The first meeting was held on December 24,2018, at Elkabetz's office for the purpose of a legal assessment. Present at this meeting were: Elkabetz, Barkai, Steif, Canetti and Adv. Danino - a representative of the Military Advocate General's Office. Shteif arrived at this meeting with the binders and exposed the attendees to the materials contained in them, including: the HaBayit HaYehudi affair, suspicion of "sex for appointment" and an intimate relationship with a lawyer who wanted to promote her partner. Elkabetz, Barkai and Kanti confirmed that they knew that the materials were produced from devices given to Steif by Chani. At the end of this meeting, Adv. Danino instructed them not to publish the materials until they received approval from her commanders at the State Attorney's Office. Contrary to Naveh's claim, Adv. Danino did not instruct the participants not to review the material.
The second meeting was a professional preparatory meeting and was held on December 27,2018 at Barkai's home. This meeting was attended by: Barkai, Steif, Canetti and Shahar. The meeting was intended for the purpose of analyzing the materials from a journalistic point of view and preparing them for publication, after receiving the approval of the legal counsel. At this meeting as well, those present were exposed to the materials found in the binders, including correspondence with (then) Judge Etti Kreif and Minister Ayelet Shaked. In the materials presented for review, nothing related to Naveh's personal affairs was found, such as family photos or correspondence relating to attorney-client relations.
Steif did not update the other defendants regarding the method of obtaining the materials presented, but noted that the materials were received from Mahani. This version was accepted as plain to the other defendants, who did not know at the time about the improper way in which the information was extracted from Naveh's mobile devices.
Report to the State Attorney's Office and the Police's Investigation
- Adv. Danino explained that after the meeting that took place at the offices of Galatz on December 24,2018, "I returned to the office, I updated the head of the Counseling and Legislation Department, we examined case law and articles, we updated the MAG office, we wanted to formulate our position on this issue, and at a certain point the head of the Counseling and Legislation Department informed me that it was decided to update the Deputy Family Appellant, and he believes that it is not possible to publish and that the materials should be transferred to the police, and he asked to delve further into the matter" (Par. p. 377, paras. 16-19).
- A similar version emerged from the testimonies of the defendants, who explained that the MAG Corps' response to the question of the publication of the materials produced from Naveh's devices was ashamed to come. According to Shahar: "... Usually within 24-48 hours you get guidance from the legal counsel and we saw that it takes a little longer. Yes, we felt in that meeting, or I personally felt in that meeting with Razi that the legal advisor of the State Attorney's Office doesn't know how to handle such an affair that is big for him, they are not legal advisors. There are law firms that specialize in advising the media and know how to give advice. It seemed that they don't know how to deal with the affair. At that point, I didn't talk to anyone from the MAG Corps, everything was mediated by Nurit. We started talking and said that maybe it was right for them to tell us OK, we don't know how to handle it, go out to a law firm that works with the media and ask for their advice." (Par. p. 288, paras. 23-30).
- In these circumstances, Elkabetz turned to the MAG Corps for answers, as follows: "... Yifat... She is now the MAG Officer, she was the head of the Legislative Branch at the time, and I would constantly ask Yifat what was happening. Why, two days have already passed. How long can it be checked, let's check it" (Par. p. 408, paras. 33-36).
And later: "I remember that there were several conversations. As if on my level, I'm interested in knowing what's going on, because you understand, there was pressure from Marzi, Nurit and Hadas, Ilil. What's going on, why don't they publish it, it will come out, we're telling you all the materials, you can't keep things, what are you doing? And I said I want to get an orderly answer from the State Attorney's Office" (para. 409, paras. 2-6).