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Monday, April 27, 2026
Outgoing Mossad chief reportedly says Qatargate scandal didn’t harm national security
Nava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.
Outgoing Mossad chief David Barnea said in recent meetings that connections between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office staff and Qatar did not harm national security or hostage deal negotiations, Haaretz reports — putting him at odds with former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, who has called the affair a serious security threat.
While Barnea declined to address the corruption investigations against the Prime Minister’s Office staffers, Barnea told journalists and other figures that he did not identify any harm done to the hostage talks or any other security damage as a result of the affair, according to the report.
In the so-called Qatargate affair, Netanyahu’s adviser, Yonatan Urich, along with former Netanyahu spokesman Eli Feldstein and ex-campaign adviser Yisrael Einhorn, are accused of taking money to spearhead a public relations campaign for Qatar in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, despite the Gulf state’s strong ties to the terror group, and doing so while working in the PMO.
Barnea’s assessment contradicts that of Bar, during whose tenure the Qatargate affair was exposed.
In an affidavit submitted to the High Court of Justice last year regarding his dismissal by Netanyahu, Bar said concerns in the Shin Bet’s ongoing investigation into Qatargate “center on damage to the negotiations for the release of hostages, the strengthening of Hamas, and the deterioration of Israel’s relations with Egypt,” another mediator in the talks.
Critics, including Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, have charged that Netanyahu removed Bar from office last year over a conflict of interest surrounding the Shin Bet’s probe into Qatargate.
The Times of Israel Community.