Former Mossad agent questioned over Qatargate took part in hostage negotiating team meetings — report

A former Mossad official who was questioned under caution in the Qatargate affair took part in meetings of Israel’s hostage negotiating team at the beginning of the war for two weeks, sometimes as an official representative of the spy agency, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

The official insists to Kan that he reported his ties to Qatar to the Mossad and to the IDF’s envoy to negotiations Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, but the report claims that the spy agency and members of the team were unaware of the connections.

The agent, referred to only as Shin, worked in cooperation with Qatari intelligence during his time at the spy agency and today does business in Qatar, Channel 12 reported in May.

According to Channel 12, Shin owns a company with retired IDF general Yoav Mordechai, who formed connections with the Qataris during his time as head of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum says the report “reveals again how Qatar managed to infiltrate the holy of holies of the struggle to return hostages — from the Prime Minister’s Office to the senior officials of the Mossad and the negotiating team.”

The forum demands that the prime minister prove with actions that he is committed to returning all the hostages held in Gaza.

The Qatargate affair revolves primarily around suspicions that two Netanyahu aides — Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein — committed multiple offenses tied to their alleged work for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corrupt actions involving lobbyists and businessmen, all while working for the prime minister.