PM’s aide Urich released to house arrest; Herzog: Qatargate must be ‘deeply probed’
President urges coalition to respect coming court ruling on its decision to fire Shin Bet head; rejects government, opposition claims: ‘There’s no deep state, there’s no dictatorship’
Jonatan Urich, one of the main suspects in the so-called Qatargate probe, was released to house arrest following his interrogation Monday after police decided not to request an extension of his remand.
Urich, a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been held in custody for a week while questioned.
Eli Feldstein, the second main suspect in the affair, who was arrested at the same time as Urich, was released to house arrest on Friday.
The Qatargate affair involves suspicions that Netanyahu aides committed multiple offenses tied to their alleged work for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corruption allegations involving lobbyists and businessmen. They are suspected of taking money to spread pro-Qatari messaging to reporters, in order to boost the Gulf state’s image as a mediator in hostage talks between Israel and Hamas, all while in the prime minister’s employ, a judge said last Tuesday, as he lifted a gag order on the so-called Qatargate case.
Police also want to question a third aide, Yisrael Einhorn, who currently resides in Serbia. Qatar, which has played a key role in hostage negotiations, backs Palestinian terror group Hamas and hosts its political leaders.
Several additional people have also been interviewed in connection with the scandal, including Netanyahu, who is not a suspect and denies all knowledge of the matter.
Also on Monday, President Isaac Herzog said the Qatargate scandal raises questions that must be fully investigated by authorities.
“There are questions that need to be deeply probed,” he told a Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper conference. “I trust the police and law enforcement authorities. These are subjects that are critical to Israel’s security.”
Herzog also addressed key issues that are causing deep rifts within Israeli society, including the government’s controversial judicial overhaul, its firing of the Shin Bet security agency chief Ronen Bar, and the hostages still held by terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
“There’s no deep state and there’s no dictatorship here,” Herzog asserted, rejecting claims by Netanyahu’s government that a “deep state” of unelected bureaucrats is obstructing his right-wing government and the accusations of anti-judicial overhaul and anti-government critics that the coalition is destroying the country’s democracy.
“A large silent majority in the country says there will be no civil war, they will unequivocally obey the law, and unequivocally obey the High Court rulings,” he said.
Several ministers have said the government should disobey the High Court if it rules the government’s firing of Bar to be illegal. The court is to hear petitions against the firing on Tuesday.
The government dismissed Bar last month. Netanyahu has claimed he lost faith in Bar following the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, when thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
Bar said in a bombshell letter on Friday that Netanyahu repeatedly demanded he inform the judges in the premier’s criminal trial that the prime minister could not regularly testify in court due to security concerns. Bar said his refusal to heed Netanyahu’s request was the reason for the breakdown in trust between the two.
Critics of the prime minister have accused him of seeking to fire Bar due to an ongoing Shin Bet probe into the Qatargate affair. They note that Netanyahu cooperated closely with Bar for over a year after the onslaught and that Bar had been a key part of Israel’s negotiations team for a ceasefire and hostage deal.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin, chief architect of the judicial overhaul, has urged the government to boycott Bar if the court nullifies his ousting. The court has, in the meantime, frozen Bar’s dismissal until the petitions are heard, but Netanyahu has already said he will appoint the deputy head of the security agency as interim chief.
In its response to the court, the government dismissed the petitions against firing Bar as “nonsense” and “lacking legal foundation, an appropriate cause, and a factual basis.”
Herzog called on the government to respect the court’s decision, whichever way it goes.
“There is a duty to absolutely obey the court’s rulings, this is a basic rule,” he said. “The court is essential for us to function as a democratic society.”
Herzog repeated his calls for a state commission of inquiry into failures that enabled the October 7 disaster and the handling of the war since, including efforts to bring home the hostages. Such a commission would enjoy the broadest authority of any inquiry.
Netanyahu has sought to shift the responsibility for the colossal failure onto the shoulders of the security establishment while also refusing to allow the formation of a state commission of inquiry to examine the events surrounding that day.
The Times of Israel Community.