The Lod District Court on Wednesday rejected the state’s appeal seeking to reinstate restrictive conditions on Yonatan Urich, ruling that police missed a statutory deadline to extend the measures in the “Qatargate” investigation, a lapse that stripped the court of legal authority to approve the request.
At the same time, the court held that restrictive conditions imposed on Urich, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a separate investigation involving the alleged leak of classified documents to the German tabloid Bild, remain in force, drawing a sharp procedural distinction between the two cases based solely on timing under criminal procedure law.
The ruling, issued by Central District Court Deputy Chief Justice Ami Kobo, upheld a decision handed down earlier this week by Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court Chief Justice Menachem Mizrahi, who found that the police request to extend the Qatargate restrictions was filed too late to allow for judicial review as required by law.
Under law, restrictive conditions imposed on a suspect during an investigation automatically expire after 180 days unless the state both files a request and obtains a judicial ruling extending them within that period. In Urich’s case, the conditions in the Qatargate probe were set to expire at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Police submitted their request to extend the measures at 8 a.m. that morning, two hours before the deadline.
The court rejected the state’s argument that filing the request before the deadline was sufficient. Judge Kobo ruled that the law requires not only timely submission but also a hearing, an opportunity for the defense to respond, and a decision – all within the validity period of the conditions themselves.
Because the late filing made that sequence impossible, the court held, the restrictions expired automatically “by operation of law,” without requiring any action by Urich or a judicial ruling lifting them. Once expired, the judge added, the conditions could not be revived retroactively – even temporarily – as courts cannot create jurisdiction where none exists.
Judge rules Urich Qatargate restrictions expired by law
In a response submitted on Tuesday, Urich’s legal team, attorneys Amit Hadad and Noa Milstein, argued that the police failure was not a procedural technicality but a substantive defect that eliminated the court’s authority altogether.
They stressed that criminal procedure law allows courts to extend restrictive conditions only while those conditions remain in force, warning that any other interpretation would effectively permit indefinite restrictions without statutory oversight. The district court adopted this reasoning, citing Supreme Court precedent that emphasizes strict adherence to statutory timelines when individual liberties are at stake.
Crucially, the court distinguished between the Qatargate investigation and the separate Bild leak case.
While the police request in Qatargate was deemed untimely, the restrictive conditions in the Bild affair were imposed later and remain within the applicable 180-day period. As a result, the court ruled that judicial authority to review and potentially extend those conditions still exists.
Kobo therefore accepted the state’s appeal in part, ordering that a hearing on extending the Bild-related restrictions be held on January 15.
The court emphasized that the different outcomes do not reflect an assessment of the seriousness of the allegations or the strength of the evidence but flow solely from the procedural posture and statutory timelines governing each case.
The Qatargate probe centers on alleged advisory and financial ties between figures close to Netanyahu and the State of Qatar, which has for years provided financial support to Gaza while Hamas has been in power and has also served as a key mediator in the Israel-Hamas War.
The investigation is being conducted by the Lahav 433 National Crime Unit, with the involvement of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and was transferred earlier this week to the prosecution for review, a procedural step marking the end of the police investigation phase at this stage.
The court made clear that this transfer does not extend police authority to seek restrictive measures beyond statutory deadlines, nor does it affect the legal validity of restrictions that have already expired.
The Bild affair, which predates Qatargate, concerns the alleged leak of classified military documents in September 2024, which authorities say were used to influence public discourse surrounding Hamas’s position on hostage negotiations following the murder of six Israeli hostages.
Urich has denied wrongdoing in both cases.