Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, allegedly asked a Prime Minister’s Office stenographer to change the recorded time of a call between Netanyahu and his former military secretary, Avi Gil, on the morning of October 7, 2023, according to a transcript published by N12 on Sunday.
The transcript, which N12 dates to January 2024, reportedly shows Braverman speaking to a PMO stenographer and asking her to change the recorded time of Netanyahu’s secure-line call with Gil from 6:40 a.m. to 6:29 a.m.
“Wow, how beautiful. Look how sharp he is, Netanyahu. Look how sharp he is. It was at 6:29, not 6:40. Change the time,” Braverman said, according to the transcript.
The stenographer reportedly refused despite Braverman’s insistence, saying she was not permitted to change the computerized record.
However, despite her explicit objection and the fact that the record was an official, digitally signed document, Braverman did not back down, N12 reported. He allegedly took the printed transcript and changed the time in blue ink, writing it himself. The stenographer left the room and went to Gil to tell him what had happened.
Following the report, the information was passed on to the police investigation.
According to N12, Braverman wanted to change the time of the call between Gil and Netanyahu to suggest the prime minister received a detailed report immediately after the attack began.
Gil accuses Braverman of changing call log times
The account appears to align with what Gil said in an interview published by N12 and Israel Hayom on Thursday, in which he charged Braverman with making the changes.
“In January, one of the stenographers approached me and told me she had been instructed to retrieve the transcript of that 6:40 a.m. phone call and had been instructed [by Netanyahu’s then chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman] to change the time of the call from 6:40 to 6:29,” Gil said in the interview.
A statement shared with N12 on behalf of Braverman argued that the transcript is false.
“The stenographer was never told that Tzachi Braverman participated in the call. No such transcript of a conversation with her exists, and no such transcript was presented to him during his police questioning,” the statement read.
“We regret that it was not reported that the military secretary failed to mention during his police questioning a conversation he had with Mr. Braverman at 6:33 a.m., during which he informed Braverman about the call at 6:29 a.m.”
“We understand that after more than a year in which the case has been in the hands of the State Attorney’s Office, and with indications that it is heading toward closure, it has been revived as part of a political campaign of which Mr. Braverman is a victim.”
Braverman suspected of collecting classified protocols without authorization after Oct. 7
Separately, N12 reported on Sunday that Braverman has also been suspected of systematically collecting around 30 classified protocols without authorization in the month after the October 7 massacre.
The protocols reportedly included sensitive security discussions concerning the period leading up to the October 7 massacre, including those about Gaza and meetings with senior security officials concerning Hamas, according to N12.
According to N12, investigators suspected the documents had been collected to help shape the public narrative surrounding the events leading up to the massacre.
Braverman allegedly removed the documents without the required authorization, according to N12.
N12 noted that the case has been transferred to the Attorney General’s Office to decide whether to indict Braverman for violating procedures.
Miriam Sela-Eitam contributed to this report.
