homes in a village near Beersheba.  As ambassador to Brazil, a Brazilian woman accused him of demanding sexual favors in return for his assistance in expediting her visa request. He was accused of lying to a civil service committee tasked with determining whether job candidates are free from conflicts of interest.  He was also temporarily suspended from his job with a local government, while police investigated potential criminal dealings with contractors.

The responsibility of the new PMO position was to promote Netanyahu’s narrative regarding the debacle. The PM knew that 10/7 was a disaster both for the army, the nation, and him in particular.  He knew he would be blamed.  Therefore, he determined that he needed someone both to offer the media Netanyahu’s point of view, but also to impeach the IDF and blame it for the fiasco.

Sheli sought to appoint Eli Feldstein to the role.  For an unknown reason, he couldn’t put Feldstein on the PMO payroll, nor appoint him formally to the PMO.  This is likely because he did not have the required security clearance.  He could not secure one. at least in part because he had been hired from Itamar Ben Gvir’s staff, where he was the Judeo-terrorist minster’s spokesperson.  There, he was responsible for promoting Ben Gvir’s interests. Among others, he repeatedly excoriated the IDF for standing in the path of the settlers and their violent campaign against Palestinians in the West Bank.

The DG asked the ministry of defense to call up Feldstein for reserve duty there.  Certainly, ironic considering he’d been battering the army as Ben Gvir’s mouthpiece.  He was then appointed to the National Emergency Network, with the MOD paying his salary.  But after three days, the ministry realized he was a “no-show.” That he was actually working for the prime minister in his office.  He was summarily fired.  Israeli media have not yet determined who paid his salary after that.

Given what transpired afterward, I’d say the director general has a few questions the police may want answered.  Who suggested he hire Feldstein?  Who suggested the mafia-like set up of a no-show job at MOD?  Who suggested putting him on the ministry’s payroll? Why wasn’t he on the PMO payroll?  How did they pay him after MOD fired him?  What exactly did he do in the PMO, other than betray Israel’s most secret intelligence to his hack journalist pals?