Israeli court cancels restrictive conditions on three Netanyahu aides in Bild leak investigation

Yahoo
Yahoo
18m ago
A magistrate’s court canceled employment bans, no-contact orders, and travel restrictions imposed on three senior aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Bild leak investigation, with the judge sharply criticizing police requests as procedurally flawed and overbroad.
Israeli court cancels restrictive conditions on three Netanyahu aides in Bild leak investigation
A What happened
Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court President Judge Menachem Mizrahi rejected Israel Police requests to extend employment bans, no-contact orders, and travel restrictions against Netanyahu adviser Yonatan Urich, Prime Minister’s Office spokesman Omer Mantzur, and Chief of Staff Tzachi Braverman. Mizrahi said the requested conditions lacked a proper factual and legal foundation and criticized police for shifting and inconsistent applications, including attempts to impose conditions that had expired, were never court-authorized, or came from unrelated investigative tracks. The judge said police improperly blurred separate investigations, including the Bild leak and the “nighttime parking lot meeting,” and said restrictions from one case could not be transferred to another once higher courts severed them. The ruling takes effect Sunday to allow police time to appeal to the district court.
★

Key insights

  • 1

    Judge rejected broad no-contact restrictions without specific evidence: Judge Menachem Mizrahi wrote that prohibitions as broad as barring contact with all Prime Minister’s Office employees could not rest on generalized suspicions or undefined investigative needs.

  • 2

    Courts warned police to keep Bild leak and Qatargate investigations separate: Courts repeatedly emphasized distinguishing between the Bild leak affair and the separate Qatargate investigation and warned police against using allegations or restrictions from one case to justify measures in the other.

  • 3

    Police inaction undercut claims of urgent obstruction risk: Mizrahi pointed to long gaps between investigative steps and said claims of urgent obstruction risks were undermined by police inaction.

Takeaways

The court’s cancellation of restrictions on Urich, Mantzur, and Braverman takes effect Sunday unless changed on appeal, allowing them to renew contact and potentially return to work at the Prime Minister’s Office.

Topics

World & Politics Governance Investigations Law & Public Safety Crime & Justice Courts

Stay ahead with OwlBrief

Daily briefs that distill the world’s important events — clear, verified, and designed for understanding.

Create Free Account Sign In

Newsletter

Get OwlBrief in your inbox

A fast, high-signal digest of the day’s most important events — plus the context that makes them make sense.

Quick to read. Useful all day.