Eli Feldstein was taken into custody in October 2024 following claims that the former aide leaked classified military intelligence to Bild. The investigation has since broadened, with police declaring Srulik Einhorn, a former campaign adviser to the Prime Minister, a “fugitive” evading arrest in connection with the same inquiry.
The file portrayed Hamas strategy as an exercise in psychological attrition aimed at the families of the captives. The release of the narrative occurred as people reeled from the deaths of six hostages, an event that provoked widespread civil unrest.
The Censor’s Loophole Lives in Germany
Newsrooms in Israel manoeuvre around military rules by sending reports to foreign outlets operating outside the state’s reach.
Prosecutors claim Feldstein opted for the international press after local editors, held back by legal bans, would not touch the story. Such a manoeuvre is a common part of political life in Israel.
Foreign bureaus remain unencumbered by the military’s red pen, acting as a pipe for information local reporters are barred from recounting. After foreign outlets publish the material, the Israeli press effectively gains permission to cite the findings.
German Solidarity and Political Use
The bond between Bild and the Israeli state is built on more than reporting. The parent company, Axel Springer, demanded its staff take an explicit stand on reconciliation and the country’s security. Employment contracts at the outlet incorporate a clause requiring support for the state’s survival.
As Germany’s largest daily, the tabloid acts as a sympathetic partner; its deputy editor secured a rare talk with Netanyahu after the October 7 attacks.
The alliance provided a receptive platform for getting around domestic gatekeepers, although the material itself carried weightier complications.
Portrayals of Divergent Narratives
Investigative reports later disclosed that the document’s presentation was tweaked to fit the administration’s public claims. The military stated the intelligence came from a mid-level Hamas worker, a source far removed from the direct authorship of Yahya Sinwar.
The date of the publication corresponded to the administration’s claim that military pressure was the only way to get the captives back. A similar account in London’s Jewish Chronicle – claiming Sinwar planned to smuggle captives to Iran – was met with a denial by the army.
The Chronicle later scrubbed the reports and ended its link with the contributor after his background came under scrutiny.
Divergent Editorial Outcomes
Editorial accountability in London appeared more immediate than in Berlin. The British publication pulled the false report within days, but Bild stayed with the original story even as military officers publicly disputed where the document came from.
Military sources stated that the actual text was a proposal from a junior worker, and the most incendiary accusations of diplomatic stalling were entirely absent from the original source.
As British journalists saw a wave of resignations in protest, the German editorial response was more defensive.
London Waits for an Envoy in Legal Limbo
Tzachi Braverman, the chief of staff, secured the U.K. ambassadorship in September, before the public start of the inquiry.
Authorities released Braverman under strict rules, including a month-long ban on leaving the country.
Feldstein alleged Braverman knew about the inquiry long before it was made public. The situation led opposition leader Yair Lapid to state that an envoy caught in a security inquiry is unfit to speak for the state. Consequently, the mission in London has remained empty since Tzipi Hotovely finished her term in September.
Reading the Diplomatic Situation
The British government already accepted Braverman, but they are now in an odd position. Withdrawing the invite would pull the Foreign Office into the centre of an Israeli police inquiry.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar stated the appointment passed all official hurdles, but the legal team maintains that the travel bans are a partisan attempt to harm the state. The document that started the event appears increasingly unreliable as a guide to actual Hamas plans.
Press Freedom’s Geography Lesson
The preference for German outlets over British ones proves how location determines the rules for journalism. Bild’s contract to support the state provided a receptive environment, whereas the Jewish Chronicle’s reversal displayed a different sensitivity to military denials.
Observers concluded that the Prime Minister’s Office ran a campaign to use the foreign press to fix the domestic narrative. The manoeuvre proves the censor has limited power in an age where information flows toward outlets with different professional rules.
The View from London
The Foreign Office sees the way political groups use sympathetic foreign media.
Braverman’s lawyers persist in fighting the “exceptional” release rules, while the diplomatic bond proceeds against a backdrop of long-standing distrust. Data hints that public confidence in the current administration has ebbed to a quarter of the citizenry.
The ambassador who eventually arrives will speak for an office under investigation for washing political narratives through foreign tabloids to slip past domestic oversight.
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