Jonatan Urich’s attorney claims police tried to blackmail him during Qatargate questioning

The defense attorney for Jonatan Urich — one of the central suspects in the so-called Qatargate scandal — claims during a hearing in the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court that police investigators attempted to blackmail his client into testifying as a state witness, Hebrew news outlets report.

Urich was detained for questioning by police yesterday alongside his colleague Eli Feldstein, a former spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, regarding the pair’s alleged illicit ties to Qatar.

The two were brought before the court earlier today as police requested to extend their detention by nine days. Judges granted an extension lasting only until Thursday.

According to Urich’s attorney, Amit Hadad, who also represents Netanyahu, the suspect was threatened by police investigators during questioning yesterday. They supposedly pressured Urich into testifying against other suspects in the case, telling him to “think long and hard if he wants to see his baby” that night.

Hadad continues, claiming that investigators told Urich: “You know how to deduce one thing from another,” in effect telling him to become a state witness.

The investigator in the courtroom denies the accusations and says that “not a word was uttered about [Urich] being a state witness.” She further claims that it was Urich himself who brought up seeing his child that night, rather than police interrogators.

Urich and Feldstein are suspected of having been paid to spread pro-Qatar messaging to reporters in order to boost the Gulf state’s image as a mediator in indirect hostage talks between Israel and Hamas, all while in the employ of Netanyahu.