Described as the worst security breach... How did an Israeli officer spy on his army in the Gaza war?

The accused accessed sensitive military information that he was not authorized to access (French)

The Israeli "Wala" website revealed exciting details about a case that preoccupies public opinion, describing it as the worst security breach in the history of Israel, after a court in Beersheba allowed the publication of additional details in the case that broke out last month.

A reserve officer was able to wander for weeks between military bases that he had no right to enter, and obtained highly sensitive and confidential information, including the deployment of forces, and handed it over to military and civilian personnel, before he was arrested and prosecuted on charges of espionage and impersonation.

The website revealed what it described as "one of the aspects of chaos" that prevailed in the Southern Command of the Israeli occupation army in the first days of the war on the Gaza Strip.

According to the website, the detained Israeli previously served in the army for 6 years in multiple units and left as a first lieutenant, a rank he held in the reserve forces in the current war.

Impersonation and ranks

The indictment stated that the detainee presented himself to a person on one occasion as a captain sent by a military formation to illegally obtain information of the highest degree of confidentiality, and recorded it in various ways and shared it with civilian and military officials who were not authorized to view it.

The prosecution stated that the accused met a soldier at her work site, and claimed to have come to offer assistance, but he was informed of the necessity of obtaining an information security officer’s license. He took advantage of the soldier’s handing him her cell phone to add his number, to send two messages without her knowledge saying, “We will be happy to learn in the operating room how to do work.” “More effective and what we should do when we receive conflicting reports from the field.” The goal, according to the prosecution, was to convince soldiers and officers that he was authorized to handle the affairs of the operations rooms in the Southern Command.

He also spoke to a reservist about classified and top secret material and was able to record their conversation using his cell phone.

War pressure

The Walla website quoted the prosecution as saying that the reserve officer took advantage of the state of pressure that the soldiers were under due to the war on Gaza to get what he wanted, using licenses, one of which allowed, for example, the entry of two people from outside the army to a military base that they had no right to enter.

This espionage activity continued until the accused was arrested on October 15, when he corresponded with a female officer who introduced himself to her as an operations officer on a mission to recruit reserve soldiers with the appropriate qualifications. During the correspondence, he transferred to her information that she was not authorized to receive.

According to the prosecution’s petition, during the period between 7 and 15 October last year, the accused was able to enter command headquarters, operations rooms, and war rooms that he was not authorized to enter, and using his cell device, he was able to collect and transmit secret information, including the means available to the army and those not available, and explanations of military capabilities classified under "secret".

Source: Israeli press