Haaretz journalist fired following disclosure he received NIS 200,000 from Qatargate suspect

Prominent Haaretz journalist and commentator Chaim Levinson has been dismissed from his position at the newspaper after it emerged that he had done work for the political consultancy company owned by Yisrael Einhorn, a key suspect in the Qatargate affair.

As reported by Haaretz itself, Levinson, who has long acknowledged being good friends with Einhorn, worked as a ghostwriter for Einhorn’s Perception company from 2019 to 2024, earning some NIS 200,000 ($61,000) for articles he ghostwrote for election campaigns in the Balkan.

In the Qatargate scandal, Einhorn and Perception are believed to have conducted campaigns in Israel and abroad to boost Qatar’s image, in particular in connection to its role as an impartial mediator in hostage negotiations.

Perception was allegedly contracted by Qatar through intermediaries, while two suspects — Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein — worked for Perception on public relations campaigns while at the same time serving as senior aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Responding to the report and his dismissal, Levinson acknowledges that he worked for Perception, but says he had no idea that Einhorn and his company were doing work for Qatar.

“I made a serious mistake for which I want to apologize. I erred in that, although I ended the connection, I did not include a full disclosure,” says Levinson regarding the end of his work for Perception in 2024.

“I have never done any work for Qatar, nor did I know about any connection between Einhorn and them.”

The Haaretz report notes, however, that Levinson has frequently criticized the Qatargate investigations.

And the Kan public broadcaster reports that Levinson helped get an opinion article praising Qatar and criticizing Egypt published in Haaretz, which was published anonymously in the name of “a former senior defense establishment official” who is also reportedly a suspect in the Qatargate affair.

Levinson confirms he passed on the article to Haaretz but says his doing so was not in any way related to Einhorn.