Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu selectively pursues security-leak investigations when disclosures harm him politically, while allowing highly classified information that serves his interests to be released, journalist Ronen Bergman alleged in an interview with 103FM on Monday,
Speaking with Ron Kofman and Prof. Aryeh Eldad, Bergman also addressed a New York Times report that the Mossad had attempted to recruit former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Eldad asked whether publishing details of the alleged intelligence effort served Israel’s security interests, beyond the public’s right to know.
“The report in The New York Times is based on European, Iranian, and American sources,” Bergman said. “These materials are being published as part of the coverage of the issue.”
“I do not think the American sources received censorship approval, but today I read a separate investigation in Haaretz saying that the entire report had been submitted to the censor for approval,” he added. “In other words, it was approved.”
Bergman defends publication of intelligence reporting
“This is a military, intelligence, and political situation that failed,” Bergman said. “The role of the press is to shine a light on the dark corners and ask how we became entangled in this affair.”
Bergman then criticized what he described as the large number of alleged security leaks originating from the Prime Minister’s Office.
“One hand is leaking, and that same hand is ordering the investigation,” he said. “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, or through his mouthpieces, releases and leaks enormous quantities of security information classified at the highest levels.”
Netanyahu lacks blanket declassification authority, Bergman says
Bergman rejected the claim that Netanyahu has the right to disclose sensitive information independently and without consultation.
“Netanyahu has appropriated an authority that he does not have under the law, the authority to declassify any information,” Bergman said. “He has decided that he possesses absolute authority, like the philosopher’s stone that turns lead into diamonds.”
“Every time he sees a classified document, he thinks he can touch it with a magic wand and turn it into an unclassified document,” he added. “That is illegal.”
'An attempt to intimidate journalists'
Bergman alleged that efforts were being made to frighten journalists and deter them from carrying out their work.
“There is a hand operating here that is trying to intimidate journalists and discourage them from doing their jobs, so that, God forbid, they do not publish what the prime minister does not want published,” he said.
“Channel 12 has a report concerning classified information that was never broadcast,” Bergman continued. “On the other hand, Channel 14 constantly publishes enormous quantities of information. Yaakov Bardugo boasted that he had revealed the date of the strike in Iran.”
“There is no genuine desire here to investigate leaks,” Bergman concluded. “There is a political desire by the prime minister to enlist the security and law-enforcement systems to silence those who uncover information that others do not want exposed.”