Retired senior IDF officer questioned under caution as part of Qatargate probe, suspected of taking bribe

A retired senior IDF official was questioned under caution today by the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit on suspicion of having been involved in the so-called Qatargate scandal, Channel 13 reports.

According to the report, Maj. Gen. (res.) Yoav Mordechai, the former head of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), is suspected of having contact with a foreign agent and accepting a bribe.

It alleges that Mordechai’s company Novard transferred large sums of money to key Qatargate suspect Jonatan Urich — a former senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — to fund an online influence campaign aimed at improving Qatar’s image in Israel.

The report adds that Mordechai’s business partner, former Mossad official Shaun Bouter, was also questioned under caution.

Novard, according to its mission statement, uses “innovation to bridge the gap between global business and the Middle East” in order to “establish long-term business partnerships that benefit the region and its residents.”