Bar association demands Hadad explain how it’s not a conflict of interest for him to simultaneously represent PM and his aides

The Israel Bar Association’s ethics committee sent a letter to Amit Hadad demanding that he justify his decision to represent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the same time he is representing two other individuals involved in the Qatargate probe — Netanyahu’s top aide Jonathan Urich and another adviser Yisrael Einhorn, Einhorn reports.

The panel asks Hadad to explain how there isn’t a conflict of interest in representing all three of them at the same time, given that they’re all involved in the ongoing investigation into Netanyahu’s office’s allegedly illicit ties to Qatar. Of the three, only Urich is currently a suspect, though, and he’s currently under arrest.

The IBA’s bylaws bar members from representing a client “if there is a concern that he will not be able to fulfill his professional duty to him” or due to “an obligation or duty of loyalty that he has towards another.” The bylaws also bar a lawyer from representing “parties with conflicting interests in the same matter.”

During Netanyahu’s separate corruption trial on Monday morning, Hadad left the Tel Aviv courthouse to assist Urich after the latter was arrested in the Qatargate probe.

Hadad asked the court to cancel Netanyahu’s testimony planned for Tuesday in order to be present for Urich — a request that was accepted.

Last November, it was reported that Urich and Einhorn did public relations work for Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup as part of the latter’s PR firm Perception, corresponding to the start date of the probe’s time frame.

Police have been seeking to question Einhorn, who now resides in Serbia as an adviser to the country’s President Aleksandar Vučić, as part of the investigation but have struggled due to his living abroad.