IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot’s VIP phone number recycled to businessman

High-ranking Israeli and foreign military officers called a businessman from central Israel on his new phone until it was found to have the former number of IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot.

Eisenkot had a VIP phone number – consisting of the same digit repeated several times and fewer digits than usual – until about a year ago. After his number was switched for security reasons, the IDF returned the phone number to the cellular service company, Cellcom, rather than freezing it.

In May, that number was assigned to a man who was simply referred to as “Yossi” on Army Radio.

For several months, Yossi received calls and WhatsApp messages from high-ranking officers, some reserve and some still in active service. “I received a bunch of messages regarding several Jordanian or Egyptian generals,” Yossi told Army Radio. “It lit a red light, ‘I need to return this phone.’”

It is unclear why the army did not freeze the phone number rather than returning it to the cellular company for reassignment.

One officer sent a text message to the number on Thursday saying, “Chief of Staff, thank you for your appointment and trust. This is a big moment for me.”

Some of the text messages included classified security information. If the phone number had landed in the wrong hands, a threat alert might have been imposed on the country’s security forces.