Press leaks from within the meetings of the Israeli war government sparked widespread interaction on the platforms, to the point that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested conducting lie detector tests for ministers before every government meeting.
The latest leaks reported by the major Israeli newspapers were from a “senior Israeli official” who spoke at times about the army’s incursion into Rafah, and at other times about faltering negotiations and Israel’s refusal to send a delegation to Cairo.
A number of questions were raised about the identity of this “senior official,” which were answered by the Israeli journalist on Hebrew Channel 12, Yaron Abraham, who said, “The political source and senior official is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as he is the one who leaked this information from his office.”
The journalist stressed that these leaks do not reflect all the viewpoints within the War Council, stressing that the “political source” who pledges for the 444th time in recent days to start an operation in Rafah is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Analysts expect that Netanyahu was aiming to feel the pulse of the street by releasing these leaks and reading the reaction of the Israeli street, and then managing the political scene accordingly.
The Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post commented on what the Israeli journalist revealed by saying, “Netanyahu’s goal with the leaks is to delude Israeli public opinion that there is a consensus on the issue of military escalation against the exchange deal.”
Episode (5/5/2024) of the “Shabakat” program reviewed the most prominent comments from Israeli platforms on the Benjamin Netanyahu leaks scandal, which almost agreed that Netanyahu is obstructing the negotiation deal and does not care about the prisoner file in order to maintain his position.
Double game
The tweeter, Manuela, praised the Israeli journalist for his position and exposed Netanyahu, and tweeted, “What Yaron (Abraham) did was a brave act, exposing the double game that the Prime Minister is playing with the aim of torpedoing the deal and returning our kidnappers.”
Merav partly agreed with Manuela about Netanyahu’s indifference to the prisoner issue, and said, “Everything Netanyahu published through the mouth of a political official confirms that this man does not care about the kidnappers in Gaza. His only concern is to maintain his position, but a day will come and the war will end and he will be tried and put in prison.”
As for activist Joel, she said, “Everyone knows Netanyahu’s statements since the start of the war, and what Yaron did put an end to this farce,” and she continued with a question calling on the public to be aware, “When will the public stop cooperating with this game as well?”
For his part, the account owner, David, believes that the matter is normal, and asked, “What is new in this talk? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is repeating and confirming his words, and this is a good thing,” and concluded his tweet, “We are fighting and completing the goals of our war on Hamas.”
On the other hand, a senior leadership source in the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) told Tel Aviv Tribune, “Our information confirms that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally is obstructing efforts to reach an exchange deal for the benefit of personal accounts.”
