District court ruling paves way for Qatargate suspect Urich to resume work with Likud

The Lod District Court rejects the police’s appeal against allowing central Qatargate suspect Jonatan Urich to meet with a senior figure in Likud, effectively allowing him to resume his work for the ruling party, Hebrew outlets report.

Urich, who is suspected of doing paid PR work for Qatar while in the prime minister’s employ, was barred by the court in September from working in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and speaking with other employees. No mention was made of Likud party officials, according to Haaretz.

Police tried earlier this month to keep Urich from contacting Likud’s acting executive director David Sharan, on the basis of his ban from the Prime Minister’s Office, after Sharan reached out to the suspect over a professional matter. But the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court rejected law enforcement’s attempt to bar contact.

The Lod District Court now upholds the lower court’s decision. In his ruling, Judge Amit Michles rejects the police’s argument that a prospective meeting between Urich and Sharan could lead to a “blurring of boundaries” between the Likud and the Prime Minister’s Office, Channel 12 reports.

Urich, along with Netanyahu’s former spokesman Eli Feldstein, is suspected of contact with a foreign agent and breach of trust after allegedly spearheading a pro-Qatari public relations campaign to cast the Gulf state in a positive light.

Judge Menachem Mizrahi, who is overseeing the case in the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court, has frequently rejected police requests to impose restrictions on Urich. Many, but not all, of Mizrahi’s decisions have been overturned by Michles, more inclined to believe there is reasonable suspicion that Urich has committed criminal offenses.