Sweeping gag order slapped on probe into Netanyahu aides’ alleged ties to Qatar
Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court prohibits sharing details, including from foreign media, of police investigation into alleged work for Gulf states by figures in the PM’s office
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Reporters were barred by court order Tuesday from publishing details about a high-profile probe investigating alleged ties between Qatar and officials working in the Prime Minister’s Office.
The sweeping gag order, issued by the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court, will remain in effect for 30 days. It bans reporting on any details of the investigation, including the questioning of suspects and the findings of such interrogations.
The court also stipulated that details cannot be published on social media in addition to the press, and that Israeli media cannot quote any details of the investigation published by foreign media, cannot direct media consumers to such reports, and cannot allude in any way to the details of the investigation.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara ordered an investigation last month into “the connection between officials working in the Prime Minister’s Office and officials connected to the state of Qatar.”
The probe is being conducted by the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit and Shin Bet security agency.
The gag order — a measure commonly requested by police but only selectively enforced — may end up chilling extensive reporting on the alleged scandal and subsequent probe. Government critics have seized upon the affair, including on Saturday night when protesters rallying for a hostage deal referenced reporting over the weekend on alleged suspicions that hundreds of thousands of dollars had flowed from Qatar to figures linked to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Qatar is a key mediator in indirect talks between Israel and Hamas for a deal and ceasefire in Gaza, hosting negotiations in Doha this week.
The investigation was launched following revelations that Netanyahu’s former spokesman Eli Feldstein — who has been charged with harming national security in a case involving the theft and leaking of classified IDF documents — worked for Qatar via an international firm contracted by Doha to feed Israeli journalists pro-Qatar stories, while he was employed in the PMO.
Last November, it was also reported that top Netanyahu aides Jonatan Urich and Yisrael Einhorn did public relations work for Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup there.
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 16 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.
