Indictment filed in classified documents leak case against Yonatan Urich, Eli Feldstein and Ari Rosenfeld

The State Attorney’s Office on Wednesday filed with the Tel Aviv District Court a notice amending the security-related indictment against Eli Feldstein and reserve soldier Ari Rosenfeld, over the theft of sensitive classified information from IDF 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, along with corresponding updates to the factual section and legal provisions, as well as additional prosecution witnesses.

Urich is charged with conveying secret information with intent to harm state security, conveying secret information, possession of secret information, and destruction of evidence. The filing of the indictment was approved by the attorney general and the state prosecutor.

At the same time, the prosecution is asking to impose restrictive conditions on Urich until the end of the proceedings, including a complete ban from the Prime Minister’s Office and from any security facility or place where secret information may be kept, and 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 highly sensitive classified information from IDF intelligence systems, including raw intelligence, and its later publication in a foreign media outlet, after the military censor had comprehensively 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 media discourse. As part of this, Feldstein and Urich worked to publish one of the items in the German newspaper Bild, knowing it was classified and despite being aware 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 advance coordination and with Urich’s approval, passed on information he received from Rosenfeld to other unauthorized parties. The actions of Urich, Rosenfeld and Feldstein led to the exposure of the existence of a secret intelligence means, its capabilities and the ways it was used.

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

The day after Feldstein and Rosenfeld were arrested, Urich changed his mobile phone and deliberately refrained from transferring messages from his previous phone, in order to prevent their use as evidence in the hearing. The investigation into the case was conducted by Lahav 433 of the Israel Police.