Report: Despite Attorney General's support, State Attorney opposed plea deal for Yonatan Urich

Central District Attorney Haim Vismonsky reached an agreement with Yonatan Urich's defense attorney on a plea deal in the "Bild affair," under which Urich would serve 9 months of community service - this was reported this evening (Wednesday) by journalist Avishai Grinzaig on the i24NEWS channel.

According to the report, Vismonsky forwarded the proposal for approval by senior levels. While the Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, supported the deal, State Attorney Amit Aisman expressed strong opposition and vetoed the move, which led to the collapse of the negotiations.

It was also published that Aisman conditioned the approval of the deal on Urich being sentenced to 12 months in prison. This proposal was rejected by Urich, and since then, negotiations for a plea deal between the parties have not resumed.

On behalf of the Attorney General and the State Attorney, it was stated in response: "The publication as it is, is false."

An indictment was filed against Yonatan Urich, an advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for a series of serious security offenses, including the transfer of classified information with the intent to harm state security (two offenses), transfer of classified information, possession of classified information, and destruction of evidence.

Methods: Bypassing censorship and engineering public discourse

From the amended indictment, a picture emerges of a method designed to bypass military censorship and official information transfer procedures, with the goal of engineering public discourse in Israel:

1. Axis of classified information transfer: Reserve Warrant Officer Rosenfeld discovered during his service a top-secret strategy document of Hamas. Wishing to transfer the information directly to the Prime Minister, he obtained Eli Feldstein's number. Feldstein rushed to update Urich on WhatsApp: "My source in Aman... wants to transfer materials with an immediate urgency level to the PM... crazy material."

2. Bypassing censorship via "The Hasid" abroad: At the beginning of September 2024, immediately after the murder of the six hostages in Gaza, Feldstein and Urich sought to divert media fire and influence public discourse. Feldstein transferred the document to Channel 12 journalist Raviv Golan, but the censorship imposed a sweeping ban on the publication. When Feldstein asked Urich who could be "burned abroad," Urich referred him to Israel Einhorn ("The Hasid"), a communications consultant who worked with them on the Likud campaign and was abroad.

3. "Worth a million dollars": On the night the publication was cooked in Germany, Feldstein sent Urich a dramatic message: "Don't answer and don't call me, what I'm building for you now for the weekend is worth a million dollars. And the PM is needed for this." The day after the publication in "Bild," which included quotes from the classified document, Urich wrote to Feldstein: "Take your time... The boss is happy."

4. Correction of the Prime Minister's speech: Ahead of the cabinet meeting on 8.9.24, Feldstein and Urich drafted a statement for the Prime Minister. Feldstein sent the draft to Reserve Warrant Officer Rosenfeld, and he corrected the wording so that it would fit exactly with the classified intelligence information. The updated statement was read by the PM at the beginning of the cabinet meeting.

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The serious suspicion: Destruction of evidence and replacement of phones

One of the central clauses that led to Urich's indictment is the clause of destruction of evidence and obstruction of justice. According to the indictment, on 27.10.24, Feldstein and Rosenfeld were arrested for questioning. The next morning, on 28.10.24, Yonatan Urich rushed to replace his mobile phone. He deliberately refrained from transferring the extensive correspondence history from the old device - and this, according to the prosecution, "with the goal of preventing their use as evidence in a judicial proceeding."

In parallel, Feldstein himself ordered the reserve warrant officer to delete the WhatsApp correspondence between them immediately after the publication in Germany, and the warrant officer indeed deleted some of them.

In the prosecution and the security establishment, they clarify that this is not merely a media "spin," but an event that caused real damage to state security during wartime. The indictment emphasizes that the very exposure of the information and the original document publicly revealed to Hamas Israel's intelligence gathering capabilities, the methods of operation of the intelligence community, and exposed top-secret means - something that could lead to risking human lives and harm the functioning ability of security organizations. The investigation was conducted by the Lahav 433 unit of the Israel Police.