A magistrate’s court on Wednesday directed the transfer of raw footage from a televised interview with former Prime Minister’s Office spokesman Eli Feldstein to Israel Police, as indications emerged that additional investigations are underway within the security establishment surrounding the leak of a classified IDF document to the German newspaper Bild.
Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court President Judge Menachem Mizrahi issued the directive during a hearing that sharply scrutinized police handling of the case and the restrictive measures imposed on several senior aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The footage comes from an interview aired weeks ago on KAN, in which Feldstein alleged that figures close to the prime minister were involved in both leaking classified materials and efforts to obstruct the subsequent investigation. Feldstein claimed Netanyahu was aware of - and supported - the use of the document to influence public opinion, contradicting official denials that the prime minister only learned of the leak through media reports.
Feldstein further alleged that Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, pressured him to suppress scrutiny and suggested he could “switch off” an IDF investigation. Braverman and the Prime Minister’s Office have categorically denied the claims.
According to Feldstein, Braverman summoned him in October 2024 to a late-night meeting in an underground parking lot at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, asked him to leave his phone behind, and warned him that the IDF’s information security unit had opened an inquiry that reached the Prime Minister’s Office. Feldstein claimed PMO spokesman Omer Mantzur collected the phones while the conversation took place inside a car - a claim Mantzur denies.
Feldstein said PM knew of, supported efforts to use classified docs to influence public opinion
Former IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Herzi Halevi was summoned to provide testimony in the investigation. Halevi, who ordered the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division to probe the leak in September 2024 and later brought the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) into the inquiry, is expected to detail how the original investigation was launched and conducted.
Police told the court that Braverman interfered with the military probe by meeting Feldstein, presenting a list of names, and asserting he could halt the investigation. The leak ultimately led to Bild’s publication of a classified intelligence document outlining Hamas’s position on hostage negotiations - material authorities allege was used to shape public discourse during the war.
Feldstein and Netanyahu adviser Yonatan Urich were arrested in March 2024 in connection with the affair. In November, Feldstein and IDF reservist Ari Rosenfeld were indicted on charges including unlawful transfer and possession of classified information and obstruction of justice.
Running parallel is the so-called Qatargate investigation, examining allegations that senior Netanyahu aides - including Feldstein and Urich - were paid by Qatar-linked figures to promote pro-Qatari messaging during the war, despite Qatar’s ties to Hamas.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Mizrahi delivered pointed criticism of the police for questioning Mantzur under caution and imposing restrictive conditions on him.
“Assuming everything Feldstein claims is true - what offense did Mantzur commit?” Mizrahi asked. “He was at most holding phones. I would not have questioned him under caution.”
Police countered that Mantzur was suspected of willful blindness and that the parking-lot meeting was part of a broader chain of events, not a “five-minute encounter.” Mizrahi challenged the logic, noting that Mantzur’s phone was never seized - a basic investigative step, the judge observed, given the nature of the suspicions.
Mizrahi also questioned police timing, asking why Feldstein was not immediately questioned under caution following the interview and why investigators appeared to rely on a televised account to launch the probe.
“You moved to raid based on a television version,” the judge said.
Throughout the hearing, Mizrahi repeatedly pressed police over a nearly three-week gap between the broadcast of Feldstein’s interview and the opening of a visible investigation, questioning how claims of urgent obstruction risks squared with what he characterized as investigative inaction during that period.
Police acknowledged that the Feldstein interview was a central trigger for the probe, while maintaining that additional classified material also supported the decision to proceed.
During the hearing, Mizrahi hinted that an additional investigation is underway within the security establishment related to leaks involving the Prime Minister’s Office, though he declined to elaborate in open court.
Police said they have gathered indications of evidence destruction, arguing that continued employment bans and no-contact orders were necessary to prevent recurrence.
At the same time, police confirmed under questioning that Netanyahu has not been questioned in the Bild affair - neither as a witness nor under caution - and that any decision to do so rests with the attorney general. Despite this, no-contact orders sought by investigators include restrictions barring communication with the prime minister himself.
The hearing addressed appeals by Braverman and Mantzur against orders barring them from the Prime Minister’s Office, as well as police requests to renew restrictive conditions on Urich. Authorities are seeking to bar Urich from leaving Israel, restrict his contacts - including with Netanyahu - and prevent him from returning to work at the PMO.
In earlier filings, police said media consultant Israel Einhorn was questioned under caution abroad on suspicion of serious security offenses and has since avoided returning to Israel. Investigators warned that allowing Urich to work at Einhorn’s firm could enable coordination with a suspect beyond Israeli law enforcement’s reach.
Last week, courts ruled that police missed a statutory deadline to extend Qatargate-related restrictions on Urich, causing those measures to lapse. However, restrictions imposed in the separate Bild affair remain in force. The Lod District Court ordered a hearing on extending those restrictions, which Mizrahi consolidated into Wednesday’s session.
Mizrahi expressed concern over the breadth of the no-contact orders, particularly the inclusion of the prime minister himself. Police responded that, given the materials, “the entire Prime Minister’s Office is in the cauldron,” explaining that investigators were unable at this stage to produce a finite list of individuals and therefore viewed all PMO staff - from senior advisers to administrative and security personnel - as potentially involved for the purposes of contact restrictions.
Police also confirmed that Feldstein does not have - and has never had - a state witness agreement, despite attempts to reach one, a point repeatedly raised during the hearing as the court examined the weight accorded to his public and investigative statements.
The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation said it would oppose the court order compelling the transfer of raw interview materials.
“The demand for raw journalistic materials strikes at the very foundation of investigative journalism - violating journalistic privilege, endangering journalistic sources, and infringing on privacy,” the broadcaster said, adding it would pursue legal action.
Feldstein said PM knew of supported efforts to use classified docs to influence public opinion