Official temporarily removed from hostage negotiating team amid Qatargate probe – report

Maj. Gen. (res.) Yoav Mordechai has been temporarily removed from Israel’s hostage negotiating team following developments in the ongoing “Qatargate” investigation, Channel 12 reports.

Police reportedly deemed testimony given by Mordechai last week “problematic,” without providing further details, leading to a 14-day ban on his involvement in the sensitive portfolio. For the past year and a half, the former head of COGAT has served as deputy to Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, who oversees the matter for the military.

Mordechai was first questioned under caution in early July on suspicion of contact with a foreign agent and accepting bribes. At the time, reports alleged his company, Novard, had transferred large sums to Jonatan Urich — a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a key suspect in the affair — to fund an online campaign improving Qatar’s image in Israel.

During a court hearing last week over restrictions placed on Urich, Channel 12 reports that Urich’s lawyer argued they were unfair, noting that Mordechai and other figures questioned in the case had been permitted to return to their professional roles — including at Novard — and that other former security officials under scrutiny were still working with senior government figures.

The IDF has stressed that Mordechai does not conduct direct negotiations with mediators but has played a significant and at times “critical” role in the hostage negotiating team since the war began.