Latest news with #YonatanUrich
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
New suspect in Qatargate case, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Poli Mordechai, brought in for questioning
Mordechai is suspected of transferring hundreds of thousands of shekels from his business to Yonatan Urich, the main suspect in the Qatargate case. IDF Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yoav "Poli" Mordechai was questioned in connection with the "Qatargate" case, Channel 13 News reported on Wednesday. Mordechai was questioned on suspicion of contact with a foreign agent and accepting bribes. He is also suspected of transferring hundreds of thousands of shekels from his business to Yonatan Urich, the main suspect in the case, throughout 2024 for a campaign in support of Qatar. Maj.-Gen. (res.) Mordechai retired from the IDF in 2018 after serving as the coordinator of government activities in the territories and the IDF spokesperson. He has also played a key role in hostage affairs during the Israel-Hamas War. He was first summoned to provide open testimony about two months ago, Channel 13 reported. Mordechai's Company, NOVARD, stated that he had not had any activity with the business since October 7. 'Novard has been working for years with various countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East in an official, public, and entirely legal manner. Since October 7, Poli Mordechai has been enlisted for reserve duty to promote the return of hostages. He is not involved in any business activity, and there is a complete separation between Novard's operations in the Middle East and him.' His business partner in NOVARD was also questioned at Lahav 433 out of caution. Jay Footlik, a US-based Qatari lobbyist, will be openly questioned on Saturday. The "Qatargate" investigation began in February 2025, when Attorney-General Gali Baharav Miara ordered the Israel Police and the Shin Bet to launch a formal investigation into individuals in the Prime Minister's Office for their ties to Doha. Footlik notably requested that Israeli businessman Gil Birger assist him in transferring funds to Eli Feldstein, a member of Netanyahu's media team. Feldstein has been accused of accepting bribes from Qatar, leaking classified documents that harmed the war effort, and reducing the chances of a successful hostage deal. He has also been indicted for endangering national security. Urich has been accused of feeding Israeli journalists information, through Feldstein, cited as being from intelligence sources, when it really originated in Qatar. Supposedly, the goal was to boost Qatar's image in the Gaza hostage and ceasefire negotiations, while belittling that of Egypt's as the other mediator. Qatar has denied any such initiative. Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Qatargate investigation: Urich will appear for pre indictment hearing
The Prime Minister's Office responded to Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara's intention to indict Urich on Monday, calling it a "disgraceful announcement." After the announcement Sunday that the prosecution is considering criminal charges against lead 'Qatargate' suspect and aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yonatan Urich, his lawyers said on Monday that he will appear before a pre-indictment hearing. Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara announced on Sunday night that the prosecution is considering criminal charges against him – pending a hearing, during which the prosecution will present a tentative version of an indictment to Urich and his lawyers, and they will have the opportunity to respond. If, after that, the prosecution is not satisfied with what it has received, it will proceed with an indictment. Urich's lawyers demanded on Monday to receive all the investigation materials. The charges include offenses such as the unlawful disclosure of classified information with intent to harm national security, possession of classified information, and destruction of evidence. This is concerning what is known as the 'Leaked Documents Affair,' in which former PMO military spokesman Eli Feldstein allegedly leaked classified military documents to the German daily Bild, after permission for their publication was denied by the Israeli military censor. The documents were eventually published, allegedly to sway public opinion on the hostage negotiations. This was around August 2024, when six hostages were killed by their Hamas captors in a tunnel: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Almog Sarusi, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Carmel Gat, and Alex Lobanov. Urich allegedly operated with Feldstein to bring this to fruition. Per the allegations, he sought to extract classified information from the IDF, including through secret intelligence, which, once publicized, endangered national security and human lives. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the authorities' announcement 'disgraceful,' and 'an unfortunate decision that raises serious questions.' 'I am familiar with the details, and I state clearly and unequivocally: There was no harm to the security of the state. Yonatan did not harm the state's security. This is an unfounded, baseless move, intended to serve another agenda, not the public's interest,' Netanyahu wrote. PMO deputy security director Alon Haliva is expected to provide open testimony in the leaked documents case. Feldstein is under house arrest. The State Attorney's Office opposed easing the conditions of Feldstein's arrest on Monday. In contrast, Urich is being held in significantly more lenient conditions. The incoming Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief will be barred from involvement in the 'Qatargate' investigations until they are cleared up in about two months, resolving the issue of the prime minister's conflict of interest in the matter. Per reports, IDF Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yoav 'Poli' Mordechai was questioned in connection with the case, on suspicion of contact with a foreign agent and accepting bribery. He is also suspected of transferring hundreds of thousands of shekels from his business to Urich throughout 2024 for a Qatari campaign. Bini Aschkenasy and Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
State Attorney Office opposes easing of 'Qatargate' suspect Eli Feldstein's arrest conditions
The hearing in the classified documents case has been postponed while the prosecution is conducting additional investigations in the case, primarily regarding Urich and Feldstein. The State Attorney's Office opposed easing the conditions of Eli Feldstein's arrest on Monday. Feldstein, who is a defendant in the classified documents case and is suspected in the 'Qatargate' affair, is under house arrest. In contrast, the second suspect in both cases, Yonatan Urich, is under significantly more lenient conditions. The response from the State Attorney's Office was submitted after Feldstein's lawyer requested to ease his conditions and match them to Urich's. However, the State Attorney's Office argued that it is not possible to compare Feldstein, who is a defendant in the case, to Urich, who is a suspect. It appears that both the prosecution and the legal advisor are dragging their feet in making a decision regarding Urich, in order to avoid transferring the investigation materials to him in the case. This fact impacts Feldstein's detention conditions as well as the progress of the case in the classified documents affair. The court hearing in the classified documents case has been postponed while the prosecution is conducting additional investigations in the case, primarily regarding Urich and Feldstein. These additional investigations are preventing defense attorneys from receiving the full investigation materials, despite the indictment having been filed in the case. In its response, the prosecution and the legal advisor are blocking the progress of the case, even though both bodies could have decided whether to indict Urich in the classified documents case and close the case in the 'Qatargate' affair, since it is not possible to conduct a legal inquiry into the American-Jewish businessman, Jay Footlick.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israel PM attacks Qatar probe as 'witch hunt' after aides arrested
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denounced an investigation into possible links between his aides and Qatar as a "witch hunt", after he gave testimony to police. An adviser and a former spokesman were arrested on Monday over alleged payments from the Gulf Arab state as part of the probe, which has been dubbed "Qatar-gate". They have denied any wrongdoing. Netanyahu, who has not been named as a suspect, accused the police of holding the two men as "hostages", adding: "There is no case." A Qatari official also dismissed the probe as a "smear campaign" against Qatar, which has played a key role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas during the war in Gaza. It comes as Netanyahu faces escalating protests in Israel over his policies, including the resumption of Israel's offensive against Hamas before securing the release of all the remaining hostages, the dismissal of the director of the Shin Bet internal security agency, and the advancement of a controversial plan to overhaul the judiciary. Israel's Supreme Court freezes PM's order to sack security chief Prominent Jewish figures boycott Israel antisemitism event over far-right guests On Monday, Israel's police force announced that two suspects had been detained as part of an investigation into ties between the prime minister's office and Qatar. It provided no further details, citing a court-imposed gag order on the case. Israeli media reports subsequently identified them as Yonatan Urich, a very close adviser to Netanyahu, and Eli Feldstein, a former spokesman in the prime minister's office, and said they were suspected of contact with a foreign agent, money laundering, bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Netanyahu later cut short an appearance at his separate trial on corruption charges, which he denies, to provide recorded testimony to police investigating the case at his office in Jerusalem. After being questioned, Netanyahu posted a video online in which he condemned both the arrests and the wider investigation. "I understood that it was a political investigation but I didn't realise how political it was," he said. "They are holding Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein as hostages, making their lives miserable over nothing." "There is no case, there is absolutely nothing, just a political witch hunt, nothing else." The prime minister's Likud party also issued a statement accusing the attorney general's office and the Shin Bet chief of "fabricating" the case and attempting to "terrorise Yonatan Urich in order to extract from him false testimony against the prime minister through blackmail". On Tuesday, a judge at Rishon LeZion Magistrates' Court extended Urich and Feldstein's detention by three days, saying there were "reasonable suspicions" that required a thorough investigation. The police had requested a nine-day extension. Judge Menahem Mizrahi said in a decision that investigators suspected that the two men had acted to "promote Qatar in a positive light" and "spread negative messages about Egypt" and its role as another mediator in the Gaza ceasefire talks. For this purpose, the judge said, a "business and economic connection" was created between a US lobbying firm working for Qatar "through the mediation of [Urich] in return for monetary payments which were passed to [Feldstein]" through an Israeli businessman. Last week, Israeli media published a recording in which the businessman was heard saying that he had transferred funds to Feldstein on behalf of a US lobbyist working for Qatar. At the time, Feldstein's lawyers said the payments were "for strategic and communications services Feldstein provided to the prime minister's office, not for Qatar". They also said Feldstein was not aware of any connection between the businessman and other parties, including Qatar. Ulrich's lawyers said he denied involvement. A police representative told Judge Mizrahi on Tuesday that Urich was also suspected of passing journalists messages from a source linked to Qatar, which were presented as if they came from senior Israeli political or security officials. Ulrich's legal team, which includes Netanyahu's defence lawyer Amit Hadad, said they would submit a request to lift the gag order on the case to expose "the injustice done to him". The judge went on to approve the request, saying the gag order had been repeatedly violated. A Qatari official told the Financial Times: "This is not the first time we have been the subject of a smear campaign by those who do not want to see an end to this conflict [the Gaza war] or the remaining hostages returned to their families." Qatar has long championed the Palestinian cause and host political leaders of Hamas, which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK, the US and other countries. Between 2018 and the start of the current war, which was triggered by Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, the Gulf state provided hundreds of millions of dollars of aid for Gaza. Israeli governments allowed the money to be transferred to pay the wages of civil servants in Gaza's Hamas-run government, support the poorest families, and fund fuel deliveries for the territory's sole power plant. However, critics asserted that it was helping Hamas to stay in power and fund its military activities. Since the war, Qatar has helped, along with the US and Egypt, to broker two ceasefire and hostage release deals between Israel and Hamas. The most recent lasted between 19 January and 18 March, when Israel renewed its air and ground campaign, blaming Hamas for rejecting a new US proposal for an extension and the release of its 59 remaining hostages. Hamas accused Israel of violating the original deal. Netanyahu claimed that the "sole purpose" of the Qatar-gate investigation was to prevent the dismissal of the director of the Shin Bet domestic security agency, which has been participating in the probe, and to "topple a right-wing prime minister". The government fired Ronen Bar on 21 March, saying it had lost trust in him over the failure to prevent Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza. However, the supreme court suspended the dismissal pending a hearing on 8 April in response to petitions from opposition political parties and a non-governmental organisation, which said the move was made for inappropriate reasons and constituted a severe conflict of interest. Bar will remain in post until the supreme court rules on the petitions, although the court permitted the prime minister to interview potential replacements in the meantime. On Tuesday, Netanyahu's office announced that he had reversed a decision made the previous day to appoint former navy commander Vice Adm Eli Sharvit as the next Shin Bet chief. "The prime minister thanked Vice Adm Sharvit for his willingness to be called to duty but informed him that, after further consideration, he intends to examine other candidates," a statement said. That decision came after Likud officials criticised Sharvit's participation in the 2023 mass protests against the judicial overhaul. US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also described Sharvit's appointment as "problematic" in response to a recent article criticising President Donald Trump's policies on climate change.
BBC News
01-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Israel PM attacks Qatar probe as 'witch hunt' after aides arrested
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denounced an investigation into possible links between his aides and Qatar as a "witch hunt", after he gave testimony to adviser and a former spokesman were arrested on Monday over alleged payments from the Gulf Arab state as part of the probe, which has been dubbed "Qatar-gate". They have denied any who has not been named as a suspect, accused the police of holding the two men as "hostages", adding: "There is no case."A Qatari official also dismissed the probe as a "smear campaign" against Qatar, which has played a key role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas during the war in Gaza. It comes as Netanyahu faces escalating protests in Israel over his policies, including the resumption of Israel's offensive against Hamas before securing the release of all the remaining hostages, the dismissal of the director of the Shin Bet internal security agency, and the advancement of a controversial plan to overhaul the judiciary. On Monday, Israel's police force announced that two suspects had been detained as part of an investigation into ties between the prime minister's office and Qatar. It provided no further details, citing a court-imposed gag order on the media reports subsequently identified them as Yonatan Urich, a very close adviser to Netanyahu, and Eli Feldstein, a former spokesman in the prime minister's office, and said they were suspected of contact with a foreign agent, money laundering, bribery, fraud, and breach of later cut short an appearance at his separate trial on corruption charges, which he denies, to provide recorded testimony to police investigating the case at his office in being questioned, Netanyahu posted a video online in which he condemned both the arrests and the wider investigation."I understood that it was a political investigation but I didn't realise how political it was," he said. "They are holding Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein as hostages, making their lives miserable over nothing.""There is no case, there is absolutely nothing, just a political witch hunt, nothing else."The prime minister's Likud party also issued a statement accusing the attorney general's office and the Shin Bet chief of "fabricating" the case and attempting to "terrorise Yonatan Urich in order to extract from him false testimony against the prime minister through blackmail".On Tuesday, a judge at Rishon LeZion Magistrates' Court extended Urich and Feldstein's detention by three days, saying there were "reasonable suspicions" that required a thorough investigation. The police had requested a nine-day Menahem Mizrahi said in a decision that investigators suspected that the two men had acted to "promote Qatar in a positive light" and "spread negative messages about Egypt" and its role as another mediator in the Gaza ceasefire this purpose, the judge said, a "business and economic connection" was created between a US lobbying firm working for Qatar "through the mediation of [Urich] in return for monetary payments which were passed to [Feldstein]" through an Israeli week, Israeli media published a recording in which the businessman was heard saying that he had transferred funds to Feldstein on behalf of a US lobbyist working for the time, Feldstein's lawyers said the payments were "for strategic and communications services Feldstein provided to the prime minister's office, not for Qatar". They also said Feldstein was not aware of any connection between the businessman and other parties, including Qatar. Ulrich's lawyers said he denied involvement.A police representative told Judge Mizrahi on Tuesday that Urich was also suspected of passing journalists messages from a source linked to Qatar, which were presented as if they came from senior Israeli political or security legal team, which includes Netanyahu's defence lawyer Amit Hadad, said they would submit a request to lift the gag order on the case to expose "the injustice done to him". The judge went on to approve the request, saying the gag order had been repeatedly violated. A Qatari official told the Financial Times: "This is not the first time we have been the subject of a smear campaign by those who do not want to see an end to this conflict [the Gaza war] or the remaining hostages returned to their families."Qatar has long championed the Palestinian cause and host political leaders of Hamas, which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK, the US and other 2018 and the start of the current war, which was triggered by Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, the Gulf state provided hundreds of millions of dollars of aid for governments allowed the money to be transferred to pay the wages of civil servants in Gaza's Hamas-run government, support the poorest families, and fund fuel deliveries for the territory's sole power plant. However, critics asserted that it was helping Hamas to stay in power and fund its military the war, Qatar has helped, along with the US and Egypt, to broker two ceasefire and hostage release deals between Israel and most recent lasted between 19 January and 18 March, when Israel renewed its air and ground campaign, blaming Hamas for rejecting a new US proposal for an extension and the release of its 59 remaining hostages. Hamas accused Israel of violating the original claimed that the "sole purpose" of the Qatar-gate investigation was to prevent the dismissal of the director of the Shin Bet domestic security agency, which has been participating in the probe, and to "topple a right-wing prime minister".The government fired Ronen Bar on 21 March, saying it had lost trust in him over the failure to prevent Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which triggered the war in the supreme court suspended the dismissal pending a hearing on 8 April in response to petitions from opposition political parties and a non-governmental organisation, which said the move was made for inappropriate reasons and constituted a severe conflict of will remain in post until the supreme court rules on the petitions, although the court permitted the prime minister to interview potential replacements in the Tuesday, Netanyahu's office announced that he had reversed a decision made the previous day to appoint former navy commander Vice Adm Eli Sharvit as the next Shin Bet chief."The prime minister thanked Vice Adm Sharvit for his willingness to be called to duty but informed him that, after further consideration, he intends to examine other candidates," a statement decision came after Likud officials criticised Sharvit's participation in the 2023 mass protests against the judicial Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also described Sharvit's appointment as "problematic" in response to a recent article criticising President Donald Trump's policies on climate change.
