Israel’s next UK ambassador barred from leaving country over leak probe
Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, has rejected calls to suspend Tzachi Braverman’s appointment to London
Israel’s designated next ambassador to the UK has been banned from leaving the country as he faces investigation over the leak of classified military documents.
Tzachi Braverman, chief of staff to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was arrested and interrogated for 13 hours by Israel’s major crime unit on Sunday.
After questioning Israeli authorities imposed a 30-day travel ban on Braverman and barred him from entering the prime minister’s office for 15 days.
The investigation centers on allegations that Braverman attempted to interfere with a probe into the leak of secret documents from Netanyahu’s office.
These documents, published by German newspaper Bild in 2024, reportedly supported Prime Minister Netanyahu’s rationale for continuing the war in Gaza.
The scandal comes at a sensitive moment for Israeli diplomacy with this UK.
There has been no ambassador in London since Tzipi Hotovely left her post in September.
Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, has rejected calls to suspend Braverman’s appointment to London, saying the police investigation should not prevent him from taking up his new posting.
Lawyers for Braverman said: “He is at the end of his term, when he was supposed to take up the position of Israel’s ambassador to Britain in the near future… these conditions even thwart the date of his taking up the position of ambassador.”
This vacuum coincides with major developments, including the UK’s recognition of Palestinian statehood last year under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and ongoing uncertainty over the future of Gaza, where the possibility of renewed Israeli military action remains.
According to investigators, Braverman allegedly summoned a fellow aide to a clandestine meeting in a car park beneath the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv. There, he is said to have revealed his knowledge of the still-secret investigation and claimed he could suppress it.
Braverman has denied all wrongdoing, calling the police investigation “delusional” and “political.” He has announced plans to appeal the travel restrictions and his ban from the prime minister’s office.
The classified documents at the heart of the investigation included Israeli intelligence assessments suggesting that Hamas was not interested in reaching a hostage deal, but instead intended to prolong the conflict to improve its position in future negotiations.
Bild reported that the intelligence was allegedly found on a computer believed to belong to Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s commander in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s Likud party said on Sunday that the move against Brverman was “nothing more than a continuation of the campaign of persecution against the prime minister and his team”.
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