Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office allowed access to classified and sensitive information to a spokesperson who failed his security clearance review held by the Shin Bet, Ynet learned on Thursday.
The spokesperson accompanied Netanyahu on visits to sensitive security facilities during the war, including the Air Force command bunker at the IDF’s Tel Aviv military headquarters and was even exposed to classified transcripts from meetings held by the Security Cabinet.
2 View gallery
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Security Council meeting
(Photo: Kobi Gideon, GPO)
According to sources close to the matter, the spokesperson was initially hired to work for Prime Minister’s Office’s Director General Yossi Shelley’s office. He was promoted at the request of Netanyahu’s Chief of Staff Tzachi Braverman and left the Director General’s office to serve as a spokesperson in the "Aquarium" — a nickname for the Prime Minister's office, one of the country's most sensitive facilities, dealing with security issues.
For this role, he was required to receive a high-level security clearance. However, as reported by Israeli public broadcast channel Kan 11, the spokesperson failed the security screening. According to insiders, his position with the director general ended after this came to light, but he continued to act as a spokesperson on security issues despite not having clearance.
After leaving the director general's staff, he was no longer a full-time employee but this didn’t prevent him from continuing to represent the prime minister on sensitive security matters.
2 View gallery
Netanyahu in his office during call with U.S. President Joe Binde
(Photo: Prime Minister's Office)
Throughout this period, he worked under Braverman and stayed in contact with Netanyahu’s various spokespeople. He was involved in sensitive political and security discussions, participated in consultations and even joined several security-related conference calls, including some with U.S. officials.
Since his official employment at the Prime Minister’s Office ended on April 1, efforts were made to hire him as a paid external consultant, though no contract was finalized. In recent months, Netanyahu’s office has tried to officially hire him as an external consultant and pay him for his services.
Ynet reported last month that the IDF was investigating how classified material was leaked to certain international publications for perceived political motivation.
Senior officials close to Netanyahu on Wednesday distanced themselves from the spokesperson, who was known as close to the Prime Minister over the past year. Ynet couldn’t obtain his comment. The Shin Bet and the Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on the matter.
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: