Yonatan Urich, one of the main suspects in the “Qatargate” case and an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was released to 10 days of house arrest on Monday.
The ruling was decided by Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court Judge Menahem Mizrahi.
The Israel Police originally requested that the house arrest for Urich and an unnamed former Mossad official, who was also questioned in connection with the case, be extended to three weeks.
The two were initially supposed to be let out on Thursday, but the Lod District Court extended their stay until Monday. Urich’s lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court for what they said was an unlawful extent of arrest, but their appeal was rejected.
At the hearing on Monday, Urich’s defense attorney Amit Hadad asked, “For this, you hold a man for five days? Under conditions of a security prisoner, in full solitary confinement? Why deliver him through the seven stages of hell?”
“When we appealed to the Supreme Court, they said, ‘You’ll understand soon why this was important [to keep Urich detained], soon the full picture will be clarified.’ We saw everything, there was nothing new, and this was completely useless,” he added.
Menahem Mizrahi sees the Urich case three times in a row
Mizrahi, in an unusual comment, said he doesn’t think there will come a day when an indictment will be issued against Urich.
This marks the third time that the case has been brought before Mizrahi. In the two previous instances, he moved to release Urich from detention; each time, the decision was appealed and won by the police. Last week, the case reached the Supreme Court, which ruled that the security concerns were significant enough to keep Urich in detention until Monday.
Hadad added on Monday that over the five days that Urich was in detention, he was questioned for a total of three hours.
“Since when is detainment used as a tool for punishment, to break someone down?” he asked.
Under the house arrest, Urich is required to appear for an investigation if called. He is also forbidden from leaving the country until August 12 and cannot contact anyone involved in the case.
Urich and former Prime Minister’s Office military spokesman Eli Feldstein were investigated for alleged Qatari connections and influences on figures close to the prime minister in efforts by the Gulf state to improve its image.
This allegedly happened in connection with the 2022 World Cup, which Qatar hosted. Allegedly, news tips given to journalists were presented as being sourced from intelligence figures when, in reality, they were sourced in Qatar. This was reportedly done to boost Qatar’s image in its mediator role in the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal agreements and to downplay that of Egypt.
Qatar denied any action of the sort. The case is still under investigation.
The other related case is the “leaked documents affair,” in which Feldstein was investigated for allegedly leaking classified military documents to the German daily Bild after they were denied publication by the Israeli military censor. The documents were eventually published, allegedly to sway public opinion on the hostage negotiations.