Court rejects police request to hold on to Qatargate suspect’s devices, citing low chance he can access them

The Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court has rejected the police’s request to hold onto three electronic devices belonging to Jonatan Urich, the central suspect in the Qatargate scandal.

Police have until Monday next week to appeal the decision. In March this year, officers seized two phones and a computer from Urich, an adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but have yet to access the content of the devices.

Urich, along with Netanyahu’s former spokesman Eli Feldstein, is accused of working for Qatar in order to cast the Gulf state in a positive light after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, despite Doha’s strong ties to the terror group.

In his decision, Judge Menachem Mizrahi notes the low likelihood that officers will manage to break into Urich’s devices.

Officers attempted to access the content of two devices without success, but made no attempt to unlock the third, Mizrahi writes.

The justice defends Urich’s choice not to disclose his password to police, saying it is his “constitutional right to take the path of refusal” and not incriminate himself.