Report: Netanyahu adviser admitted in interrogation he worked for Qatar after October 7

Yonatan Urich, an adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in his interrogation in the Qatargate affair that he continued working on a campaign to improve Qatar's image even after October 7, Channel 12 News reported on Monday. According to the report, which Urich did not deny, he said he saw no moral problem with the work and estimated that he had received hundreds of thousands of shekels for the project. The statements corroborate a May 2025 Haaretz report that the campaign continued operating after the outbreak of the war, despite Netanyahu's vehement denial that Urich ever worked for Qatar. During his interrogation, Urich struggled to specify when he stopped working on the campaign but said he believed it was in mid- or late 2024. He told investigators that he had not informed Netanyahu of the work. Close Yonatan Urich in court in January. Credit: Itai Ron Yonatan Urich in court in January. Credit: Itai Ron "I don't report to the prime minister about what I do," he said. "There is a fundamental difference between what happens abroad and what happens in Israel." Urich said he was not required to disclose the work because he was an external adviser. "The World Cup project did not prevent me from attacking Qatar from Israel," he told investigators. Asked whether either side knew about his work for the other, he replied, "No." According to Channel 12, Urich said he saw nothing morally wrong with working on the campaign. He said he would not have taken part if "I hadn't been with Maj. Gen. (res.) Poli Mordechai, who is dear to me, number 2 at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, and there are others there who are former Mossad agents. I said I see no moral problem if these respectable people are doing it." He later added, "I don't think I did anything immoral or unprofessional." When an investigator suggested that Urich could have stopped working on the campaign after October 7 or informed Netanyahu that he was working for Qatar, he replied: "I didn't see a conflict here. I don't see a moral problem with it." Haaretz revealed in 2024 that Urich and Srulik Einhorn , two of Netanyahu's closest and most senior advisers, had developed a campaign to improve Qatar's international image ahead of the 2022 World Cup, which was held in the country. Related Articles Israeli experts pushed anti-Qatar op. It was abruptly halted without explanation Bar Peleg Ex-Netanyahu campaigner's revenue in Serbia flatlines after Qatari campaign ends Bar Peleg Netanyahu advisers met Qataris in 2022 while working on World Cup campaign Gidi Weitz Haaretz later reported that Urich's work on the campaign continued throughout the war, following the October 7 massacre. A series of Haaretz reports, based on internal documents belonging to Urich and Einhorn and sources familiar with the campaign, detailed "Project Lighthouse." Under the project, Urich and Einhorn, working through their company Perception, developed messaging and strategy, while a company called Koios implemented the campaign through a network of avatars – fictitious online personas – and fake websites. Affairs at the Prime Minister's Office Qatargate Suspicion: Senior advisers in the Prime Minister's Office – Yonatan Urich and spokesman Eli Feldstein – acted during Israel's war in Gaza as influence agents on behalf of the Qatari government in exchange for money. The campaign was allegedly conducted through a company owned by Likud campaign adviser Israel "Srulik" Einhorn that provided public relations services for Qatar even the war – as exposed by Haaretz – and an American lobbyist who worked on behalf of Qatar, Jay Footlik. The central figures: • Spokesman Eli Feldstein – suspected of contact with a foreign agent, money laundering, bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. • Aide Yonatan Urich - suspected of contact with a foreign agent, bribery, leaking classified information, money laundering, fraud, breach of trust, and obstruction of justice. • Likud campaign adviser Israel 'Srulik' Einhorn – suspected of contact with a foreign agent, bribery, breach of trust, and tax offenses. Staying in Serbia and refusing to return to Israel, an extradition order has been issued against him. • U.S. lobbyist Jay Footlik – the owner of the consulting firm Third Circle, which promoted the interests of Qatar, hired Eli Feldstein while he was serving as a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A detention order has been issued for him in case he comes to Israel. • Businessmen Gil Berger and David Saig – worked with Footlik, suspected of bribery, money laundering, and contact with a foreign agent. • Maj. Gen. (res.) Yoav (Poli) Mordech ai and his partner, a former Mossad operative – signed a contract with Einhorn's firm Perception to conduct a public relations campaign meant to improve Qatar's image through a British subsidiary. Suspected to having contact with a foreign agent and accepting a bribe. • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – provided testimony but was not interrogated under warning. Bibileaks Involves the tranfer of classified documents from Military Intelligence to Eli Feldstein, who leaked one of the documents – according to him, on Yonatan Urich's orders – to the German tabloid Bild through Srulik Einhorn. The leak was intended to weaken the public campaign for a hostage deal. The central figures: • Spokesman Eli Feldstein – leaked the classified documents to Bild. Charged with delivering and possessing secret information and obstruction of justice, • IDF reservist Ari Rosenfeld – charged with passing the information from IDF systems to Feldstein, and the offenses of theft by agent and obstruction of justice. • Aide Yonatan Urich , Likud campaign adviser Israel 'Srulik' Einhorn, and spokesman Ofer Golan – suspected of involvement in leaking the classified document to Israeli journalists. Nighttime meeting affair Involves the suspicion that Netanyahu's chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, attempted to obstruct the investigation into the leak of classified IDF documents to the Prime Minister's Office. Feldstein claimed that Braverman told him he knew about an ongoing investigation in the military's information security department and said, "I can shut it down." The central figures: • Chief of Staff Tzachi Braverman – suspected of meeting with Eli Feldstein and informing him that the military had opened an investigation into the leak of classified documents. Also suspected of providing Feldstein with a list of several figures who were later named as suspects in the case. Was interrogated under warning, suspended from the Prime Minister's Office for 15 days, and prohibited from leaving the country for 30 days. Suspected of obstruction of justice. • Spokesman Eli Feldstein – told police in 2024 that a "senior official" warned him about the investigation into the leak to Bild. In December, Feldstein told Kan 11 News that the senior official was Braverman, leading the police to open an investigation.