Shin Bet launches inquiry into Netanyahu aides’ ties with Qatar
Premier’s office calls allegations that his advisers did PR work for Doha ‘fake news’ after one of them was revealed to have fed pro-Qatar stories to Israeli journalists
The Shin Bet said Saturday it has begun probing reports on the alleged ties between advisers to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatar, the main financial backer of the terror group Hamas.
In response to a query from The Democrats MK Gilad Kariv, the security service said that as the body responsible for “preventing espionage threats,” it has begun investigating the protection of state secrets in the Prime Minister’s Office and the personnel surrounding “protected persons,” a euphemism for the most senior Israeli officials.
Responding to the development, Netanyahu’s office put out a statement accusing the Shin Bet of selective enforcement by not probing the premier’s political rivals.
“We are used to false accusations about the Prime Minister’s Office,” the statement said, dismissing the allegations against the prime minister’s aides as “fake news.”
The Shin Bet’s confirmation of the inquiry came after Hebrew media reported Friday that Eli Feldstein, Netanyahu’s former spokesman, was paid by Doha to feed top Israeli journalists pro-Qatar stories.
According to Channel 12 news, Feldstein’s ties with Qatar, which serves as a mediator of the current hostage-ceasefire deal because of its influence over Hamas, emerged during an investigation that led to him being charged in November with harming national security in a case involving the theft and leaking of classified IDF documents.
Feldstein’s alleged ties to Qatar, however, were left unexplored by investigators. The network cited a former defense official excoriating investigators for the reported oversight.
The TV report also said Feldstein worked for Qatar via an international firm contracted by the Persian Gulf state. Meanwhile, Channel 13 news reported that Feldstein was hired by a Qatar-employed US strategist, who had interviewed several well-known publicists for the job.
The reports prompted calls for a probe into Qatar’s influence in the Prime Minister’s Office, while The Democrats chairman Yair Golan demanded Netanyahu and his staff be investigated for treason.
“It is not possible for people who have financial interests with a foreign country to be involved in managing matters critical to Israel’s national security,” Golan said in a statement welcoming the Shin Bet probe as ” a necessary step,” while calling for everybody involved in the matter to be removed from government service “immediately.”
“The Shin Bet must thoroughly investigate not only the prime minister’s associates, but also the prime minister himself: Was he aware of these connections? Did he approve of them? And perhaps even worse — did he himself receive funds, directly or indirectly? This investigation must not be allowed to be hidden or scuttled. This is about Israel’s security and the lives of the hostages,” he stated.
Israel has no diplomatic relations with Qatar, which hosts Hamas’s leadership. For years, with Netanyahu’s approval, Qatar transferred hundreds of millions of dollars to the terror group in Gaza.
Qatar, along with Egypt and the United States, mediated the current ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, following 15 months of fighting that began on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages. It also helped mediate November 2023’s weeklong hostage-truce deal.
Reports of Feldstein’s ties to Doha were first published on Monday, and follow reports in November that top Netanyahu aides Jonatan Urich and Yisrael Einhorn did public relations work for Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup there.
Feldstein’s lawyers denied the allegations. Netanyahu’s spokesman Omer Dostri said Monday: “We’re not familiar with any such thing.”
Urich, Einhorn and another aide to Netanyahu, Ofer Golan, were separately indicted on Tuesday on charges of witness intimidation for having sent a car with a megaphone to the home of a key witness in Netanyahu’s criminal trial in 2019 in order to harass him.
