Classified Documents Leak Case: Indictment Filed Against Yonatan Urich, Eli Feldstein and Ari Rosenfeld

The State Attorney’s Office filed today with the Tel Aviv District Court a notice amending the security-related indictment previously filed against Eli Feldstein and reservist Ari Rosenfeld, over the theft of sensitive classified information from IDF Military Intelligence systems and its publication in the German newspaper Bild.

The amended indictment adds Yonatan Urich, the prime minister’s personal communications adviser, as a defendant, updates the statement of facts and the statutory sections accordingly, and adds prosecution witnesses. Urich is charged with transmitting secret information with intent to harm state security, transmitting secret information, possessing secret information and destruction of evidence. The filing was approved by the attorney general and the state attorney.

At the same time, the prosecution is asking the court to impose restrictive conditions on Urich until the end of the proceedings, including a complete ban on entering the Prime Minister’s Office and exclusion from any security facility or place where secret information may be held, as well as a ban on direct or indirect contact with anyone involved in the case, including witnesses and suspects.

The indictment was filed over the theft of particularly sensitive classified information from IDF Military Intelligence systems, including raw intelligence, and its subsequent publication in a foreign media outlet, after the censor had broadly barred its publication, in an effort to influence public discourse on the handling of the hostage issue.

According to the indictment, Urich and Feldstein used highly classified information from the military system to influence the media discourse. In this framework, Feldstein and Urich worked to publish one of the reports in the German newspaper Bild, knowing it was classified and despite knowing that the military censor had not allowed its publication in Israel, while taking a real risk of harming vital security interests.

In addition, Feldstein, in prior coordination and with Urich’s approval, passed information he received from Rosenfeld to additional unauthorized parties. The actions of Urich, Rosenfeld and Feldstein led to the exposure of the existence of a secret intelligence means, its capabilities and methods of use.

The public exposure of the classified information could cause significant harm to Israel’s security interests, especially in the areas of intelligence collection and the exposure of intelligence sources that save lives, as it reveals missions, capabilities, methods and classified tools used by the intelligence community in various arenas.

The day after Feldstein and Rosenfeld were arrested, Urich replaced his mobile phone and deliberately avoided transferring the messages that were on the previous phone, in order to prevent them from being used as evidence at the hearing.

The investigation into the case was conducted by Lahav 433 of the Israel Police.