Gil Birger revealed as businessman suspected in Qatargate case involving PM’s aides
Gulf-based entrepreneur had in the past reportedly said he helped move cash from Qatar, via US lobbyist, to Netanyahu spokesman Feldstein
Businessman Gil Birger was revealed as having been questioned by police under caution in the so-called Qatargate scandal, after a gag order on the matter was lifted.
The case has seen a series of key developments over the past few days, including testimony to the police by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Wednesday dismissed the case as “one massive bluff.”
Netanyahu was asked about the scandal by reporters before the beginning of his testimony in his criminal trial at the Tel Aviv District Court.
“How are you not ashamed?” he added, addressing the assembled reporters, apparently referencing their coverage of the ongoing police and Shin Bet investigation.
Birger was questioned on Monday after returning to the country from abroad.
Aides to the prime minister are suspected of taking money to spread pro-Qatar messaging to reporters as Qatar was acting as a mediator in talks between Israel and Hamas for the release of hostages the Palestinian terror group abducted from Israel when it led a massive invasion on October 7, 2023.
In recordings aired last month by public broadcaster Kan, Birger, who is based in the Gulf, said he transferred money from a Qatar-employed US lobbyist to a top aide of the prime minister.
Birger said lobbyist Jay Footlik approached him to give the money to the aide, Eli Feldstein, explaining that he was asked to make the payment for tax reasons.
“He asked me to help due to VAT issues,” Birger was heard saying in the clips, referring to Israel’s value-added tax. “I have known him [Footlik] for 25 years. I don’t work with this, and I don’t work in Israel. He worked with [Feldstein] for a few months; he employed him, not me.”
“I have agreements with Jay on a lot of issues,” Birger added.
Kan noted in the report at the time that, for at least part of Feldstein’s period working for Netanyahu, he did not receive any direct salary from the Prime Minister’s Office because he had not passed a security clearance.
Unnamed sources close to Birger and his holding company, cited by Channel 13 last month, claimed that the payments were transferred to Feldstein without the businessman’s knowledge that the latter was working in the Prime Minister’s Office.
In the recording, Birger also claimed the services performed by Feldstein were related to the hostages.
On Tuesday, an Israeli judge lifted a gag order on the case, revealing the nature of the suspicions against Feldstein and Jonatan Urich, who has been a senior aide to the prime minister for many years.
The Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court also extended the arrest of the two until Thursday.
Police suspect Urich and Feldstein of having contact with a foreign agent, money laundering, bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.
Following the lifting of the gag order, Judge Menachem Mizrahi summed up the police’s suspicions against the two.
In the period under investigation, Mizrahi wrote, an American lobbying company called The Third Circle — owned by Footlik — contacted Feldstein in order to put a positive spin on Doha’s role as a facilitator in the negotiations for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
The judge said that Qatar also wanted Feldstein to spread negative messaging about Egypt’s role in the negotiations.
Urich mediated between The Third Circle and Feldstein, who was compensated financially by Footlik through Birger, according to Mizrahi’s summation.
Tuesday’s hearing further revealed that police believe Urich — while spreading pro-Qatar messaging — framed the information as having originated from senior Israeli officials in the Prime Minister’s Office.
At the hearing, police said they had questioned both Urich and Netanyahu on Monday as to whether the former had leaked confidential information from the cabinet.
Netanyahu gave open testimony in the case on Monday after being summoned by the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit. He is not a suspect in the case. Netanyahu abruptly left giving court testimony in his own, unrelated, graft trial in order to speak with the police.
The premier told investigators that he was unaware of any connection between Urich and Feldstein and Qatar or representatives of Qatar, Channel 12 news reported on Tuesday.
Following the arrest of Urich and Feldstein on Monday, Netanyahu issued a video statement accusing the police of holding his two aides “hostage,” sparking outcry from hostage families and opposition politicians.
The Times of Israel Community.