State Attorney’s Office may forbid PM’s office from admitting Qatargate suspects

Representatives of the State Attorney’s Office say they are considering instructing the Prime Minister’s Office to forbid key suspects in the Qatargate case, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein, from entering the office.

State Attorney’s Office officials make the comments at a hearing in the High Court of Justice on a petition by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel demanding that anyone suspected of involvement in the Qatargate scandal be barred from entering and working at the PMO, and for procedures to be drawn up for the employment of officials there who do not have security clearance.

Urich in particular, who remains on the Likud payroll, has sought to return to work at the PMO after being released from house arrest earlier this year.

The Lod District Court in September extended a ban on Urich returning to his place of work for at least another 60 days, in accordance with a police request to prevent him from returning to the place where he allegedly committed several offenses, including taking money from Qatar to boost its image in Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

Neither Urich nor Feldstein had the necessary security clearance to work as PMO employees while they were working for Netanyahu. Urich is still employed as an adviser to Likud, while Feldstein was hired as an independent media adviser.

“It is very grave that the Prime Minister’s Office has become a ‘revolving door’ for officials operating without appropriate security clearance, while deliberately bypassing procedures,” Tomer Naor, one of the Movement for Quality Government’s attorneys, said before the hearing.

“A situation in which officials suspected of problematic ties with foreign countries hang out [in proximity] to the prime minister and are exposed to the state’s deepest secrets must not be allowed.”