Tzachi Braverman, chief of staff to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is being investigated by the police on allegations that he had tampered with official documents relating to the 7 October Hamas attack. The police are checking claims that Braverman had tampered with some documents to make his boss look more responsive and decisive during the crisis.
The Israel’s elite investigative unit, Lahav 433 major crimes unit detectives, questioned Braverman on Thursday for more than five hours. According to the report, the investigation was based on changes to the government’s time stamps of the official calls to Netanyahu that were made during the Hamas onslaught.
Contradicting History of Netanyahu: Alteration of Timeline Accusation
The crux of the case relates to two telephone calls Netanyahu received as Hamas launched its crossborder raid on 7 October. Braverman is alleged to have doctored the recording of the first call from Netanyahu’s military secretary, Major General Avi Gil, to create the impression that Netanyahu had responded more promptly than he actually did.
Gil apparently called Netanyahu at 06:29 AM to update him on the development of the Hamas attack. Netanyahu however did nothing and asked Gil to call back in 10 minutes, at 06:40 AM. According to newspaper Haaretz, Netanyahu gave instructions to the situation for the assessment only during the second call at 06:40 AM.
Braverman has alleged that he altered the first call time to 06:29, which was the time Gil had called first; that made it look as though Netanyahu acted decisively compared to what he had done then. Braverman has said that he has made no factual changes, only the time to fit his version of events. “I know the first call was received at 06:29, therefore I insisted on changing it,” he is said to have testified during his interrogation.
Political and Legal Consequences
The attack on October 7 has been condemned as the biggest intelligence and military fail in Israel’s history. It resulted in the killing of large numbers of people with casualties, making senior military officers to resign. Netanyahu rejected personal responsibility, saying everything he could have done to prevent the attack had been done. His critics maintain that he should have prevented one of the deadliest attacks in Israel’s history since its establishment.
The alleged moves by Braverman could also complement the mounting political pressures on Netanyahu, already entangled in a scandalous corruption trial. The prime minister is set to give testimony about that case early next month after his efforts to have it dismissed failed. Netanyahu has maintained that the case is a politically motivated attack against him.
Considering the investigations into alleged document forgery and military failure, Netanyahu is now threatened in his political life. Braverman’s action of changing official documents can be very easily used as a reason not to believe Netanyahu as a leader, especially while Israel is under such international scrutiny because of this Hamas attack and its overall security policies.
Investigations Going On and Their Potential Consequences
The probe against Braverman remains at its infancy but may have serious implications for him as well as Netanyahu. Should Braverman be shown to have tampered with documents to conceal his leadership failure, this will leave a blemish on Netanyahu’s credentials and continue to feed the barrage of criticisms leveled against him for mishandling the 7th October attack. In addition, the ongoing corruption trial of the prime minister, set to resume next month, would bring added complexions to his political situation.
Critics of Netanyahu, however, will be paying close attention to whether new revelations, yielded by a series of investigations into the lapses of the military and intelligence in connection with the attack, might amount to calls for greater accountability. Netanyahu rejected the demand for a far-reaching and independent inquiry into the affair, calling it politically motivated.
(Includes inputs from online sources)
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