Israeli police release Netanyahu aide to house arrest amid ‘Qatargate’ investigation

Israeli police released Jonatan Urich, a media adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to house arrest on Monday after a court order amid investigations into allegations of receiving money from Qatar to promote its image in the Israeli media.

According to the public broadcaster KAN, Urich, alongside Eli Feldstein, another Netanyahu aide, is suspected of involvement in “a series of serious offenses, including bribery, fraud, breach of trust, leaking classified information, money laundering, and contact with a foreign agent.”

According to the testimony from an unnamed investigator, Urich allegedly “passed messages to the press under the prime minister’s office name, believed to have been relayed through a party with financial and political ties to Qatar, appearing as if from an official or security source,” KAN said.

Israeli media said that police believe that Urich and Feldstein received money from a US-based PR firm working for Qatar to allegedly enhance the Gulf state’s image in Israel.

The two were arrested on March 31, with a court later ordering their release to house arrest amid ongoing inquiries into the case, dubbed by the Israeli media as “Qatargate.”

Qatar has dismissed the allegations as “baseless,” while Netanyahu called the case a “political witch hunt” to topple his right-wing government and block the ousting of Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar.

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