Yonatan Urich, a senior aide and personal media adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a central suspect in the "Qatargate" investigations, received NIS 1.19 million in 2024 for work for foreign clients, KAN News reported Sunday evening.
According to KAN, Urich received additional payments from Perception Media, a consulting firm owned by Israel (Srulik) Einhorn, while officially serving as an external adviser to the prime minister.
His work for foreign countries included projects related to Qatar.
Investigative materials show that Urich received NIS 1.19 million between January and September 2024. The payments included NIS 68,000 in January, NIS 178,000 in February, NIS 99,000 in March, NIS 79,000 in April, and NIS 206,000 in May. Three additional payments of NIS 178,000 each were made in August and September.
KAN reported that Urich was not subject to a conflict-of-interest arrangement, nor was his work subject to a security review. While Judge Mizrahi generally accepted Urich's position regarding his status as an external adviser, Judge Michels raised concerns about the matter.
Netanyahu held secret meeting with ex-Mossad official implicated in Qatargate affair
Meanwhile, N12 News reported on Sunday evening that Netanyahu held a secret meeting several months after October 7 with a former senior Mossad official suspected of involvement in the Qatargate affair.
The former official is believed to be the most senior Israeli involved in Qatar's influence operation in Israel. The meeting, held in the summer of 2024, does not appear in the prime minister's official schedules.
According to the report, the former official asked Netanyahu during the meeting to rein in harsh statements made by some government ministers against Qatar. At the time, Netanyahu and other government ministers had taken a tough stance toward Qatar, while the former official was working to promote Qatari interests in Israel.
After leaving the Mossad, the former official began pursuing business interests involving Qatar. He was involved in the country's World Cup project and continued to develop his business activities after October 7.
As part of these activities, he is suspected of helping arrange meetings between Urich and Einhorn and Ali al-Thawadi, a senior Qatari official close to the emir.
Those involved also met in London, Paris, and Berlin to discuss their joint project, "Lighthouse," which eventually became an effort to improve Qatar's image.
Lahav 433 suspects Urich helped coordinate meetings
Investigators from the National Unit for International Investigations at Lahav 433 suspect that Urich, who worked in the Prime Minister's Office and was also involved in the Qatari project, helped coordinate the meeting between Netanyahu and the former senior Mossad official.
During questioning, Urich denied being asked to arrange the meeting or being approached by the former official to coordinate meetings with the prime minister.
Last week, it emerged that Urich and Einhorn were involved in preparing political messaging for Romania's AUR party, whose senior members have faced accusations of antisemitism and Holocaust denial.
According to a report by Romanian investigative website Snoop, Einhorn sent Urich a document outlining campaign topics for the party on August 31, and Urich approved its contents.
Einhorn later sent a communications plan in Romanian that included proposed social media posts, images, a website article, and a video script.
The campaign targeted Romanian President Nicușor Dan and coalition leaders, using the message "120 days without a government."
According to the report, some of the messages discussed in the correspondence began appearing in official party publications and on social media accounts belonging to party politicians on September 2.
The investigation found that the messages raised concerns about the potential loss of European funding and the uncertainty facing teachers and doctors, among other issues.
Einhorn also recommended avoiding the use of images of party leader George Simion because of criticism over AUR's role in bringing down the government.
Party spokesperson Ștefan Avrămescu was among those who subsequently published similar messages.