Wednesday 04 December 2024 – 11:11 PM
The army spokesman raised Israeli occupationOccupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist camp were angry after criticizing Feldstein’s bill, which was initially approved by the Knesset.
The Israeli Knesset approved, in preliminary reading, this evening, Wednesday, a draft law that allows soldiers and employees of the security services to hand over confidential information to the Prime Minister or Minister of Defense without the need to obtain prior permission. The draft law is known as the Feldstein Law and was presented by two members of the Likud Party, which Netanyahu leads.
This legislation comes after the issue of secret documents that was raised months ago, where Eli Feldstein, spokesman for Netanyahu’s office for security affairs, and Yonathan Urich, an advisor in his office, are facing accusations of leaking secret documents to the media, originating from Military Intelligence (AMAN), after they obtained them from a soldier and an army officer.
Feldstein’s law
According to the accusations, Feldstein tried to leak the confidential material to a journalist from the private Channel 12, but the military censorship stopped its publication, ordering Urich to hand it over to Shrolik Einhorn, one of Netanyahu’s senior advisors in the recent election campaigns, who in turn leaked it to a German newspaper that published it.
Reports indicate that the aim of leaking the documents was to mislead public opinion that the late Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, was opposed to reaching an agreement to exchange prisoners and a ceasefire in Gaza, while accusations were directed at Netanyahu of sabotaging the agreement.
The draft law aims to protect Feldstein, Einhorn, and the other defendants in the case from conviction on charges against them, which include possession of confidential information and obstruction of justice, crimes that could be punished by up to life imprisonment, according to the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
The army reprimands its spokesman, Hajari
Occupation army spokesman Daniel Hajari, in response to a journalist’s question about the draft law, said that it is a danger to the army and to the security of Israel, adding that the law will create a situation in which any junior officer can steal documents from the army, and this will pose a danger to the lives of Israeli soldiers.
He pointed out that the Israeli army does not hide information from the political level, but rather works with it for the security of Israel.
After facing a storm of criticism from the right and from the army, Hajjari retracted his statements and offered an implicit apology for them.
A statement by the occupation army stated that the Chief of Staff rebuked the army spokesman for answering a question about the law of providing secret information to the Prime Minister during a press conference, exceeding his powers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in response to this: It is good that the army spokesman is put in his place, and the army should not criticize the laws in a democratic state.
He continued: In a democratic state, the army is not authorized to interfere in political issues or criticize a legislative process.
