Israel Police seek to renew restrictions on Netanyahu aide Yonatan Urich

At the center of the request is police insistence that Urich be barred from working at the consultancy firm Perception, which investigators say is owned and managed by Israel Einhorn.

Israel Police have requested the renewal of restrictive conditions on Yonatan Urich, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seeking to extend the measures for an additional 60 days as part of the ongoing investigation into the so-called Bild leak affair.

At the center of the request is police insistence that Urich be barred from working at the consultancy firm Perception, which investigators say is owned and managed by Israel Einhorn – a suspect in the same set of affairs whom police describe as deliberately remaining abroad despite an arrest warrant.

In the filing, police state that Einhorn was questioned under caution outside Israel on suspicion of serious security offenses, and that since then, he has avoided returning to Israel. They warn that allowing Urich to work at Perception would create a concrete risk of circumventing contact bans and could enable coordination with a suspect who is beyond the reach of Israeli law enforcement.

The request, filed Monday with the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court and addressed to Judge Menahem Mizrahi, seeks to bar Urich from leaving Israel, restrict his contact with others – including the prime minister – and prevent him from returning to work at the Prime Minister’s Office.

Police argue that without an explicit prohibition on employment at Perception, the existing restrictions would be rendered ineffective. According to the filing, Perception is not a generic workplace but a company through which contact with Einhorn could continue indirectly, undermining the purpose of the court-imposed conditions.

The police request comes as the investigation into the Bild leak has intensified in recent days, with multiple senior Prime Minister’s Office officials detained for questioning on Sunday.

Braverman, Mantzur appeal over restrictive conditions

On Monday, PMO chief of staff Tzachi Braverman and spokesman Omer Mantzur appealed restrictive conditions imposed on their release following questioning, arguing that the measures were disproportionate and unsupported by reasonable suspicion. A hearing on those appeals is scheduled for Wednesday.

The Bild affair centers on the September 2024 leak of a classified military intelligence document outlining Hamas’s position on hostage negotiations, which was published by the German tabloid Bild.

Authorities allege the document was used to influence public discourse surrounding the war and hostage negotiations.

In November 2024, an indictment was filed against former PMO spokesman Eli Feldstein and IDF reservist Ari Rosenfeld on charges including the unlawful transfer and possession of classified information and obstruction of justice.

Urich was questioned in the case last year, and a hearing regarding his status was held in November. The investigative file is currently under review by the prosecution and the Attorney-General’s Office, which has yet to decide whether to file charges against him.

The renewed police request unfolds against a complicated procedural backdrop involving two parallel investigations: the Bild leak case and a separate probe widely referred to as “Qatargate.”

Last week, courts ruled that police missed a statutory deadline to extend restrictive conditions imposed on Urich in the Qatargate investigation, causing those measures to expire automatically and leaving the court without authority to reinstate them.

At the same time, courts made clear that restrictions imposed on Urich in the separate Bild affair remain legally valid, as they were imposed later and remain within the statutory time frame.

As a result, the Lod District Court ordered that a hearing on extending the Bild-related restrictions be held this week.

Police argue that the allegations attributed to Urich involve serious offenses touching on state security, as well as concerns that evidence could be destroyed or that the investigation could be disrupted if restrictions are lifted prematurely.

A central component of the request is the continued ban on Urich working at the Prime Minister’s Office. Police say the restriction is narrowly tailored to a specific position and is intended to reduce the risk of interference with the investigation, rather than to bar Urich from employment altogether.

The court is expected to decide at this stage whether the restrictions remain necessary and proportionate, as prosecutors continue reviewing the investigative material to determine whether to bring charges against Urich in the Bild case.

Urich has denied wrongdoing.