Israel's chief military censor, Gen. Sima Vaknin-Gil, is urging Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to investigate leaks to Haaretz related to economic ties between Israel and Iran, according to a report that aired Sunday on Channel 2 news.
According to the report by Channel 2 diplomatic correspondent Udi Segal, the military censor was referring to a series of articles written by Haaretz Editor-in-Chief Aluf Benn on the "oil arbitration" between Israel and the National Iranian Oil Company estimated to be worth billions of dollars, as well as a secret Israeli government bank account that holds some $256 million (about 1 billion shekels) meant to be used as compensation to the Iranian government for the debt owed to the Iranian oil company.
According to Channel 2, the censor clarified that the sources for Benn's articles must be probed, as few people were privy to the leaked information. At the same time, according to the report, most of the information published in the series was based on publicly available sources.
Read Aluf Benn's series of articles on the Israeli-Iranian 'oil arbitration': The secret hands guiding Israel’s controversial pipeline | Netanyahu signed secrecy order to conceal Israel-Iran legal battle | A French Jew and an Iranian judge try to settle Israel-Iran oil pipeline dispute | Israel holding over $250m it owes Iran for oil in secret account | Secrecy in Israel's oil industry: Lapid extended boss' tenure to tighten grip on firm
Haaretz responded to the report: "The newspaper acted lawfully and published information that is of interest to the public about economic ties with Iran."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.652591
