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Sunday, August 9, 2026
Opponents castigate Netanyahu for risking Egypt peace after report on aides’ leaks to Qatar
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Opposition politicians and leaders of parties running to unseat the government slam Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his senior aides for allegedly endangering national security after the Israel Hayom daily reports that three of the premier’s advisers leaked damaging information about Egypt to Qatar while they were allegedly on Doha’s payroll.
According to Israel Hayom, defense officials feared that the classified leaks, centered around whether Egypt was violating the peace agreement by streaming forces into the Sinai, could put the peace agreement with Egypt at risk, and could reduce Cairo’s willingness to help free the hostages held by Hamas. The information was used by Qatar to bolster anti-Egypt sentiment among the Israeli public, helping Doha take a leading role in negotiations.
“This is what treason against the State of Israel looks like. Netanyahu’s advisers who received money from Qatar jeopardized our strategic relations with Egypt to serve Qatari interests,” declares The Democrats chairman Yair Golan.
“Five wars and thousands of fallen soldiers led us to the peace agreement with Egypt, and Netanyahu’s office did not hesitate to jeopardize it for financial greed. Their bank accounts drove Israel’s foreign and security policy while the best of our sons were being killed at the front,” he posts on X.
Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot also slams Netanyahu and calls for a state commission of inquiry, declaring that “any reasonable prime minister would order an investigation to clear the air and ensure that his people work for the interests of the State of Israel, and not another country — but not this prime minister.”
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid notes that Likud torpedoed legislation he proposed declaring Qatar an enemy state, while Lapid’s B’Yachad partner Naftali Bennett uses the report to go after Doha, calling it a “venomous enemy” whose influence over Gaza he will work to erase if elected.
Netanyahu aides Yonatan Urich, Yisrael Einhorn, and Eli Feldstein are all key suspects in the “Qatargate” investigation, which primarily revolves around suspicions that they committed multiple offenses tied to their alleged pro-Qatar lobbying, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corrupt actions involving lobbyists and businessmen, while working for the prime minister.
The Times of Israel Community.