Judge bars Qatargate and Bild suspect Urich from PM’s office until early March

The Lod District Court rules that restrictions barring Jonatan Urich from the Prime Minister’s Office will remain in place until at least the beginning of March. Urich is a key suspect in the Bild and Qatargate investigations,

The Bild probe involves the leak of classified material. Qatargate surrounds allegations that PMO staffers, including Urich, simultaneously worked for the wealthy Gulf state.

The ruling once again overturns a decision by the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court regarding restrictive conditions for suspects in those investigations.

Judge Jacob Spasser writes that there is a “reasonable suspicion” that Urich transferred classified information which should have been kept secret to preserve state security, and on some occasions “did so intentionally to harm state security.”

“The apparent scene of the alleged offense is the respondent’s previous place of employment,” writes Spasser, referring to the PMO. “I do not see at this stage the possibility of returning the respondent to the scene of the crime, the unique sensitivity of which requires no explanation, and there is no choice but to remove him from the Prime Minister’s Office.”

The judge also rejects arguments that “there are no claims” Urich has tried to obstruct the investigation into the matter, pointing out that Urich got a new phone the day after Eli Feldstein, who has been indicted over the Bild case, was arrested.

The harm to Urich’s right to freedom of employment in barring him from the Prime Minister’s Office is outweighed by the possibility that he might once again leak classified documents and obstruct the investigations, Spasser rules.

Urich is therefore barred from the Prime Minister’s Office for 60 days, although that period is applied retroactively to begin on January 4, and will therefore expire on March 4, unless police request an extension.

He is also banned from contacting anyone connected to the investigation; from leaving the country; and from working for the Perception communications company, whose owner, Israel Einhorn, is also a suspect in the Bild and Qatargate affairs.