Netanyahu aide Jonatan Urich indicted for leaking classified intel to German newspaper 

The document, which was an internal Hamas memo that was obtained by IDF intelligence, was allegedly leaked to Bild to bypass the military censor of Israel. It was around a 9-month-old leak. The media reports later said that the newspaper had distorted the contents in the interests of the Netanyahu government. 

The alleged conspiracy 

The charges alleged that Netanyahu’s former military affairs spokesman Eli Feldstein and Urich routed the document, which was obtained from Ari Rosenfeld, IDF Military Intelligence NCO, knowing it was a classified document which the military censor had blocked, “while taking a real risk that critical security interests would be harmed.” 

Urich was also indicted for destroying evidence by switching phones after Feldstein and Rosenfeld were arrested. 

National security implications 

The State Attorney’s Office said in a statement to the press, “the actions of Urich, Feldstein and Rosenfeld led to the disclosure of the existence of a secret intelligence asset, its capabilities and the methods by which it was used. 

“The disclosure of the secret information to the public could cause real damage to the security interests of the State of Israel, mainly in the field of intelligence gathering and the disclosure of intelligence sources, through whom human lives are saved, since [the leak] could reveal missions, capabilities, methods of operation and the classified methods used by the intelligence community in various arenas,” it said. 

Court proceedings 

The Tel Aviv District Court was requested immediately to bar Urich from the Prime Minister’s Office and from all security facilities by the Prosecutors. The imposition of immediate restrictions was declined by the court. The hearing was scheduled for July 5. 

The broader scandal 

Yisrael Einhorn, who is the adviser to Feldstein, Urich, and Likud, is a suspect in the “Qatargate” affair, where the three allegedly 3 accepted payments in order to run a public relations campaign to portray Qatar favourably for more than a year following the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, despite Qatar’s hosting the terror group. 

Urich was informed of the plan to tout the classified document and approved it according to Feldstein. But when the Israeli media outlets could not publish it due to censorship restrictions, Urich helped to find a foreign news agency to publish it instead. 

Netanyahu’s office has declined to comment on the indictment. Urich’s lawyers called the decision “wrong and disconnected from the evidence.” 

(This article has been curated by Seekriti Saha, who is an intern at The Indian Express)