Did a ‘foreign actor’ play a role in the Oct 7 invasion? Leaked Documents Case takes a shocking turn

The “Leaked Documents Case,” in which a former aide of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an IDF intelligence reservist are accused of leaking classified information, has held the attention of Israel’s media for months.

While much of the initially censored information has been revealed, like the name of the second main suspect Ari Rosenfeld, the case continues to take surprising turns.

When the indictment against Eli Feldstein, the other main suspect in the case, was revealed last November, it contained a partially blacked-out passage that described how Rosenfeld contacted Feldstein on WhatsApp and offered him secret information that he came across during his reserve service.

“He had, among other things, secret information about the possible involvement of [censored] in the events of October 7, 2023,” the passage reads.

Responding to reports on this passage, the Justice Ministry said that the blacked-out part “does not refer to the names of people or organizations, but to a foreign actor.”

It is not publicly known whether this estimation was officially accepted by the security system. The identity of this alleged actor, and the role he is said to have played in the invasion, also remain unknown.

However, Ynet News reported on Wednesday that six other IDF intelligence reservists had created a detailed intelligence report about the actor's involvement after Oct. 7, and offered this report to Knesset Member Amit Halevi, of Netanyahu’s Likud Party.

They turned to Halevi because they claimed that the Intelligence Directorate (Aman) was blocking the transfer of the document to the political echelon.

The Ynet report suggests that Halevi checked with the National Security Council whether the report was known to them, and only after he was answered in the negative, the intelligence officers are said to have contacted Rosenfeld, who offered the information to Feldstein to enable him to inform the prime minister.

The three soldiers and three officers, coming from various units in Aman, as well as another intelligence body that was banned from publication, reportedly teamed up after the invasion to put together a major study about the involvement of the foreign actor, in the belief the political echelon was in the dark and had to be informed.

The Ynet report stressed that it couldn’t verify whether their report was indeed blocked and didn’t reach the political leadership.

After Halevi reportedly found out that the report was not known to the security council, Rosenfeld is said to have met Feldstein in the synagogue of the IDF’s headquarters in Tel Aviv and handed him part of the document, with the request to inform the prime minister personally.

A judge wrote in December that Feldstein didn’t transmit the report to Netanyahu in the end.

Feldstein knew the report “was based on confidential information and he kept it at his home and waited until the document was relevant in the context of the discussion on the Philadelphi Corridor,” Judge Alaa Masarwa wrote.

Halevi declined to comment on Ynet’s report, but noted that the media coverage was meant to “continue the cruel revenge campaign of the prosecutor's office and other bodies against the righteous soldier Ari Rosenfeld.”

Coalition leaders and supporters of Feldstein and Rosenfeld have argued that the prosecution for leaking documents to the prime minister, who in any case is authorized to view them, aims to make an example out of those who try to combat the alleged phenomenon of the security officials keeping information from the right-wing government.

Efraim Demari, an attorney on behalf of one of the six intelligence soldiers, denied his client contacted Halevi and said he acted according to the recognized channels: “The officer proceeded to transfer the document to authorized parties and through authorized channels only.”

“With no choice, and after the intelligence officials refused to sign the document and objected to its contents, the officer was required to present the study as a ‘different opinion’, which expresses a different position than that of Aman.”

On December 9, the High Court ruled to release Feldstein to house arrest, while approving increased oversight through an electronic tracking device, and allowing law enforcement to tap his electronic devices.

Rosenfeld’s defense attorney is still trying to petition the court to allow him to be released to house arrest. On Tuesday, he argued in a hearing that the recent statement by the Shin Bet director, who said that releasing would not represent a national security risk, meant he should now be released.

Judge Masarwa instructed prosecutors to issue a response opinion to the Shin Bet’s statement but ruled that Rosenfeld would remain in detention until a further hearing.