From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Police believe Qatargate suspect Urich sent pro-Qatar messages to media claiming they were from a source in Netanyahu’s office
Police suspect that Jonatan Urich, an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, passed along messages to reporters on behalf of Qatar, under the pretense that the messages were coming from senior Israeli political and security officials in the Prime Minister’s Office, Rishon LeZion Magistrate’s Court is told.
The suspicion is raised during a hearing this morning at the court, where police are requesting to extend the detention of Urich and his colleague Eli Feldstein, a former spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as part of an ongoing probe into the so-called Qatargate affair.
The two were detained for questioning by police yesterday and later taken into custody, and are suspected of having maintained illicit ties with Qatar while working in the Prime Minister’s Office.
During the hearing today, a police investigator claims that “Urich relayed messages to the media on behalf of the Prime Minister’s Office. The messages were conveyed [to Urich] by an entity that maintains ties to and is funded by the state of Qatar, and they were presented as messages originating from a political or security entity.”
At the hearing, Urich’s lawyer asks a police representative whether the “foreign agent” with whom Urich and Feldstein are alleged to have been in contact is lobbyist Jay Footlik. “Footlik and the state of Qatar,” the police representative replies.
Hearing proceedings also reveal that both Urich and Netanyahu had been asked during their interrogations yesterday whether the former had leaked confidential information from the cabinet, according to a report from the Kan public broadcaster.
Tomorrow, the gag order over the investigation will be lifted, after the court ruled on its cancellation following a request from Urich and Netanyahu’s attorney, Amit Hadad.
The Times of Israel Community.