Jerusalem Post editor suspected of receiving ‘benefit’ from Qatar in exchange for positive coverage, AG and state attorney say

Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman state that Jerusalem Post Editor-in-Chief Zvika Klein was questioned under caution in the Qatargate scandal, meaning as a suspect, due to comments he made in open testimony which, they say, ostensibly linked him to efforts to promote Qatar’s image in Israel in return for “benefit.”

“The journalist who was questioned under caution in the framework of the [Qatargate] affair was originally summoned to give open testimony and not as a suspect,” the two senior law enforcement officials say in a statement to the press.

Klein is the only journalist to be questioned under caution regarding the Qatargate scandal so far.

“In the framework of his testimony, a significant suspicion was formed that the journalist was, together with the prime minister’s aides, part of the mechanism of receiving benefits from Qatar in exchange for advancing Qatar’s interests,” they add.

As a result, the police investigators switched the open testimony to questioning under caution about receiving remuneration from Doha.

According to Channel 12, Klein has denied the allegations against him. Channel 12 last night reported that Klein told investigators his ties to Qatari officials were forged through his work at the Jerusalem Post. The newspaper hosted a conference to which a Qatari diplomat was invited. Subsequently, he flew to Qatar in order to interview Qatari officials as part of his journalistic work, Klein reportedly told interrogators.

Baharav-Miara and Aisman say that the law enforcement system “sees great importance in guaranteeing freedom of the press, and that in any situation when journalists were questioned by law enforcement, it is done “with great caution to preserve freedom of the press.”

Two senior Israeli journalists were summoned to give open testimony today in the Qatargate affair, meaning not as suspects but as individuals with knowledge of the events.

The scandal centers around close aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who are suspected of having worked for a lobbying firm, contracted by Doha, to improve Qatar’s image in Israel about its role as mediator in the hostage release negotiations with the Hamas terror organization by pushing pro-Qatar messaging to journalists.

Baharav-Miara and Aisman add that getting to the bottom of the Qatargate affair necessitated taking testimony from journalists because of the very nature of the case, and insist that the law enforcement agencies have not changed their policies of avoiding taking testimony from journalists as far as possible.