Netanyahu aide Urich asked ChatGPT how to improve Qatar's image, Channel 12 says

Jonatan Urich, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, turned to ChatGPT in September 2024 for ideas on how to improve Qatar's public image, according to a report broadcast on Monday by Israel's Channel 12 news. The report, which The Times of Israel said drew on materials from a police investigation, places the exchanges roughly a year into the war in Gaza.

Ynet, summarising the Channel 12 story, said Urich asked the chatbot how Qatar's image could be improved and requested suggestions that could help to "whitewash" the Gulf state. When investigators put this to him, Ynet reported, Urich said he did not remember what he had asked the chatbot. In a post on X he did not deny the report, writing that a piece of his investigation had been published.

What police reportedly put to Urich

According to The Times of Israel's account of the broadcast, Urich first told investigators he had "no connection" to any pro-Qatar campaign coming out of the Prime Minister's Office, and described such a campaign as "unacceptable." Police then reportedly showed him his ChatGPT history from September 2024. The Times of Israel said that history showed several occasions on which he asked the OpenAI chatbot to draw up a strategic plan concerning Qatar's global standing.

Haaretz described the source material as police interrogation transcripts and dated the activity to a year after the Hamas attack on Israel of October 7, 2023. Haaretz spells the aide's first name Yonatan; The Times of Israel uses Jonatan. Both are transliterations of the same Hebrew name.

Urich's own framing differs slightly across outlets. News.co.il quoted him describing the published material as a piece of an investigation from a year ago.

What Qatargate is

"Qatargate" is the name used in Israel for an investigation into allegations that advisers to Netanyahu carried out public relations work on behalf of Qatar while they were employed at the Prime Minister's Office. The Times of Israel reported that the allegations include placing stories favourable to Qatar in the media, and that Urich is a key suspect in the case.

Urich is also facing a separate legal matter. According to The Times of Israel, he faces charges connected to a 2024 leak of classified documents, and he appeared at a hearing at the Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court on January 14, 2026. Rishon Lezion is a city south of Tel Aviv; a magistrate's court is the lowest tier of Israel's court system.

Channel 12, also known by its Hebrew name Hadashot 12 and operating under the N12 brand online, is one of Israel's main commercial television news broadcasters. Most of the details in the other outlets' reports are attributed back to its broadcast.

Political and public reaction

Ynet reported sharp responses from politicians. Eisenkot was quoted as saying that a Qatari agent is operating inside the Prime Minister's Office, while Liberman said the office would be investigated for treason. Ynet gave only these short statements and did not detail what form any such investigation would take.

N12 published a response from Lishay Miran-Lavi, whose husband Omri Miran was held captive and has since returned. She said that for two years families had been lied to, and that the prime minister's right-hand man had served as spokesman and adviser for those she said financed the militants who held her husband. She asked when officials would find the courage to say "sorry."

What the reports do not say

• None of the reports quotes the full text of the prompts Urich is said to have entered, or what ChatGPT produced in reply. The Times of Israel excerpt available to us breaks off mid-quotation.
• The reports do not say whether any of the chatbot's suggestions were used in an actual campaign, or who, if anyone, commissioned the work.
• It is not stated when the interrogation in which Urich was confronted took place, beyond his own remark that it dates from a year ago.
• No response from Netanyahu or the Prime Minister's Office appears in the material.
• The reports do not indicate whether the ChatGPT material forms part of any indictment or remains at the investigation stage.