Israeli Police Clarify Soldier Suspected of Espionage Was Detained as Suspect, Not Complainant

The Israeli police clarified in a statement to Kikar HaShabbat that a soldier who arrived at a police station to file a complaint will not be arrested. They emphasized that Moshe Steiner, a 21-year-old from Bnei Brak, who was transferred from the Lahav 433 unit to the military police and sentenced to 20 days in military prison, was detained as a suspect, not as a witness.

Steiner, who previously studied at the Mir Yeshiva in Brachfeld and currently studies in Beit Meir, was summoned to Lahav 433 and questioned under caution in a criminal investigation related to espionage suspicions involving Iran. After the interrogation, military police officers awaited him in the parking lot and arrested him. Steiner is a relative of Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, head of the Mir Yeshiva.

The police explained that while individuals who come to police stations to receive services or file complaints are protected from arrest, Steiner was summoned as a suspect and not voluntarily seeking service. Once it was found that he was also wanted by the military police, the case was transferred to them for further handling. The police stressed that being a soldier who deserted does not grant immunity from transfer to military authorities after criminal investigation.

A key unresolved question remains whether Steiner was informed beforehand that he was summoned as a suspect under caution. Attorney Menachem Stauber is representing Steiner following his transfer to military prison.