Chikli calls for probe into ‘shocking’ Qatargate allegations, in 1st such demand from a minister

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli says the Qatargate affair must be fully investigated, in what appears to be the first time a minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has publicly called for a probe into allegations that the premier’s top aides were acting as paid lobbyists for Qatar, where Hamas’s leadership is based.

In an interview with the Kan public broadcaster, Chikli says, “There is no way to defend this – it’s shocking. These matters must be investigated to the very end.”

“It appears there was activity here intended to benefit the Qataris. I assume Einhorn also received money. I don’t know about Feldstein, but it looks very bad,” he adds, referring to Yisrael (Srulik) Einhorn, a close adviser to the prime minister, and former PM spokesperson Eli Feldstein.

Feldstein and Netanyahu’s top adviser Jonathan Urich are alleged to have worked on behalf of Qatar while they were in Netanyahu’s employ for the Perception PR firm headed by Einhorn, Netanyahu’s former campaign manager.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett on Monday called on Netanyahu to resign, accusing him of engaging in the cover-up of the Qatargate affair, which Bennett called “the most serious act of treason in Israeli history.”

Other opposition leaders have also called for a formal investigation into the affair.

The three former aides to the prime minister are also being investigated in connection with the leak of classified intelligence aimed at swaying the Israeli public’s opinion regarding ongoing hostage negotiations last year, in the so-called Bild case, which Feldstein alleged in an interview with the Kan public broadcaster yesterday that the prime minister was behind.