A hearing before Lod District Court Judge Amit Michles opened on Wednesday, on whether to allow Yonatan Urich, an advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and one of the chief suspects in the “Qatargate” investigations, to be allowed to return to his former place of employment at the Prime Minister’s Office.
Last week, the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court ruled to lift the restrictive measures placed on Urich. Israel Police appealed the decision to the District Court, leading to Wednesday’s hearing.
In the “Qatargate” case, Urich, along with other individuals, is suspected of working for a pro-Qatar lobbying effort while simultaneously advising Netanyahu, allegedly to improve Qatar’s image during the Israel-Hamas War, as the Gulf state functioned as a negotiator in hostage and ceasefire talks. Doing both of these things at the same time, especially when Urich was, as the police tried to prove, working as a public servant, would be problematic.
Urich is suspected of passing on classified information with the intention of harming state security and obstruction of evidence, as well as contact with a foreign agent, breach of trust and security, fraud, money laundering, and corruption.
Judge hears appeal to prevent Urich from serving in PMO
In particular focus is the “Leaked Documents Affair,” in which Urich is accused of orchestrating and planning, by the alleged execution of former PMO military spokesman Eli Feldstein, the illegal leaking of a classified document from the military reflecting Hamas's impressions of the successes of its efforts to rattle the Israeli public.
Feldstein allegedly leaked classified military documents to the German tabloid Bild after permission for their publication was denied by the IDF censor. He and Urich were both arrested on March 31.
The documents were eventually published, allegedly to sway public opinion on the hostage negotiations. This was around August 2024, when six hostages were killed by their Hamas captors in a tunnel: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Almog Sarusi, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Carmel Gat, and Alex Lobanov.