In public spat, lawyers for Qatargate suspect accuse Netanyahu spokesman of ‘hysteria’
Premier’s spokesperson claims Eli Feldstein didn’t work for PM’s office for months before scandal erupted; suspect’s attorneys say there’s ‘mountains’ of proof he did
In a heated public spat Saturday, the lawyers for Eli Feldstein, one of the main suspects in the Qatargate affair, denied claims made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman that Feldstein had not worked for the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in the months before his arrest.
Feldstein’s attorneys, Oded Savoray and Sion Hausman, said in a statement that the claim that their client had not acted as a spokesperson for the PMO in the six months before his arrest “is false and contradicted by mountains of objective evidence.”
The lawyers asserted their client acted in an official capacity on behalf of the PMO as a spokesperson on diplomatic and security matters, adding that police have been provided “thousands” of messages containing instructions Feldstein had received from his superiors in the PMO, as well as documentation of his frequent physical presence at the office at that time.
“All of Feldstein’s actions on security and diplomatic matters, without exception, until the day of his arrest, were done for the prime minister and under the direction of authorized staff at his office,” they said. “Dostri’s remarks, in which he tries to fictitiously and retroactively distance Feldstein from the PMO, attest to the hysteria felt by him and by those who sent him.”
Their statement came in response to comments made earlier Saturday by Omer Dostri, a spokesman for the prime minister, who told Channel 12’s “Meet the Press” that Feldstein had not earned money from Qatar while he was an employee in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Dostri said Feldstein only worked for a few months in the PMO, but left when he failed a security check.
“Even if Feldstein continued to brief journalists after that, that was of his own initiative and not in an official capacity,” Dostri claimed.
Dostri also contended that “as someone who was present in security and cabinet discussions, I never worked with him, never saw him in a security discussion. This matter is being investigated — and we will see what comes out of it.”
The Qatargate affair involves suspicions that Feldstein and Jonatan Urich, a longtime senior Netanyahu aide, committed multiple offenses tied to their alleged work for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corruption allegations involving lobbyists and businessmen. They are suspected of taking money to spread pro-Qatari messaging to reporters in order to boost the Gulf state’s image as a mediator in hostage talks between Israel and Hamas, while in the prime minister’s employ, a judge said earlier this month.
Police also want to question a third aide, Yisrael Einhorn, who currently resides in Serbia.
Several additional people have also been questioned in connection with the scandal, including Netanyahu, who is not a suspect and denies all knowledge of the matter.
Qatar, which has played a key role in hostage negotiations, backs Palestinian terror group Hamas and hosts its political leaders.
Feldstein and Urich were released to house arrest at the beginning of the month after several days in custody for their alleged involvement in the affair.
At a recent hearing, police indicated that they suspect that Urich and others, while spreading pro-Qatar messaging, framed the information as having originated from senior Israeli officials in the PMO.
A recent Channel 12 report said that a joint police interrogation of Feldstein and Urich nearly escalated into a physical brawl between the two.
Before being implicated in Qatargate, Feldstein was arrested and charged last year in a separate case with harming state security by leaking stolen classified intelligence information that was then published in the foreign press.
Feldstein was charged in November with harming national security in a case involving the theft and leaking of material from a classified IDF document to the German daily Bild in an effort to sway public opinion toward Netanyahu. Urich and Einhorn are also suspects in that case.
The Times of Israel Community.