Tzachi Braverman, Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was summoned to the police special crimes unit on Thursday for questioning under caution. He is suspected of involvement in security-related cases tied to the Prime Minister's Office.
The police was investigating whether he held embarrassing information about a senior IDF officer for the purpose of using it prevent disclosure of misconduct in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO.)
Netanyahu with Braverman
(Video: GPO)
Braverman also faces suspicion in the "Protocols Affair," which according to allegations, involved efforts to alter minutes from official and confidential meeting at the start of the war regarding the Hamas massacre.
Braverman, 65 is a powerful figure in the PMO and among the closest aids to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "He is cold-blooded to a psychotic degree," an unnamed government minister said last week. "He has a cowardly nature. He’s cautious not to get entangled and act against procedures, but he can always pin it on someone else."
Netanyahu in an unprecedented statement, criticized the police and the Shin Bet earlier in the week for what he called an attempt to bring down a right-wing government. "In recent days, my office has been under wild and unrestrained attack," Netanyahu said on camera after repeated denials from his office of any wrong-doings in any of the matters under investigation.
"While the government and cabinet under my leadership tirelessly work to repel our enemies who seek our destruction and strive to defeat them, as I manage the war and fend off international attacks from various arenas, we now face another front with increased intensity—the fake news from the media."
Netanyahu said that since the beginning of the war, a flood of criminal and severe leaks has inundated Israel, referring to reports in the press about his management of the hostage crisis and his refusal to agree to a deal with Hamas that would secure their release.
"These criminal leaks are sometimes accompanied by baseless lies and slanders. A deluge of leaks from the political-security cabinet, the war cabinet at the time, and a continuous tsunami of leaks from the negotiation team. These leaks provide vital information to Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas, endangering the state, our fighters, and the return of our captives," he said.
"Hamas receives information from inside Israel's negotiation team meeting room. Hezbollah and Iran sometimes get live transcripts of our discussions on actions against them and our internal debates." He said claiming there has been selective enforcement of security offenses by law enforcement and judicial authorities.
"Regarding all these, zero investigations were conducted. Zero. This happened despite my repeated requests to open investigations. They don’t even check, why? Because the goal is not to protect the state's security. The goal is to promote an agenda of weakness and concessions during the war."
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