PM Netanyahu slams Attorney General for charging top aide

Tel Aviv, July 14 (IANS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday slammed the country's Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara over the announcement of pending criminal charges against the Prime Minister's top aide Yonatan Urich calling the move "baseless and unfounded".

"The disgraceful announcement by the Attorney General regarding the intention to prosecute Yonatan Orich, especially at this particular time, is an unfortunate decision that raises serious questions," the Israeli PM posted on X.

"I am familiar with the details, and I state clearly and unequivocally: there was no harm to national security. Yonatan did not harm national security. This is an absurd, baseless move — intended to serve a different agenda, and not the public's best interest," the post added.

The remarks came after Attorney General Miara announced pending charges against Urich ahead of a government panel hearing scheduled for Monday to consider her potential dismissal.

Reports suggest that the prosecutors alleged that Urich, together with Eli Feldstein, a former military spokesman for Netanyahu, leaked classified Israel Defence Forces (IDF) documents to the press, a case that has embroiled the Prime Minister's Office.

"This was information classified at the highest possible level that was obtained through secret intelligence means, and Urich, by exposing it, may have endangered state security and lives," the Attorney General's Office said in a statement to the press.

"The release of classified information by Urich and Feldstein was intended, among other things, to influence public opinion regarding the Prime Minister, and to shift the discourse at the time regarding the murder of the six hostages in August 2024," the statement added.

However, Urich's lawyers Amit Hadad and Noa Milstein asserted that their client "denies all the allegations against him", and that he "never possessed and never transmitted a classified document and definitely didn't harm national security". They called the attorney general's announcement "baseless" which "comes at a timing that isn't coincidental", adding that Urich's "innocence will be proven beyond doubt".

--IANS

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