Netanyahu's Advisor's Leaked WhatsApps Spark Legal Threats

WhatsApp conversations belonging to Yonatan Urich, an advisor to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, have been leaked online, causing a significant stir. Urich's attorneys, Amit Haddad and Noa Milstein, issued a strong warning, stating that anyone who hacked Urich's WhatsApp and published personal conversations, especially if altered, "will pay the full price." They also declared that "anyone who publishes, distributes, or shares messages" is committing a criminal offense and will face personal lawsuits. Urich and his legal team have begun sending warning letters to individuals who have shared parts of these leaked conversations.

The legal ramifications are being examined, distinguishing between the act of breaching Urich's WhatsApp account and the subsequent dissemination of the messages. Relevant laws include the Privacy Protection Law and the Computer Law. The Privacy Protection Law prohibits copying or using the content of private correspondence without permission, provided it's not of historical value and less than 15 years old. A recent court ruling ordered journalist Hadas Steif and Galatz to compensate former Israel Bar Association head Epi Naveh after Steif was found responsible for hacking Naveh's phone, highlighting the Computer Law's aim to protect personal data on mobile devices.

Legally, unauthorized access to a WhatsApp account and data extraction constitute criminal offenses under the Computer Law, potentially leading to up to three years in prison. If the intrusion aims to commit further offenses like privacy invasion, penalties could increase to five years. The criminality of sharing the leaked messages depends on their content and public interest. Attorney Shlomi Weinberg explains that even those who knowingly copy, use, or distribute illegally obtained private conversations could face criminal liability under the Privacy Protection Law, though unintentional privacy violations may not be criminal.

Civilly, most privacy violations are also actionable offenses. Courts may award damages for privacy infringement, with a base compensation of up to NIS 73,000 (adjusted for inflation) for non-intentional harm, and up to NIS 146,000 for intentional harm. Lawsuits can also be filed for violating statutory duties under the Computer Law and wiretapping laws, alongside claims for proven damages and requests for injunctions against further dissemination.

One theory suggests Urich himself may have inadvertently exposed the data by uploading monitoring tools to GitHub, a code-sharing platform, potentially arguing that no illegal computer intrusion occurred if the information was publicly accessible. However, legal experts emphasize that protections under the Privacy Protection Law, such as public interest or legal/moral duty, generally apply to publishers, not to those who illegally access the content itself. The precedent set in the Epi Naveh case suggests that even a desire to expose corruption does not justify illegal actions like unauthorized phone access.