Opposition MK: Netanyahu is beholden to Qatar, ‘selling the country for monetary gain’

The Democrats lawmaker Naama Lazimi tells an anti-government protest at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “selling the country for monetary gain,” following reports alleging that three of the premier’s aides had done PR work for Qatar, a backer of Hamas.

“That’s why he’s so afraid of a state commission on inquiry” into the failures of October 7, 2023, she says. “They’re afraid and they know why.”

Qatar’s influence on Netanyahu was not limited to the “suitcases of dollars” he let flow from Doha to Gaza, claims Lazimi.

“We’re talking about members of his staff working to legitimize an enemy country,” she says.

Lazimi slams Hamas for the killing of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons Ariel and Kfir in captivity.

The three bodies were returned to Israel this week. IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said a forensic scan showed the boys had been murdered by their captors with their “bare hands.”

“Shiri, Ariel and Kfir — I’m sorry,” says Lazimi. “Sorry, you were abandoned in the hands of human scum, murderous terrorists.”

“Damn you Hamas,” she says, “and damn anyone who considers you an asset” — a reference to a decade-old quote by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said Israel was better off with Hamas than the Palestinian Authority because the former had less international legitimacy.

Lazimi congratulates hostages Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed on their return today.

The latter two had been in captivity since 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Lazimi accuses Netanyahu’s staff of threatening Mengistu’s family not to talk about Avera, a member of Israel’s Ethiopian community.

“It’s not news to anyone that [Netanyahu’s aides] are the most racist people in the country, right?”

Lazimi stands atop a stage where activists have placed a large statue of a train, emblazoned with the hashtag #Qatar-gate. The train is a pun — the Gulf state’s name sounds similar to the Hebrew word for train conductor.

The roughly 250 protesters march from Habima to Begin Road, where they will join an anti-government, pro-hostage deal protest.