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PM’s spokesman leaked sensitive intelligence during Iran attack

Dr. Omer Dostri committed a “serious breach of information security procedures,” a security official said.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaked sensitive intelligence on the IDF’s aerial attack on Iran while it was ongoing Friday night, Channel 11 reported Tuesday.

Dr. Omer Dostri, who came into his position in the Prime Minister’s Office in August, “publicized footage and revealed details” that constituted “a serious breach of information security procedures,” said reporter Suleiman Maswadeh.

The documentation, a recording of persons involved in the attack, was supposed to first be reviewed by the security authorities so that elements could be blurred and any other necessary changes made. Formal approval of publication also had to be obtained before its release.

Neither of these steps were taken, said the reporter, and the clip was publicized widely both by the Israeli and international media.

“Publishing this documentation caused great commotion among the security bodies that were supposed to be responsible for it,” Maswadeh noted.

One official told the station that what Dostri did was “an extremely serious breach” of procedure.

The Prime Minister’s Office has yet to respond to a request for comment on the offense.

The daring weekend attack in response to Iran’s second launch of missiles on Israel saw three waves of IDF jets destroy facilities in Iranian military bases that produced vital ballistic missile components and mixed solid fuel for the missiles, as well as demolishing advanced equipment that it could not manufacture independently.

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A Saudi Arabian news site, Elaph, cited a source saying that it would take two years for Tehran to rebuild the factory that contained many heavy fuel mixers.

The operation also took out many radar systems and most of Iran’s advanced air defenses, including its powerful S-300 systems imported from Russia.

Three had remained after the IDF took out one in April in a pinpoint response to Iran’s first attack on Israel with 300 missiles and drones, almost all of which were shot down by the IDF and allies such as the U.S., Great Britain and even Jordan.

These guarded a large gas field and the country’s most important petrochemical production complex, as well as Tehran’s international airport, a vital port and a missile base.

A Fox News report Tuesday cited U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East Amos Hochstein as saying on an internal call, “Iran is essentially naked” now, as it cannot defend itself from an advanced airstrike.

Israel therefore has freedom of action in the skies above its biggest strategic enemy, a message made clear by IDF Chief of Staff Lieut. Gen. Herzi Halevi, who warned Iran not to respond because Israel “know[s] how to strike” and has capabilities it has not even shown yet.

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Israel refrained this time from attacking Iran’s economic lifeline, its gas and oil fields and production facilities, or its nuclear sites that constitute a strategic threat to Israel’s existence, reportedly due to massive U.S. pressure.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not ruled it out, however, telling the Knesset plenum at its opening session Monday that “Stopping the Iranian nuclear program is at the forefront of our minds, and for obvious reasons, I cannot share with you all our plans and actions in this regard.”