Netanyahu adviser's messages leaked online — dangerous mistake exposed

Thousands of messages belonging to Yonatan Urich, a senior adviser to Netanyahu, leaked online. It emerged that he connected his personal WhatsApp to a third-party service from the UAE, and the code of his AI project was left publicly accessible on GitHub with potential access tokens. The authenticity of the correspondence has not been confirmed, and Urich's lawyers speak of possible lawsuits.

A scandal has erupted in Israel after the leak of thousands of messages belonging to Yonatan Urich, a senior aide and media adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Unknown parties set up a website publishing Urich's correspondence with politicians and journalists, reportedly covering the past few months. Among those in the exchanges are Netanyahu aide Topaz Luk, commentator Yaakov Bardugo and journalist Amit Segal. The authenticity of the messages has not been confirmed. Particular attention was drawn to the circumstances of the possible leak. Urich connected his personal WhatsApp to a third-party service, UltraMsg, linked to the UAE, which could have given an external service access to the correspondence. In addition, the code of Urich's AI project for tracking publications about Netanyahu was placed in a public GitHub repository. According to media assessments, the files may have contained access tokens allowing information about group participants and potentially access to the correspondence to be obtained. The scandal unfolds against the backdrop of Urich's criminal prosecution. In June 2026 he was charged with leaking classified documents to Bild, and he also features in the "Qatargate" case. Despite this, Urich continues to work in Netanyahu's office.