According to a report from Israeli television, the political and personal tension between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yair Winter is rooted in a private interaction regarding the legal representation of Eli Feldstein. Feldstein, a former aide currently at the center of a high-profile security leak investigation, served under Winter during their time in the Israel Defense Forces.

The report claims that Winter advised Feldstein’s father against retaining the services of the Prime Minister’s personal lawyer. Winter allegedly told the father, "You need to think about your son, not Netanyahu," suggesting that the lawyer’s primary loyalty would be to the Prime Minister rather than to the legal defense of the younger Feldstein. This intervention is cited as the catalyst for Netanyahu’s subsequent campaign against Winter.

While the report frames the conflict as a clash between personal loyalty to an aide and the Prime Minister's desire to control the narrative surrounding the security leak, it relies on anonymous sources familiar with the private conversation. Neither the Prime Minister’s office nor representatives for Winter have provided a public rebuttal to the specific claims regarding this conversation. The report highlights the complex intersection of military-era relationships and the current legal pressures facing the Prime Minister’s inner circle.