Indictment filed against Urih in the “Bild” case, prosecutor seeks to bar him from sites with classified information

An amended, severe indictment was filed today (Thursday) against Yonatan Urich, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s adviser, on charges of transferring classified information, possessing classified information and destroying evidence, with the aggravating claim that the acts were intended to harm state security, in the framework of the “Bild” affair. The prosecution also asked to remove him from the Prime Minister’s Office and from “any security facility or place where classified information may be held.” Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman announced at the end of last month that they had decided to file an indictment after the claims raised by Urich’s representatives in a hearing were rejected. The prosecution is now also seeking to prohibit him from contacting Netanyahu. “Had part of the relevant information remained on his partner’s phone (Feldstein), the applicant would not have had the full picture reflected in the indictment. It may be assumed that other significant parts of the information relevant to the investigation are not in the applicant’s possession, in light of the respondent’s obstruction,” the indictment states.

The indictment against Feldstein

About a year and a half ago, severe indictments were filed in the case against Feldstein and reservist officer Ari Rosenfeld, who passed the information to the Prime Minister’s Office. Feldstein is accused of transferring classified information intended to harm state security, possessing classified information and obstructing legal proceedings. A severe indictment was also filed against the officer, including five counts of transferring classified information, obstructing legal proceedings and theft by an authorized person. As part of the affair, the officer contacted Feldstein, and after Feldstein expressed interest in receiving intelligence material, in June 2024 he transferred the “Hamas document” to him via a social network. According to an investigative source, the document was taken from an IDF Military Intelligence intelligence-materials system.

On September 1, 2024, the IDF announced the murder of six hostages in a Hamas tunnel in Rafah, which led to intensified protests by hostage families and criticism of Netanyahu. The following day, Netanyahu held a press conference and presented a document, apparently originating with Hamas and previously published by Channel 12 News, which contained instructions on how to pressure the government into reaching a hostage deal. It is likely that around that press conference, Feldstein informed Netanyahu that he had a similar and more significant document in his possession. According to the suspicion, together with the Prime Minister’s aides Yonatan Urich and Israel Einhorn, the initiative emerged to publish the document in order “to influence public opinion in Israel on the ongoing negotiations concerning the hostages, and in particular the question of the contribution of the demonstrations to strengthening Hamas,” in the words of the court.

After the censor blocked its publication in an Israeli newspaper, the idea arose to publish it in the German paper Bild, which maintains close ties with the Prime Minister’s Office and with Einhorn. Through Urich to Bild

The indictment against Feldstein stated that the “classified information,” the same Hamas document that Feldstein passed to Bild, was not brought to the Prime Minister’s attention because soon after it was received, “updated intelligence information was received, reviewed by professional officials in the Intelligence Directorate, and found to be more relevant to the negotiations issue.” It also stated that the meetings in which the officer gave Feldstein the classified information he had received took place in a synagogue at the Kirya base in Tel Aviv.

Feldstein, for his part, sent Urich a WhatsApp message on June 6, 2024: “A senior officer, my source, in Military Intelligence, wants to pass materials at immediate urgency level to the PM. Crazy material.” He later sent Urich: “Do not answer and do not call me, what I’m building for you now for the weekend is worth a million dollars.” Immediately afterward he sent the following message: “And the PM needs it.” Later, on June 13 and July 4 as well, attempts were made to transfer classified information to Feldstein, and on August 7 he and the officer arranged to meet at the Kirya.

On September 1, and as part of the media preparations for the public reaction to the hostage murders, and against the backdrop of Feldstein’s desire to steer public discourse, he decided to use the classified information he had received, which had been given to him on June 7, 2024. When he tried to pass it to a Channel 12 journalist for publication, Feldstein realized the information had been rejected by the censor, due to concern that it would expose Israeli intelligence sources. He therefore turned to Urich to publish the information abroad: “Who do you have to burn abroad, something big,” and immediately afterward wrote: “Something big is brewing.” Urich in response directed Feldstein to Israel Einhorn, another adviser to Netanyahu, because of his ties with Bild.

According to the indictment, Einhorn contacted a Bild reporter to publish the information, and Feldstein updated Urich about it. Feldstein later asked Einhorn whether the document had been published, and was told it would be published the next day. The following day, a substantial part of the document was indeed published, according to the indictment, along with partial quotations from it. After the publication, Feldstein continued preparing for additional articles in the Israeli media about the document, and Urich wrote to him: “Take your time, the boss is pleased.” Feldstein told Netanyahu’s spokespeople, Urich and Ofer Golan: “I collected the documents, they need to be passed to the boss.”

It should be noted that the indictment does not mention any involvement by Netanyahu. “Go”

After the publication, Ronen Bergman reported in Yedioth Ahronoth that the link between the Bild item and the document was extremely tenuous and did not reflect the narrative in the publication, and that Yahya Sinwar did not write it. In Bild, people were alarmed, and media outlets in Israel also began asking questions, and in Netanyahu’s office they understood the scale of the trouble: they did not have the original document at all, or even proof that it actually existed. Einhorn asked Feldstein whether he could request the original document, and Feldstein replied, “It’s messy to ask. I’m dragging him into it. I can try, though.”

On September 9, 2024, Rosenfeld and Feldstein met again at the Kirya base. This time, according to the indictment, Rosenfeld passed Feldstein the document as it was written in Arabic, together with three other classified documents. Feldstein, as before, updated Urich and this time also Netanyahu’s other spokesman, Ofer Golan, and wrote to them: “I collected everything. We need to bring them to the boss.” Feldstein left the Kirya for Jerusalem and on the way, it was revealed, wrote to Urich: “Come out, Ofer Golan wants a conference, you, me and him, now, about Bild. About Bild.” They held a conference call of about five minutes, and afterward, according to Feldstein, he arrived at the office in the Knesset and met with Urich, with Tzachi Braverman also in the room, though occupied with other matters. According to Feldstein’s version in the investigation, he handed Urich the documents he had received from Rosenfeld, and Urich took Feldstein’s phone and showed him how to scan them with it. From there on, the scanned document would be distributed by Feldstein to media outlets in an attempt to rebut Bergman’s report. When Feldstein updated Urich that he was trying to publish the document in the media, Urich replied, “Go, we’ll try.” Urich denied Feldstein’s account of the meeting in the Knesset.

Lawyers Oded Savorai and Sivan Hausman, attorneys for Eli Feldstein, said: “The indictment filed today against Yonatan Urich in the Bild affair is a very belated acceptance of Feldstein’s claims, which have been made for a year and a half. The amended indictment accepts the fact, known to all, that Urich is directly subordinate to the prime minister and works closely with him. According to the indictment, Feldstein acted with Urich on the Bild matter, after Feldstein also emphasized to Urich in a WhatsApp message that ‘the PM is needed for this.’ In Feldstein’s understanding, his actions with Urich were carried out with the prime minister’s authorization and under his authority, and therefore did not constitute an offense and certainly did not endanger state security. Now, Feldstein should be removed from the indictment, and we will strive for this just outcome.”