Investigators from Israel Police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit will fly to Serbia this week to question a former senior election campaign adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Hebrew media reports on Sunday.
Yisrael Einhorn will be questioned in relation to his role in the so-called Qatargate affair and the leaked documents case that have marred the Prime Minister’s Office for the past several months.
Einhorn has been living in Belgrade over the past year, while working as an adviser to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, and has not returned to Israel since a probe was opened last year into an intelligence leak.
Einhorn, along with a top aide to the prime minister, Jonatan Urich, and ex-spokesman Eli Feldstein, is a key suspect in the intelligence leak case, which involves the theft of classified IDF documents and the leaking of one of them to the German daily, Bild.
The three are also all suspects in the ongoing Qatargate probe, and investigators have sought to question Einhorn over his PR work for Qatar through his public relations firm, Perception, which he ran alongside Urich.
The two spearheaded a pro-Qatari campaign to cast the Gulf state in a positive light, ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, hosted in Doha, according to Hebrew media reports at the time, which corresponds with the start of the probe’s time frame.
Aides Yisrael Einhorn (left) and Jonatan Urich (center) with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2019. (Courtesy)
Einhorn had previously tried to negotiate a deal with the State Attorney’s Office that would see him return to Israel to testify without being arrested, the Kan public broadcaster reported, but the talks fell through.
He then reportedly requested to be interrogated in Serbia, but that was initially rejected by the prosecutor’s office, which preferred to either wait for him to return to Israel on his own accord and then arrest him, or, alternatively, to initiate extradition proceedings.
But after an apparent reversal in the prosecutor’s position, investigators are now expected to question Einhorn in Serbia.
Also Sunday, the State Attorney’s Office declined to appeal a decision to ease the house arrest conditions for Feldstein, who was charged in the classified documents affair along with reserve IDF officer Ari Rosenfeld.
Judge Ala Masarwa of the Tel Aviv District Court ruled last week that the conditions of Feldstein’s house arrest could be eased, but delayed the implementation of the ruling to allow time for the State Attorney’s Office to appeal to the Supreme Court if it wished to do so.
Eli Feldstein arrives for a court hearing at the Tel Aviv District Court on March 11, 2025. (Yehoshua Yosef/Flash90)
Besides Feldstein and Rosenfeld, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara announced last week that charges would be filed, pending a hearing, against Urich in the documents case for transmitting classified files to harm state security and destroying evidence.
Urich’s lawyers have denied the allegations, which Netanyahu denounced as “baseless and unfounded.”
No charges have yet been filed against any suspects in the Qatargate investigation.
Is The Times of Israel important to you?
If so, we have a request.
Every day, even during war, our journalists keep you abreast of the most important developments that merit your attention. Millions of people rely on ToI for fast, fair and free coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
We care about Israel – and we know you do too. So today, we have an ask: show your appreciation for our work by joining The Times of Israel Community, an exclusive group for readers like you who appreciate and financially support our work.
Yes, I’ll give
Yes, I’ll give
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You appreciate our journalism
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, in a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.
Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically since October 7.
So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘272776440645465’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
