The testimony of former Prime Minister's Military Secretary Maj. Gen. Avi Gil to Israel Hayom's Yoav Limor takes on new significance in light of an official document from the State Comptroller's Office.
Gil recounted that in January 2024, a stenographer entered his office, closed the door and told him that Netanyahu's chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, had requested the transcript of a conversation between Gil and the prime minister on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, which took place at 6:40 a.m.
According to the stenographer, Braverman asked her to change the time to 6:29 a.m. She told him he was mistaken and that the conversation had taken place at 6:40 a.m., but he insisted he had been on the call and that the correct time was 6:29 a.m. When she pointed out that the digital timestamp showed 6:40 a.m., he responded, "Did you hear what I said?" He then took a blue marker and wrote "6:29" on the transcript.
New information now sheds light on what preceded those events in January.
In an official response from then-State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman to the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, the comptroller stated that, as announced in a public statement dated Jan. 27, 2023, notices had been sent to officials at every level of government regarding the launch of an audit into the failures preceding the Oct. 7 massacre and the government's handling of the civilian home front.
What prompted the review?
The notices were sent to the prime minister, government ministers, relevant officials in the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet and Socio-Economic Cabinet, as well as officials in the Israel Defense Forces and the defense establishment.
A comparison of the dates indicates that the comptroller approached the Prime Minister's Office in late December 2023, requesting documents. Just a few weeks later, in January, Braverman began taking steps involving transcripts from the morning of the massacre, including the alleged attempt to change the time of the phone call, according to Gil's account.
The timing raises concerns that the collection of materials may not have stemmed from an internal initiative to investigate the events of the morning of the massacre, but rather from the State Comptroller's audit, which required the documents to be submitted.
"A completely honest mistake"
Sources close to Braverman told Israel Hayom: "There was no 'alteration of transcripts.' That is an outright lie, and no such allegation has been made. There was a correction, bringing forward the recorded time of a conversation from 6:40 to 6:29 (in clear, legible handwriting), with no change whatsoever to the content.
"The correction was made in good faith following a conversation Braverman had with the military secretary at 6:33 a.m., during which the latter informed him that he had finished speaking with the prime minister at 6:29 a.m. Because Braverman was unaware of a separate, later conversation at 6:40 a.m., he made an entirely honest mistake. These facts were established during an investigation that concluded more than a year ago and is awaiting a decision. We have no idea what collection of documents by Braverman you are referring to."
