Netanyahu Advisor's Chats Leaked Online Following Security Lapses

Thousands of messages exchanged by Yonatan Urich, an advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have been published online on a newly created website. The leaked chats, dating back to September 24, reportedly involve communications with individuals close to the prime minister and journalists. Urich, through his lawyers Amit Haddad and Noa Milstein, issued a statement vowing to hold accountable not only the individual who hacked his account but also those who disseminate the messages. His defense claims some of the correspondence has been altered and warns of potential legal action.

It remains unclear who is responsible for the leak or the authenticity of all the published messages. The website, designed in a Telegram-like interface, features Urich's conversations with other Netanyahu aides, political commentators, and journalists. While the names of Prime Minister Netanyahu, his wife Sara, and son Yair appear on the site, their specific chat logs are not yet available, with the authors promising to release them later.

The leak is attributed to security vulnerabilities in Urich's digital tools. In late September, Urich reportedly connected his personal WhatsApp account to UltraMsg, a messaging management service linked to the UAE. This connection allegedly granted the service full access to his chats and media without end-to-end encryption, potentially exposing the content to the service operator and UAE authorities.

Additionally, Urich developed an AI-powered tool for real-time press monitoring of the prime minister and his wife, sharing its code on GitHub. Security analysts suggest this code contained unique identifiers and access tokens that could have enabled unauthorized parties to identify group members, obtain phone numbers, extract chat content, and send messages from Urich's account. The article notes that the code had already been copied by other GitHub users.

Urich continues to serve as a senior assistant and media advisor in Netanyahu's office. Previously, prosecutors sought to bar him from his position and government facilities due to serious charges, but the Central District Court rejected this, deeming his interactions with the prime minister did not pose a risk of obstructing investigations.

Urich is currently on trial for charges related to the "Bild leak case," where he is accused of storing and transmitting secret information and destroying evidence with intent to harm state security, allegedly in coordination with former spokesperson Eli Feldstein. He is also a key figure in the "Qatargate" corruption investigation, suspected of illegal contact with a foreign agent, bribery, fraud, and money laundering due to alleged secret Qatari funding to promote Qatar's interests in Israeli media.