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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is engulfed in yet another political scandal. In what is being called “BibiLeaks”, after his nickname, the country's internal security service Shin Bet is looking into whether the Prime Minister’s office colluded with intelligence officers to disseminate classified material to foreign media outlets to sway domestic opinion on a Gaza hostage deal.
The case raises questions about the operational security of Israel’s prized intelligence services, the protection of the sources they use and whether there is a dangerous willingness among Israel’s ruling class to exploit intelligence for the political gain of Mr Netanyahu.
Several suspects are accused of passing on highly classified material that was then leaked to foreign media in a manner that benefited the Prime Minister. The courts have ruled that their actions could have seriously harmed national security and sabotaged the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. The fate of these captives is one of the most traumatic political issues Israel has faced, with Mr Netanyahu accused both domestically and abroad, including by the Biden administration, of compromising efforts to save them while continuing a full-throttled war in Gaza.
On Monday, a campaign representing families of the hostages called for an urgent investigation into the scandal, saying it indicated “one of the greatest frauds in the country’s history”.
“This is a moral low point like no other. It is a severe blow to the remaining trust between the government and its citizens,” they said.
One suspect was released on Sunday. Eli Feldstein, a spokesman for Mr Netanyahu and a close adviser, is still on remand, along with two defence and intelligence officials. Mr Feldstein’s detention has been extended for another six days as Shin Bet investigates. On Monday, the agency also arrested a junior military officer.
Suspicion among security agencies that something was amiss was aroused in September, after German tabloid Bild reported on a supposed Hamas document found by Israel’s military in Gaza, which Mr Netanyahu then cited as evidence that those advocating a hostage deal were falling for a ploy set by late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
The same week, UK-based outlet The Jewish Chronicle published a false report that Mr Sinwar had been plotting to smuggle hostages and himself out of Gaza through the Salah Al Din (also known as the Philadelphi Corridor), a string of land along Gaza’s border with Egypt. The article was based on Israeli intelligence that turned out to be fake.
Mr Netanyahu commented on these stories, using them as evidence to back up his controversial insistence on Israel keeping control of the corridor, which has been a major sticking point with Hamas in hostage negotiations. That Mr Netanyahu referred directly to the foreign media reports has raised suspicions about what he knew, and determining his role will be a top priority for investigators.
Hamas is believed to be holding about 100 hostages in Gaza, with as many as 40 of them presumed dead, according to the Israeli military. They were seized by the group on October 7 last year when Hamas launched a cross-border attack on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people. The subsequent war in Gaza has killed about 43,400 Palestinians, the enclave's Health Ministry estimates.
Senior Israeli politicians have voiced outrage over the leaks scandal. Benny Gantz, who used to sit on a war cabinet assembled by Mr Netanyahu after the October 7 attacks, said on X that “if sensitive security information was stolen and used as a tool in a political survival campaign, it’s not just a criminal offence, it’s a national crime”.
Mitchell Barak, an Israeli pollster who served as an aide to Mr Netanyahu when he was a deputy minister, told The National the episode is “earth shattering”.
He said Mr Netanyahu “may be in big legal trouble” and there are “people that can seriously go to jail, both in the army and in his office”.
“Not only does this undermine trust in the Prime Minister, it undermines trust in the army,” Mr Barak said. "The army was always off limits for politics but now it really seems that information from it was used to sway public opinion. It’s a political earthquake, a military earthquake. Everything is here.”
On Tuesday, Israeli police released a statement saying they were conducting a separate probe into "criminal incidents", which also appears to involve Mr Netanyahu's office, although much of the issue remains under a gag order.
The police statement said that the Lahav 433 investigations unit, which investigates corruption among other serious crimes, "is conducting a criminal probe related to incidents from the start of the war, including several open investigations".
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Final results:
Open men
Australia 94 (4) beat New Zealand 48 (0)
Plate men
England 85 (3) beat India 81 (1)
Open women
Australia 121 (4) beat South Africa 52 (0)
Under 22 men
Australia 68 (2) beat New Zealand 66 (2)
Under 22 women
Australia 92 (3) beat New Zealand 54 (1)
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Who are the Sacklers?
The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.
Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma.
It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.
Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".
The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.
Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.
First-round leaderbaord
-5 C Conners (Can)
-3 B Koepka (US), K Bradley (US), V Hovland (Nor), A Wise (US), S Horsfield (Eng), C Davis (Aus);
-2 C Morikawa (US), M Laird (Sco), C Tringale (US)
Selected others: -1 P Casey (Eng), R Fowler (US), T Hatton (Eng)
Level B DeChambeau (US), J Rose (Eng)
1 L Westwood (Eng), J Spieth (US)
3 R McIlroy (NI)
4 D Johnson (US)
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Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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