A key aide to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was indicted on Thursday on charges of jeopardizing national security, the latest twist in a long-running scandal that has raised questions about the integrity of the Israeli leader’s inner circle.
Jonatan Urich, a media adviser for the prime minister, was accused by Israel’s attorney general of helping to leak a secret military document to a German newspaper, Bild, in late 2024, with an “intent to harm state security.”
Mr. Urich’s lawyer, Amit Hadad, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Mr. Netanyahu’s office or his party, Likud. In January, Mr. Urich said in a post on social media that the investigation against him was full of “smears, lies and contradictory testimony.”
The document detailed Hamas’s position in its negotiations with Israel over the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, according to the indictment.
Mr. Urich is the second of Mr. Netanyahu’s close aides to be indicted over the document. Critics have accused them of leaking it as part of a disinformation campaign to support Mr. Netanyahu’s conditions for a Gaza cease-fire and a hostage release deal with Hamas.
Mr. Netanyahu’s opponents accused him of having torpedoed a deal in order to prolong the war for political reasons. In its report, Bild said the document showed that Hamas was trying to manipulate the Israeli public and wanted to draw out the negotiations.
The indictment on Thursday said Mr. Urich believed leaking the document would sway public opinion in favor of Mr. Netanyahu. At the time, the prime minister was under intense public pressure to negotiate the release of the remaining hostages after six were killed by the militant group in one of Hamas’s tunnels.
About 250 hostages were seized during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, which ignited the two-year war in Gaza.
The indictment also said that Mr. Urich had first shared the document with Israeli media outlets, but military censors had blocked it before it could be published. Israel’s courts have not said when Mr. Urich’s trial would begin.
The indictment of Mr. Urich, who is also a longstanding campaign manager for Mr. Netanyahu, comes at a sensitive political moment for the prime minister, who is expected to seek another term in national elections this fall.
Earlier this week, President Trump suggested that Mr. Netanyahu might not run for another term in an interview with ABC News. That was later refuted by a spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud party, who insisted that he would be on the ballot.
He and his office have faced a string of legal cases and misconduct investigations in recent years. Mr. Netanyahu is himself standing trial on corruption charges, which he denies.
Eli Feldstein, another media adviser to the prime minister, was previously indicted over the leak of the document in late 2024, and is awaiting trial.
He and Mr. Urich were also arrested last year on separate allegations that they had been paid to push Qatari interests in the Israeli news media.
Both were later released without charge under some restrictions, including a ban on leaving the country, pending further legal proceedings.
Mr. Netanyahu has said the case, often referred to as “Qatargate” in Israeli news media, was politically motivated, and he and his aides have denied any wrongdoing. Another aide to the prime minister was detained in January, accused of obstructing the investigations into the leak to Bild.
According to the charges against Mr. Urich on Thursday, the publication of the document’s contents “revealed a secret intelligence method, its functions and abilities” and “could seriously damage Israeli security interests.”
Isabel Kershner contributed reporting.
