Tel Aviv District Court Judge Ala Masarwa ruled on Tuesday that there is insufficient evidence to charge Eli Feldstein, the chief suspect in the alleged leak of classified documents concerning Hamas hostages in Gaza, with intent to harm Israel’s state security, according to local reports.
At a hearing on extending Feldstein’s arrest, Masarwa said prosecutors had presented “sufficient apparent evidence” regarding the charges of illicit transfer and leaking of classified information.
“However,” the judge concluded, “I have found weakness in the evidence for the charge of transferring classified information with the intent to harm the state.”
Prosecutors had charged Feldstein, a former spokesman in the Prime Minister’s Office, with leaking secret information intended to damage state security, an offense carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
A noncommissioned officer who has not been publicly named and who is part of the Israel Defense Forces’ Military Intelligence Directorate, has also been indicted in the case.
The officer, who is accused of passing Feldstein the documents, is being charged with five counts of providing confidential information, obstruction of justice and theft.
The district court ordered the release of both suspects to house arrest by Thursday, barring a possible appeal. Masarwa ordered prosecutors to announce by 1 p.m. on Wednesday whether they will appeal the ruling.
Yehoshua Feldstein, Eli Feldstein’s father, told reporters outside the court on Tuesday afternoon that the ruling had restored his trust in the state.
“It was tough that my son was suspected of harming state security, and I am glad that the judge ruled that there are no such suspicions,” he said. “We are sure justice will be served regarding the other counts as well.”
Feldstein stands accused of leaking a classified file to the German daily Bild with the aim of reducing public criticism of the government after Israeli forces in Gaza discovered the bodies of six murdered hostages.
The PMO has sharply criticized the probe, noting that dozens of leaks have poured out of hostage talks and Cabinet meetings, and yet only the one that has implicated the PMO is being investigated.
Critics who have taken Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s side have questioned why the files were withheld from the PMO to begin with.
They have also attacked Feldstein’s treatment by the authorities, as well as the treatment of the others arrested as part of the probe.
Feldstein was held for weeks without being charged. Late last month, a makeshift noose was found in his cell. He was immediately transferred to “a suicide-prevention observation cell,” the Israel Prison Service said.
Though Netanyahu himself has not been accused in any of the probes, he last month denounced the investigations as an “unprecedented campaign against the Prime Minister’s Office in the midst of a war.”
The premier in a statement on Nov. 12 accused Israeli law enforcement of detaining employees of his office “in basements” without access to lawyers, in an attempt to extract false statements against him.