Israeli Police to Question Netanyahu’s Chief of Staff Accused of Blackmailing Officer

Tzachi Braverman will be questioned under caution today by the police’s Lahav 443 serious crimes unit, Hebrew media reported.

Braverman was reported on Sunday to be the official suspected of blackmailing an Israeli military officer to alter minutes from wartime meetings by threatening him over a sensitive video recording of the officer.

The case, one of several scandals roiling the Netanyahu’s office, is largely under a court gag order. The reports said police will ask to lift the order after he completes his questioning.

Braverman’s name was first reported by the Kan public broadcaster, which also stated that the video in question had been obtained from security cameras in the Israeli premier’s office and that other employees in the office had been allowed to watch the recording.

In a statement, Braverman denied any such activity, calling the report “false” and “defamatory,” and claiming he had neither collected any such video nor attempted to use it for blackmail purposes: “This is a lie from start to finish, whose aim is to harm me and the Prime Minister’s Office in the middle of a war.”