Court orders Netanyahu aides released from house arrest in Qatargate case
Judge rejects police request that Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein be held for a further 21 days, but grants 48 hours for cops to appeal their release
The Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close aide Jonatan Urich and former spokesperson Eli Feldstein to be released from house arrest, despite the state’s request that they be held under such conditions for another 21 days.
The two were arrested in late March in connection with their alleged role in the so-called Qatargate scandal involving ties between them and Qatar, but were released to house arrest at the beginning of April.
The police expressed concerns that Urich would try to obstruct the investigation should he be released, but Judge Menachem Mizrahi said that neither Urich nor Feldstein was suspected of having attempted such activity while under house arrest and could therefore be released.
Mizrahi added that the further investigative activities, which the police have requested to carry out, do not warrant keeping the two suspects under house arrest.
The judge suspended the decision to release the two from house arrest for 48 hours, however, to allow the police the opportunity to appeal the decision.
In the so-called Qatargate affair, Urich and Feldstein are suspected of multiple offenses tied to their alleged work for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corruption charges involving lobbyists and businessmen, while at the same time working for the prime minister.
Several additional people have also been questioned in connection with the scandal, including Netanyahu, who is not a suspect and denies all knowledge of the matter.
During the court proceedings, Mizrahi questioned why Urlich and Feldstein should be held under house arrest when the measure has not been applied to any other suspects in the case.
Police also want to question a third aide, Yisrael Einhorn, who currently resides in Serbia.
Aside from Qatargate, Feldstein was charged in November with harming national security in a separate case involving the theft and leaking of material from a classified IDF document to the German daily Bild in an effort to sway public opinion toward Netanyahu. Urich is also a suspect in that case.
Earlier this month, Netanyahu accused the police of holding Urich and Feldstein “hostage,” claiming that investigators were grasping at straws with no actual evidence to back up their “political investigation.”
The prime minister, who claims to be the victim of a “deep state” plot against him, has also argued that the Qatargate probe was only ordered by Attorney General Baharav-Miara and begun by Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to create an ostensible conflict of interest in which the prime minister could not fire the security chief who was investigating his office.
The premier’s assertion contradicted the known sequence of events, as Netanyahu only initiated the process to dismiss Bar after the investigation into Qatar had already been launched.
The Times of Israel Community.