Ynet on Wednesday published a bombshell report stating that the real issue in the “leaked documents’ case, leading to the arrests of Eli Feldstein and Ari Rosenfeld, was vital intelligence information about a “foreign actor” involved in the October 7 massacre.

Senior officials from the Military Intelligence Directorate were aware of the role of the “foreign actor” in the massacre and became concerned when it became apparent that senior IDF officials were still stuck in the  “conceptzia” and were hiding the information from the political leadership.

The military intelligence officers contacted Knesset member Amit Halevi (Likud) and informed him that there is significant intelligence information regarding the involvement of a “foreign actor” in the Hamas attack but top IDF officials are preventing the information’s transfer to the political level.

At that time, MK Halevi asked the National Security Council if it was aware of such information, and he received a negative response. Only afterward did the intelligence officers turn to reserve soldier Ari Rosenfeld, and emphasized to him that it was urgent to pass it on to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The existence of that document was first reported by Ynet.

Six intelligence personnel, including three officers, collaborated after the massacre to compile a major study on the involvement of a foreign actor in the October 7 massacre. The most senior among them was arrested as part of the “leaked documents” case but no charges have been filed against him.

The officers believed that Israel’s political and military leadership were caught in a misconception regarding that foreign actor and they felt it was urgent to update senior IDF officials and the political echelon about their research. The intelligence personnel, from different units in military intelligence as well as an official from another intelligence body that is banned from being named, sought to transfer the research to the political echelon but they said they were blocked from doing so by senior IDF officials.

Ynet is unaware whether the document was blocked as claimed or if it was transferred to the political level. The officers approached MK Halevi, shared the details of the research with him, and asked him to confirm whether the political level was aware of the matter. After Halevi contacted the National Security Council and was told that it is unaware of such research, intelligence officials approached Rosenfeld, requesting that he act to transfer the document to the Prime Minister. Rosenfeld complied with the officers’ request and met with Eli Feldstein, the Prime Minister’s spokesperson for security matters, at the shul in the Kirya base in Tel Aviv, where he handed him one of the many research documents on the issue to inform Netanyahu of its existence.

The identity of that  “foreign entity” cannot currently be revealed, but Judge Ala Masarwa wrote in December in a decision that was cleared for publication that the research is related to the importance of the IDF’s presence in the Philadelphi Corridor [which borders Egypt]. The judge wrote that “regarding the additional document, Respondent 1 (Feldstein) knew it was based on classified intelligence, and he kept it in his home and waited for the right moment until the document would be relevant in the context of the discussion on the Philadelphi Corridor.”

As far as is known, Feldstein did not pass the document to the Prime Minister, and it was seized at his home on the day he was arrested. Rosenfeld’s attorney said during a hearing: “A group of officers who want the best for the state conclude that the IDF is blocking the information from reaching the political level. They think the document is being blocked by IDF because it tarnishes the reputation of officers in military intelligence, and they approach Ari Rosenfeld to transfer it to Netanyahu.”

The attorney also stated during the hearing that Rosenfeld only passed the first page of the numerous research documents to Feldstein, telling him to inform Netanyahu and the National Security Council of its existence.

Rosenfeld’s lawyers stated: “A group of officers from various branches in the Intelligence Directorate of the IDF (Aman Research, 8200, Southern Command, and others) wrote a research paper numbering dozens of pages analyzing intelligence reports from 2018-2024 and concluded that the IDF is operating under a mistaken conception regarding a critically important security issue related to the goals of the war. The fact that the IDF tried to block the document from reaching the political echelon after the events of October 7 is extremely concerning and raises troubling thoughts.”

“The officers who tried to convey the information to the military-political echelon and were blocked by the IDF acted together with Ari to inform the political echelon about the document. This was to prevent a recurrence of an incident like that of October 7, where warnings did not reach the knowledge of the political echelon. The officers were detained and interrogated by the Shin Bet under the most difficult conditions and were later released. The officers and Ari acted and allegedly approached the political echelon contrary to orders, and Ari regrets this – this matter is expected to be clarified in court.”

“Ari, a person presumed innocent – who tried to assist the political echelon in the goals of the war is still held in Kafkaesque detention – a fact that should concern every citizen in Israel. The opposition to his detention transcends political camps and sectors and is not a political question. It is a matter concerning human rights in a democratic state.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)