Suspicion Urich leaked cabinet info allayed after PM says he authorizes material
Netanyahu told investigators he meets with advisers, spokespeople to decide what information to release to the press, prompting police to drop suspicion from Qatargate probe
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Police have reportedly removed from its Qatargate investigation the suspicion that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close aide Jonatan Urich, one of the key suspects in the scandal, leaked classified information from a security cabinet meeting.
The suspicion was dropped from the investigation after Netanyahu told police last week that, in general, he has and does authorize the publication of such information when he so wishes.
As part of the investigation, police were investigating the suspicion that Urich had leaked classified information from a security cabinet meeting in the context of his alleged work for a pro-Qatari lobbying organization boosting Doha’s image in Israel.
But according to Hebrew media reports, when Netanyahu was questioned about the issue during the open testimony he gave to the police last week, he told investigators that after security cabinet meetings he meets with his advisers and spokespeople to discuss what they might release to the press.
Channel 12 news reported that when Netanyahu was questioned about specific items of information that were leaked, he told investigators he could not recall whether he authorized their approval for publication.
Israel’s Basic Law: The Government allows the government and the prime minister to declassify classified information, although that power is subject to the approval of security officials and legal advisers in the agency from where the information originated.
Judge Menachem Mizrahi of the Rishon Lezion District Court mentioned the issue on Thursday during a hearing in the case, noting that one of the suspicions “has lost significance in light of the prime minister’s testimony,” apparently in reference to the classified information issue.
“Something serious dropped here,” said Mizrahi, to which the police investigator replied affirmatively.
The Qatargate affair involves suspicions that Urich and another Netanyahu aide committed multiple corruption offenses tied to their alleged work for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm while working for the prime minister, including contact with a foreign agent. Police also want to question a third aide, Yisrael Einhorn, who currently resides in Serbia.
Urich was arrested last week and held in detention for seven days, before being released on Monday under several restrictive conditions.
The Times of Israel Community.