Israeli police questioned a top aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for more than five hours over the alleged falsification of an official record related to last year’s surprise attack by Hamas militants.
Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu’s chief of staff, is suspected of forgery and fraud involving an account of events on October 7, 2023, the Times of Israel reported Friday.
He was questioned Thursday afternoon and evening by investigators from the Israeli police department’s major crimes unit, known as Lahav 433, the Times of Israel said.
Braverman is reportedly suspected of changing the time when Netanyahu’s then-military secretary, Maj. Gen. Avi Gil, first alerted him to the deadly Hamas attack that sparked the latest Mideast war.
Gil called Netanyahu at 6:29 a.m. but Netanyahu didn’t give Gil any instructions and instead told him to call back in 10 minutes, the Times of Israel said, citing a report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
When Gil called back at 6:40 a.m., Netanyahu reportedly then ordered a assessment of the situation.
Braverman allegedly tried to get a stenographer to change the time of the second call to 6:29 a.m., then changed it himself when the stenographer refused, the Times of Israel said, citing a report by Israeli TV station Channel 12.
The police investigation was reportedly opened after Gil shared his suspicions about the matter with Attorney General Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara shortly before Gil left his post as military secretary in May.
The alleged alteration is among several accusations Gil made against Braverman, who was reportedly cleared in an alleged scheme to blackmail an Israeli military officer by threatening to release an embarrassing surveillance video recorded in the prime minister’s office.
Braverman denied the allegations against him as “severe slander” and Netanyahu’s office called them “another complete fabrication that is also part of an unprecedented media witch hunt against the Prime Minister’s Office during wartime, designed to whitewash the grave failures of others on the night of October 7,” according to the Israeli newspaper.
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