Contradicting known timeline, PM claims Qatar probe was opened to prevent Bar’s firing
PM claims AG, Shin Bet head opened probe into aides’ ties to Doha on same date he had set for Bar to present report on agency’s Oct. 7 failures, but Qatar probe had been ongoing for weeks
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Saturday that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Shin Bet security agency chief Ronen Bar only opened an investigation into his senior aides’ financial ties with Qatar in order to prevent the government’s firing of Bar.
The premier’s assertion appeared to be based on little evidence and contradicted the known sequence of events, as Netanyahu only initiated the process to dismiss Bar after the investigation into Qatar had already been launched.
Netanyahu’s cabinet voted unanimously on Thursday to fire Bar and was set to meet Sunday to advance the process of firing Baharav-Miara.
In a prerecorded video message containing what he described as “a dramatic revelation of facts that will shake you,” Netanyahu presented what he said were “shocking” documents to back up his claim, though the claims, documents and dates he set out were at odds with the known timeline of the Qatar probe and did not appear to support his assertions.
“The facts prove unequivocally that the dismissal was not intended to prevent the investigation — the investigation was intended to prevent the dismissal,” Netanyahu said, having offered no clear evidence. “So tell me, who here is acting with ulterior motives?”
At the start of the video, Netanyahu pushed back against legal petitions to prevent Bar’s dismissal, stating that Bar “will not remain head of the Shin Bet” and that “there will be no civil war, and Israel will remain a democratic state.”
He did not say, however, how he would respond if the High Court rules to reverse Bar’s ouster.
נתניהו בסרטון: רונן בר לא יישאר ראש השב"כ, לא תהיה מלחמת אחים, וישראל תישאר מדינה דמוקרטית@gilicohen10 pic.twitter.com/9MxauZvag6
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) March 22, 2025
“We are a nation of laws, and the law in the State of Israel, simply put, means that the government is entitled to fire the Shin Bet chief before the end of his term,” Netanyahu stated, dismissing “claims that the firing of the Shin Bet head was done to prevent the investigation into the issue of Qatar.”
Netanyahu then said that his distrust of Bar began on October 7, 2023, blaming the Shin Bet director for not waking him up as security chiefs discussed worrying signals from Gaza early that morning. He claimed his distrust of Bar grew as the war raged on.
In a Thursday statement to reporters issued by an anonymous Israeli official, who is widely understood to be Netanyahu himself, Bar is alleged to have known Hamas’s attack was going to take place but “did nothing” to stop it.
The premier in his Saturday video appeared to claim that the Shin Bet chief — realizing he was about to be fired — put off submitting the agency’s probes into October 7 and then colluded with Baharav-Miara to launch the Qatar investigation in an attempt to prevent his dismissal.
“I thought that the appropriate time to end the Shin Bet head’s tenure would be after he presented me with the Shin Bet’s probes into the failures of October 7. So it was with the IDF chief of staff. I instructed the Shin Bet head to present me with his probes by February 15,” Netanyahu said.
“On February 15, the date by which he should have presented the probes, Ronen Bar sent me a letter,” he said, holding up the letter in question. “[Bar wrote], ‘I wish to update you that I am unable to present the probe of the Shin Bet on the date you requested.’ He ends the letter by saying, ‘In light of this, I ask to hand in the main findings no later than February 27.'”
נתניהו ניסה לחשוף את ראש השב״כ אבל חשף את עצמו: מכתב הפיטורים לראש השב״כ נשלח יממה לאחר פתיחת חקירת קטארגייט: נתניהו חשף הערב מכתב ששלח לו ראש השב״כ במטרה ״לחשוף שאין קשר לחקירת קטארגייט״, בעיה קטנה התאריך עליו הגיב ראש השב״כ, ״במענה למכתבך מ10/02/2025- זהו יום אחד לאחר שנפתחה… pic.twitter.com/QbTYLTFuHI
— daniel amram – דניאל עמרם (@danielamram3) March 22, 2025
(Netanyahu did not mention this in the video, but the letter from Bar also noted that Netanyahu had only informed him at the start of that month of his expectation to receive the Shin Bet probe’s findings within two weeks — a deadline Bar explains he could not meet. He says rushing the report within two weeks would force the Shin Bet to resort to unacceptable “shortcuts” in its investigation — something “to which we cannot agree.” Bar stated in his letter that he was responding to a letter from Netanyahu on February 10. The Shin Bet presented its Oct. 7 probe findings on March 4.)
Netanyahu continued in the video: “But on February 27, he didn’t present me with the investigation, instead asking for several more days. Again, I agreed to his request. But look what happened: That very same day, on February 27, in the evening hours, in a rare coincidence one couldn’t invent, the attorney general announced the opening of a probe into Qatar!”
“The facts prove unequivocally that the dismissal was not intended to prevent the investigation — the investigation was intended to prevent the dismissal,” Netanyahu declared.
In fact, however, the “Qatargate” probe was launched before the date of February 27 highlighted by Netanyahu. February 27 was indeed the date that Baharav-Miara announced a criminal investigation. She was only able to do so because the Shin Bet had already been probing the matter for at least 12 days, gathering information on the alleged ties of Netanyahu’s office to Qatar.
Though an exact date for when the Shin Bet probe was launched is not publicly available, the first query from a reporter on the matter was submitted as early as February 9 — before any of the letters Netanyahu pointed to were sent. The allegations of Netanyahu’s aides’ ties to Qatar were aired by Channel 12 on February 10. By February 15, the Shin Bet had already confirmed a probe was underway.
Channel 12’s political reporter Daphna Liel wrote soon after Netanyahu released his video: “Netanyahu tried to prove this evening that the “Qatargate” affair has no connection to [his decision to dismiss] the head of the Shin Bet, but he did exactly the opposite. The request for a response to the affair was submitted by Ofer Haddad on February 9, and Netanyahu’s letter to Ronen Bar to expedite the investigations he requested was sent the next day — the day the affair was revealed. An incredible coincidence!”
Tracing the money
Relatedly on Saturday, the Kan public broadcaster reported that the police “Qatargate” probe is focused on how funds were transferred between “several hands and firms” since May 2022 and possibly beforehand.
Among the main difficulties that the police face in their inquiry is that some persons of interest reside outside of Israel — most notably Israel Einhorn, a former Netanyahu aide who did public relations work for Qatar before the 2022 World Cup and is a central suspect in a separate case involving the leaking of classified documents.
To overcome the issue, the police and State Prosecutor’s Office are reportedly exploring possibilities to expand the investigation beyond Israel’s borders.
On Friday, Yonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein, a former Netanyahu spokesman, were revealed to be the two suspects briefly detained for questioning under caution on Wednesday in the ongoing police-Shin Bet “Qatargate” investigation.
The two were arrested on suspicion of contacting a foreign agent, fraud, money laundering and bribery.
Further details regarding the investigation are barred from publication in accordance with a sweeping court-issued gag order that is in effect until April 10.
The investigation was launched following revelations that Feldstein, who was previously a spokesman for Netanyahu, worked for Qatar via an international firm contracted by Doha to feed Israeli journalists pro-Qatar stories while he was employed in the Prime Minister’s Office.
On Wednesday, the Kan public broadcaster published recordings of Israeli businessman Gil Birger saying he funneled funds from a Qatari lobbyist to Feldstein.
Kan noted in its report that, for at least part of Feldstein’s time working for Netanyahu, the aide did not receive any direct salary from the Prime Minister’s Office because he had not passed a security clearance.
According to Channel 12, Feldstein’s lawyers said that the money Feldstein received from Birger was for services he provided “for the Prime Minister’s Office, and not for Qatar.” They claimed that the payments to their client were a “temporary and partial solution by people in the Prime Minister’s Office,” to an “issue that arose regarding his salary,” but did not specify what the issue was that necessitated payment of Feldstein’s government salary from sources outside the government.
The Channel 12 report also added that the statements from Feldstein’s legal team suggested that the idea to pay Feldstein through the Doha-funded PR firm was initiated by Urich, and that their client had no knowledge of the connection between the payments and Qatar. “In other words,” said Channel 12, “Feldstein’s representatives are today shifting the blame to the Prime Minister’s Office, and according to that argument, the Qataris, via American lobbyist Jay Footlik, financed the employment of a military spokesman of the prime minister of Israel during wartime.”
Responding to the mention of his name, lawyers for Urich denied his involvement in the affair and claimed that their client “has no idea who Gil Birger is.”
Feldstein has already been indicted for harming national security in a case involving the theft of classified IDF documents and the leaking of one of them to the German daily, Bild. He, Urich and Einhorn are said to be the central suspects in the national security case in which Feldstein was charged in November. All deny wrongdoing, as has Netanyahu’s office.
The Walla news site reported Wednesday that Feldstein discussed the transfer of the document to Bild with Netanyahu at least twice.
Prosecutors have accused Feldstein of leaking the document in a bid to sway public opinion, which had turned against Netanyahu after the murder in captivity of six Israeli hostages — Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov and Carmel Gat — in late August.
A Channel 13 report earlier this month claimed that hundreds of thousands of dollars were funneled from Qatar to various Netanyahu aides, via various intermediaries, including one owned by Urich, who denied being employed by Qatar. Investigators were reportedly surprised by how much money had been transferred.
