Bennett on Qatargate: Netanyahu’s ‘closest aides worked for Hamas’s driving force, it’s insane’

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett launches a fresh attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Qatargate scandal rocking the latter’s office.

“There are three things you should understand and remember when talking about the Qatar affair, no matter how much spin they try to feed you: 1. Qatar is the main driving force powering Hamas. 2. The PM’s advisers worked for it and not for us. 3. And all this happened during a war our children are fighting.”

Bennett notes that Qatari payments of hundreds of millions of dollars have been made to Hamas over the years. He omits that the payments, which were okayed by successive Israeli governments, were not canceled by the government he headed in 2021-2022.

He notes Qatar’s hosting of Hamas’s leaders and claims Doha had known about the terror group’s plan for a mass invasion of Israel from Gaza, and that it currently knows its future plans. Bennett also notes Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, “which incites against Israel around the world.”

Bennett, who plans to run in the next election and recently registered a new party, charges that “Qatar paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Netanyahu’s closest advisers so that they would work for it without anyone knowing. In secret, through lies and trickery, the prime minister’s closest aides worked for Hamas’s driving force. It’s insane.”