A close aide of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is suspected of leaking sensitive security documents as part of an orchestrated campaign to thwart the hostage deal, according to court documents unsealed Sunday night.

Speculation about the case had captured public attention for days, even before Rishon Letsiyon Court Judge Menahem Mizrahi partially lifted a gag order on details of the security breach.

It has already been characterized as one of the most serious security breaches in the country’s history. Details are scant, but the court ruling indicated that four people were under investigation, including Mr Eliezer Feldsteina close associate of Netanyahu who worked unofficially for him.

“The investigation began after significant suspicions arose within the Shin Bet and the IDF in light of media reports indicating that classified and sensitive intelligence information was obtained from IDF systems and illegally removed“, the judge wrote.

This caused “concerns about a serious gap in national security and the risk of leaking classified information. As a result, the ability of the security forces to achieve the objective of freeing the hostages as part of the war objectives could have been damaged.“, the judge wrote.

After that, a joint secret investigation by the Shin Bet, the IDF and the Israel Police began, during which these suspicions were significantly strengthened.

“Accordingly, an open investigation was launched, during which four suspects involved in the activity, some of them security system officials and a citizen named Mr. Eliezer Feldstein, have been investigated so far. The investigation is ongoing and is being conducted in accordance with the law and under judicial supervision. Any additional publication about the research could lead to problems for the research, its objectives and national securityMizrahi said.

“The issue is the risk of sensitive information and secret information sources, as well as the obstruction of the achievement of the objectives of the war in the Gaza Strip. At this stage a number of suspects have been arrested for questioning and the investigation is ongoing».

The war target in question has not been specified, but some of the documents in question are widely believed to be related to two reports from September, near the height of public pressure to support the hostage deal after the bodies of six hostages executed within days before and were retrieved by Rafa.

Who is Eliezer Feldstein?

Feldstein was hired by the prime minister’s office media group soon after the war began, although his exact employment status remained unclear. He had previously served as a spokesman for the IDF and then as a spokesman for the Minister of National Security MK Itamar Ben-Gvir.

According to a number of reports, Feldstein did not pass the Shin Bet’s security screening process and therefore served as an adviser and was not officially an employee of the prime minister’s office. The prime minister’s office maintained that no member of the prime minister’s office had been arrested or questioned.

However, Feldstein, although not officially a member of the office, is seen in photographs accompanying the prime minister on several tours of military bases and is present at a series of discussions with senior security officials.

Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid told a press conference Sunday night alongside MK National Unity Party chief Benny Gantz that Netanyahu was either complicit in leaking classified information in an attempt to scuttle the hostage deal or is completely unable to lead the country.

“If Netanyahu knew it, he is complicit in one of the most serious security breaches on the law book. If Netanyahu didn’t know, what does?». Lapid asked.

“It is suspected that Netanyahu’s people released classified documents and falsified documents to torpedo the possibility of a hostage deal in order to build a public relations campaign against the hostage families».

This security breach came “from the prime minister’s office” and an investigation must be conducted to determine whether the security leaks and falsification of information were done on Netanyahu’s orders, Lapid said.

Netanyahu claimed that he “has no influence or control over the system he leads. If this is true … he is not qualified to lead the State of Israel in the most difficult war in its history,” Lapid said.

The response from the Hostage Families Forum

The Hostage Families Forum, which participated in Sunday’s hearing, said in a statement after the decision:

“The attack on the hostages and their families has an address, sender and motivation that pose a real threat to national security and war aims.

“The evidence base, allegedly accumulated in this serious case currently being investigated by the Shin Bet, shows that the prime minister’s inner circle acted in a manner detrimental to national security in order to prevent the return of the hostages.

“The Israeli government and its leader have a moral and leadership obligation to return all hostages – the living for rehabilitation and the murdered and fallen for a proper burial back home.

“Suspicions indicate that people connected to the Prime Minister acted to carry out one of the biggest public frauds in the history of the state. A government that abandoned citizens who became victims of cruel kidnappings is working effectively to discredit them and damage public opinion about the duty to return them – as if they were enemies of the nation.

“How terrible that the hand behind the incitement of violence and bloodshed against the hostages and their families was allegedly found.

“There is a serious causal connection between the smear and malicious campaign against the attempted return of the hostages and the self-initiated aborting of the Netanyahu deals.

“The Hostage Families Forum demands an investigation of all those involved in the alleged undermining and harming of national security. Such actions in general, and during war in particular, endanger the hostages, harm their chances of return and, God forbid, legitimize their slaughter and harm against them by the terrorists of Hamas.

This is a fatal blow to the remaining trust between the government and its citizens”, concluded the Hostage Families Forum.