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Sunday, September 27, 2026
Report: UAE authorities have access to Netanyahu aide Urich’s WhatsApp messages
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Authorities in the United Arab Emirates can access the WhatsApp messages and media files of Jonatan Urich, a close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a report in Calcalist.
The UAE officials have access to Urich’s WhatsApp account because he uses a third-party service, Ultramsg, based in the Gulf state to send messages, the business publication reports. Under Emirati law, that gives the government broad access to such messages, according to the report.
The arrangement came to light after Haaretz reported that Urich created an artificial intelligence system for monitoring media reports surrounding the premier and his wife that led to a security breach, exposing sensitive information before it was taken down.
The AI tool, which was created by Urich using Anthropic’s Claude engine, automatically scans around 50 news sources every 90 seconds and sends immediate summaries of the reports to one of two WhatsApp groups, one for all news surrounding the prime minister and his Likud party, and one specifically for mentions of Sara Netanyahu, the report said.
The tool, which was uploaded by Urich to the code-sharing site GitHub, was left unencrypted and completely visible to the public, the report said.
The Times of Israel Community.