Netanyahu aides under probe for suspected doctoring of October 7 phone records

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a call from one of his top generals on the morning of the October 7 attacks to warn him that hundreds of Hamas terrorists were preparing to launch an attack in Israel. Now, the prime minister’s aides are under probe as investigators think that they might have altered details of that call in the official records.

Netanyahu has been in troubled waters for a long time now. From corruption charges at home to getting blamed for the handling of the war, Netanyahu’s popularity has sunk both within and outside Israel.

According to a report by New York Times, an investigation of his aides might put a blot on his authority as it will reveal whether Netanyahu knew about the attack beforehand and might raise questions about the time he knew when Hamas was going to launch its offensive in Israel.

The case of forged phone records

On October 7, 2024 the prime minister spoke frequently with senior army officials including his military secretary Major General Avi Gil.

Police officials are ascertaining whether Netanyahu’s aides secretely changed his phone records. The bombshell revelation was made by Gil who left office earlier this year.

Gil wrote a complaint to the attorney general saying that the transcripts of the phone call between  him and Netanyahu seemed altered, adding that one of the prime minister’s aide had coerced the transcriber to doctor the transcripts.

Nentanyahu, however, has always denied being breifed about the attack.

Aides also leaked sensitive docs

Apart from this, PM Netanyahu’s aides have also been accused of leaking sensitive documents to a foreign news outlet.

Although Israeli officials often hand out documents to journalists, this particular leak is being thourougly probed by Shin Bet officials due to the nature of the documents. The documents were taken from highly classified military intelligence database.

Eli Feldstein, one of Netanyahu’s aides has already been arrested as part of the investigation along with other four officials who have been accused of helping to procure the document.