Netanyahu Aide Is Indicted Over Leaked Document on Hamas

Israeli prosecutors indicted one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides on Thursday, charging the aide with leaking classified information on Hamas and most likely harming national security, the latest development in a web of legal scandals that has entangled the country’s leader.

The aide, Eliezer Feldstein, a media adviser in the prime minister’s office, deliberately acquired and illegally leaked a top-secret document to Bild, the German tabloid, in an attempt to influence how the Israeli public viewed negotiations for a deal to reach a cease-fire and free the roughly 100 hostages still held by Hamas, prosecutors said in a nine-page indictment.

The leak “exposed Israeli intelligence capabilities to Hamas, which was likely to harm national security and the functioning of security agencies,” according to the indictment. “It would also likely put people in life-threatening danger, particularly at a time of war.”

The families of the remaining hostages have denounced Mr. Netanyahu, arguing that he has favored the survival of his hard-line government over reaching a deal to win the release of their loved ones held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Mr. Netanyahu has said he is doing all he can, but he has also used the document Mr. Feldstein is accused of leaking to suggest that pressuring him serves Hamas’s agenda.

Mr. Feldstein was arrested, along with the military officer who leaked him the document, on Oct. 27. Lawyers for both men did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The indictment comes as Israeli authorities have pursued several lines of inquiry in recent weeks involving officials in Mr. Netanyahu’s office. They are being investigated for trying to bolster Mr. Netanyahu’s reputation by allegedly altering official transcripts of his conversations and intimidating people who controlled access to those records.