NAHARIYA — Israel’s attorney general announced that Jonatan Urich, a close adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will face criminal prosecution for leaking secret information to the German newspaper Bild in 2024. The charges include leaking secret information with the intent of harming Israel’s security, possession of confidential information, and destruction of evidence.

The attorney general’s office plans to indict Urich for the leak of a classified document to Bild. Officials did not specify when the formal indictment would be filed, though it is standard practice in Israel to announce an intent to indict before charges are officially submitted.

The leak was allegedly intended to improve Netanyahu’s public image and divert attention from the August 2024 killings of six Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Urich’s legal team disputed the decision, telling Israel’s Army Radio that the planned indictment was “wrong and disconnected from the evidence.” Urich also posted on social media: “It’s quite something that the AG didn’t ask for a death sentence.”

Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on the planned indictment. Another former Netanyahu aide, Eli Feldstein, has already been indicted in connection with the same leak affair. Both Urich and Feldstein were previously arrested in a separate investigation known as “Qatargate,” in which they are suspected of accepting money from Qatar to promote a favorable image of the Gulf state in Israel following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

Eliad Shraga, chairman of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, criticized the prime minister’s inner circle, saying the decision to indict Urich was “dramatic” and “it proves once again how rotten Netanyahu’s inner circle is.” Shraga’s organization has previously filed petitions related to government transparency and accountability. Netanyahu is currently on trial for corruption in three separate cases and faces internal coalition tensions that could lead to the dissolution of parliament.