Yonatan Urich’s house arrest was terminated on Monday by Judge Menahem Mizrahi from the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court. Police were set to appeal the decision.
Mizrahi ruled that Urich would still be under surveillance, where he would be allowed to walk freely with someone who had signed as a guarantor for him until June 1. This decision was extended to a former Mossad official, who was also investigated in connection with the case.
“This case raises some weighty legal queries, ones I’d expect a proper response to and explanations for. The investigation rested on the assumption that Urich was a public servant, but some of the evidence can be interpreted in the opposite way,” said Mizrahi.
He added that the aspect of Urich’s operation as a public servant had not been supported enough to warrant an extension of house arrest. Mizrahi surmised that he was not convinced by the evidence that Urich’s did what he allegedly did while while working as a public servant, for example, in the Prime Minister’s Office – the crux of the accusation.
At the same time, Urich reportedly said during questioning this week that not only did he not advance messaging on behalf of Qatar, but that he actually did the opposite: he advanced public relations messaging against Qatar, and even encouraged the closure of Qatari-owned popular Arab news channel Al Jazeera.
Qatargate scandal
Urich, a close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was shuffled between house arrest and detention pending various court decisions over the past few weeks, and was finally released to house arrest after extended detentions earlier last week.
He and former Prime Minister’s Office military spokesman Eli Feldstein are the main suspects in what has become known as the “Qatargate” case. The two 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, where 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 negotiations and to downplay Egypt’s involvement.
This decision by Mizrahi marks the third time that he ruled in favor of more freedom for Urich, explaining each time that he did not see enough of a reason to keep him detained. The last two times, police appealed this decision to higher courts, and Urich was detained in the end.