Netanyahu says Qatargate probe ‘political hunt,’ 2 detained aides ‘being held hostage’ by police

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu releases a video after he is questioned by police in the Qatargate scandal and dismisses the investigations as politically motivated, adding that two of his top aides who were arrested “are being held hostage.”

In the video released on Telegram, Netanyahu says that when police told him that he needed to give testimony in the case, he immediately cleared time for it.

“The police said they needed four hours, but after an hour, they ran out of questions,” Netanyahu says.

The prime minister says he asked police to provide him with evidence. “I said ‘Show me something,’ and they did not have anything,” Netanyahu says.

“I understood that this was a political investigation, but I did not know how much, and that they are holding [Jonatan] Urich and [Elie] Feldstein as hostages,” Netanyahu says, referring to his two aides who were detained this morning and are being held overnight in custody.

Netnayahu’s comments appear remarkably tone deaf comparing the two men held by the Israel Police to the plight of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

“This is a political hunt that is intended to foil the firing of the head of the Shin Bet and to bring down a prime minister from the right,” he claims.