A court on Friday ordered Eli Feldstein and Yonatan Urich, suspects in the "Qatar Gate" case and advisers to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, released to house arrest until April 22.
Police had requested to extend the suspects' arrest by one week, claiming they are "dangerous" and presenting an opinion that the suspicions against them mean that Feldstein and Urich are a threat to the country's security.
The police representative at the hearing said that this is "an initial assessment, and in order to put together a final assessment, we need more time."
The judge, however, pointed out, "Until now, you have not claimed that they are dangerous. How is there contact with a foreign agent but no danger? From the outset, this was problematic."
The judge added, "I cannot give weight to a claim of danger that came up only today. Unfortunately, there is a concern that the applicant used the days of arrest for a different investigation as well."
"They claim there is an assessment of harm to security, but when they finally handed it to me in draft form only, it was not signed and did not show real harm to security."
Urich's lawyer, Amit Haddad said, "Why are you silent? You almost killed Urich yesterday. Confirm that after the detective screamed, Uri complained of pains in his chest. While Urich was in pain, you told me that he was already in custody (at nine) but he only arrived in custody at 11:30 at night. Following the pressure in his chest, he complained to the investigators. Confirm to me that you did not bring him [for medical examination] until he lost consciousness on the way, while in the car! The next thing he remembers is that he was lying on the floor and hearing the detectives scream, "Call an ambulance!" and then he saw an Magen David Adom and United Hatzalah ambulance. You did not evacuate him, despite his complaints, until he lost consciousness. He was on the floor. And then an ambulance came."
The police investigator responded: "That is not precise, I will explain. The story is entirely different. We were in the parking lot and the detectives called and said that Urich had fainted."
Haddad said, "You weren't even there at all. They called you up."
The court has allowed the police to appeal within the span of one hour from the ruling. As such, Israel Police has requested to delay the suspects' release in order to allow for an appeal.