Tachi Braverman, who serves in Israel as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff, was reported on Sunday as the official suspected of blackmailing an IDF officer into altering minutes of wartime meetings by threatening him with a sensitive video.
Braverman’s name was first reported by public broadcaster Kan, which also reported that the video in question had been captured by security cameras in the prime minister’s office and that other PMO officials had been allowed to watch it.
In a statement, Braverman denied any such activity, calling the report “false” and “slanderous” and claiming he had neither collected such video nor sought to use it for blackmail purposes: “This is a lie from start to finish. The aim is to harm me and the prime minister’s office in the midst of war.”
Within hours of the report, Braverman threatened legal action if the Kan network did not remove the article and demanded a public apology and NIS 100,000 (about $26,700) in compensation for its publication.
The Prime Minister’s Office released a letter from Braverman’s lawyer demanding an immediate apology and retraction from Khan’s political reporter Michael Semmes and the network’s general manager Golan Yohpaz. The letter called the Kan network’s report “lies, and fake news” and serious slander, along with wartime incitement, and claimed that Kan had not sought a response from Braverman before publishing the report.
Tachi Braverman, who serves as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff, was reported on Sunday as the official suspected of blackmailing an IDF officer into altering minutes of wartime meetings by threatening him with a sensitive videotape.
This report came on the heels of some others reporting that a complaint had been filed several months ago with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herchi Halevi, who alleged that the PMO was keeping and improperly using sensitive videos of an IDF officer.
An unnamed official in Netanyahu’s circle reportedly told Halevi that the officer had an inappropriate relationship with a female PMO worker, although a military investigation found the relationship was not an abuse of power.
According to Channel 13 news, PMO officials asked the woman in question to hand over her phone on suspicion of leaking information, but they actually used it to intercept her private conversations with the IDF officer.
The television network reported on Saturday night that police officials questioned several PMO employees in connection with multiple allegations connected to the office and gathered testimonies from employees during a visit to the office in Jerusalem.
The allegations against Braverman come amid allegations of scandals linked to the prime minister’s office for more than a week over leaks of sensitive information and the alleged theft of top-secret intelligence documents.
Netanyahu’s office has denied all these allegations and accused the police investigations of a witch hunt. Netanyahu himself has not been charged in any of the investigations.
Read also
Gerapetritis – Fidan: “Exploratory” before the meeting Mitsotakis – Erdogan – The intentions and the “thorns”
SYRIZA Extraordinary Congress: Work begins – New “fires” and accusations from both sides
Real estate, luxury watches and… welfare benefits – How the spiral that “hit” houses of shipowners and businessmen worked
Bakoyannis: The Aegean is not a Greek lake (Video)
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘
fbq(‘init’, ‘726515947549353’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
#Netanyahu #Staff #video #scandal #Top #aide #suspected #blackmailing #IDF #officer
