'Qatargate': Police appeal court decision to allow Urich to return to Netanyahu's office

Israel Police appealed a ruling allowing Netanyahu adviser Yonatan Urich, a key suspect in the “Qatargate” probe, to return to the PMO despite allegations of security breaches.

Israel Police appealed to the Lod District Court on Friday against the Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court's decision to loosen the restrictive measures onYonatan Urich, a senior advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and one of the chief suspects in the “Qatargate” investigations.

The Thursday decision by Judge Menahem Mizrahi permitted Urich to resume working at the Prime Minister's Office. During a hearing on the matter last month, police representative Supt. Aviv Porat warned against allowing such a move, as “this is a man... under investigation and may legitimately be allowed to return to the same place from which he carried out the alleged crimes.”

In the “Qatargate” investigation, Urich 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.

He 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.

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.

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.

Ruling in Urich's favor

This is not the first time the Magistrate's Court ruled in favor of Urich; the police appealed to the District Court, and it was overturned; this would be the fourth. A hearing before Lod District Court Judge Amit Michles has been set for Wednesday afternoon.

Israel Police wrote in the appeal that the Magistrate's Court “again and again makes the fundamental mistake when it comes to our requests [regarding Urich]. It ignores the weight of the allegations, the inaccurate comparison to other suspects in the case, and its international effects, ramifications, and complications.”

It further explained that the reason to keep Urich away from the PMO - and to prohibit him from contacting anyone connected to the Office or the company Perception, also at the heart of the investigations - is because the investigation has not yet concluded, and this could obstruct it.

Urich and Feldstein were both arrested on March 31.