Netanyahu advisor's chats leaked online - dangerous mistake exposed

Thousands of messages from Yonatan Urich, Netanyahu's senior advisor, 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 ended up publicly available on GitHub with potential access tokens. The authenticity of the chats has not been confirmed, and Urich's lawyers speak of possible lawsuits.

A scandal erupted in Israel after thousands of messages from Yonatan Urich, a senior aide and media advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leaked. Unknown parties created a website publishing Urich's correspondence with politicians and journalists, reportedly covering the past few months. Among the interlocutors 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 an open GitHub repository. According to media estimates, the files could have contained access tokens allowing information about group participants and potentially access to the correspondence. 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.