Police appeal Magistrate Court’s decision to allow Urich to meet with PM
What police tried to do in this case is prove that Yonatan Urich worked as a public servant, including gathering testimonies from various defense officials.
The Israel Police appealed on Sunday a decision issued last week by Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court Judge Menahem Mizrahi to allow Yonatan Urich to return to work at the Prime Minister’s Office. Urich is an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a main suspect in the “Qatargate” investigation into allegations that aides to the prime minister were influenced by lobbyists on behalf of Qatar.
“There is no allowance to allow [Urich] to return to the same location from which he carried out his alleged crimes,” the police said.
Lod District Court Judge Amit Michles plans to conduct a hearing on the matter on Tuesday.
The police have tried to prove – including from testimonies by defense officials – that Urich was a public servant in his role as an aide. Establishing this would make the case stronger that Urich had operated against Israeli interests.
Was Netanyahu aware of Urich’s work with Qatar?
According to the appeal, the prime minister was not aware of the full extent of Urich’s work with Qatar based on the available evidence.
(L-R): Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu, spokesman Yonatan Urich and former aide Eli Feldstein (illustrative) (credit: Canva, FLASH90/CHAIM GOLDBERG)
Mizrahi cited statements Netanyahu made in his testimony on the matter, indicating that there was nothing wrong with Urich allegedly cooperating with Qatar, being that it is “not an enemy state.”
On Sunday, the police said: “We have clear evidence that Urich’s alleged actions were carried out in direct opposition to the interests of the Prime Minister’s Office and, by extent, the Israeli public.”
When Urich was released from detention to limited detention, one of the conditions was that he was not allowed to make contact with anyone who works at the Prime Minister’s Office or is involved in the case.
Last Thursday, Mizrahi said there had been selective treatment regarding Urich compared with Eli Feldstein, a former military spokesman in the Prime Minister’s Office, who is also a suspect in the case. Feldstein had not been forbidden to contact Prime Minister’s Office personnel, he said, adding that there was no logical reason to keep Urich bound by that condition.
