Yonatan Urich, an adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was arrested late Wednesday night after questioning, was released from detention on Thursday, but the decision was then overturned later at night. He, along with former Prime Minister’s Office military spokesman Eli Feldstein, are main suspects in the “Qatargate” case.
On Wednesday night, interrogators presented Urich with a new series of correspondences, including with Feldstein, after police acquired new information that sheds light on the money trail and the massive pay from Qatar that Urich allegedly received.
Shortly before he was set for release, police arrested him once more, which resulted in the hearing before Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court Judge Menahem Mizrahi on Thursday. At the hearing, an interrogator explained that the suspicions against Urich had strengthened, and that the version of events as he told it had been changed. Urich was held for suspected tampering with the investigation and endangering national security.
At the hearing that released him, Mizrahi said, “a judiciary that seeks to protect individual freedoms” could not accept the police’s appeal to keep Urich in detention. Late Wednesday night, Urich and Feldstein, who have been under house arrest for a few weeks now, were brought in for questioning on the case.
Police requested a stay of execution on Thursday, and a hearing took place later in the evening to challenge Mizrahi’s decision. Lod District Court Judge Amit Michles accepted the police’s appeal, and determined that Urich’s arrest is to be extended.
Barring his house arrest, Urich is forbidden from leaving the country, his passport remains surrendered, and he will have to appear at an interrogation if he is called.
According to reports, police suspect that several businessmen who have security backgrounds and were investigated in the case were operated by the Qatari secret service.
Urich, Feldstein are connected by two cases
Urich and Feldstein are connected with two cases that are being investigated by the police and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), the Qatargate case and the “leaked documents” case. In Qatargate, police are investigating alleged Qatari influence on figures close to Netanyahu.
In the leaked documents case, Feldstein was investigated for allegedly leaking classified military documents to the German daily Bild, after they failed publication by the Israeli military censor. The documents were publicized, allegedly in an effort to sway public opinion on the hostage negotiations. Channel 13 reported that the Shin Bet was actively involved in Urich’s interrogation on Wednesday.
Two weeks ago, the Lod District Court overturned a Magistrate's Court decision on Urich's house arrest, remanding him to it.
Feldstein was arrested in February. While working as a military spokesman at the Prime Minister's Office, Feldstein was allegedly simultaneously employed by an international company funded by Qatar.
Allegedly, Urich and another Netanyahu aide, Israel Einhorn, fed Israeli journalists information, through Feldstein, cited as from intelligence sources, when it really originated in Qatar.
Supposedly, the goal was to boost Qatar's image in the Gaza hostage and ceasefire negotiations, while belittling that of Egypt's as the other mediator. Qatar has denied any such initiative.
An unnamed former security official was arrested and interrogated in connection with Qatargate on Thursday. This person is allegedly suspected of bribery, contact with a foreign agent, and money laundering.
Amichai Stein contributed to this report.