The Lod-Central District Court ruled Tuesday to extend the restrictive conditions on Jonatan Urich, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a key suspect in the so-called Qatargate scandal, until September 10, overturning a lower court decision.

Following the decision, Urich was summoned for another interrogation on Wednesday at the Israel Police Lahav 433 special crimes unit.

Urich, along with Netanyahu’s former spokesman Eli Feldstein, allegedly spearheaded a pro-Qatari public relations campaign to cast the Gulf state in a positive light ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, hosted in Doha, and reportedly continued his PR work for Qatar well after the Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, despite the Gulf nation’s strong ties to the terror group.

Urich, Feldstein and a third adviser to Netanyahu, Yisrael Einhorn, are suspected of multiple offenses tied to their alleged pro-Qatar lobbying, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corrupt actions involving lobbyists and businessmen, all while working for the prime minister. The investigation has also expanded to cover business connections of former security officials to Qatar.

Last week, the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court rejected a police request to extend restrictions on Urich that have been banning him from contacting other figures linked to the affair, and anyone working in the Prime Minister’s Office, including Netanyahu himself. On Sunday, police appealed the ruling.

In addition to those conditions, Urich was barred from leaving the country until September 12.

The district court has repeatedly overturned rulings by the magistrate’s court’s Judge Menachem Mizrachi against the extension of Qatargate suspects’ remands.

In Tuesday’s ruling, District Judge Amit Michles upheld the police appeal, saying that the lower court’s ruling was based on the question of whether Urich could be considered as working in public service while he committed his suspected crimes.

Michles wrote that this question can only be addressed by a court if and when an indictment is filed against him, that it cannot be the basis for rejecting the police request to extend the restrictive conditions, and that the matter cannot be adjudicated........

© The Times of Israel