Alleged ties between Netanyahu aides and Qatar prompt calls for investigation

Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) demanded in a letter to Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara on Wednesday that she investigate alleged business ties between close advisors to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and officials in Qatar.

The demand came in the wake of a report on Channel 12 on Tuesday that Eli Feldstein – a member of the prime minister’s media team who is currently under house arrest for leaking classified documents to a German newspaper – had provided public relations services to Qataris while working in the PMO.

According to the Channel 12 report on Tuesday, Feldstein was hired by an international company funded by Qatar to promote Qatar’s image in Israel based on its role in hostage negotiations.

Feldstein allegedly worked on behalf of the company at the same time as his work in the Prime Minister’s Office. This gave reporters the mistaken impression that his messaging on Qatar was from an official Israeli source, according to Channel 12.

The report could not be independently verified.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari, right. (credit: REUTERS/IMAD CREIDI, RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)

Suspected relations with Qatar

The report joined a prior report by Haaretz in late November that two other members of the media team, Yonatan Urich and Srulik Einhorn, provided public relations services to Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup. Urich and Einhorn were also involved in the Feldstein case – Urich has been interrogated by the Israel Police for his role in the leak, and Einhorn, who currently lives in Europe, is wanted for an interrogation.

“Following the serious reports of a business connection between the Prime Minister’s advisors and the Qatari government, there is suspicion that while working in the most sensitive office in the country, they were engaged in improving the image of Qatar, a state that supports terrorism and is currently mediating the hostage deal,” Lapid wrote.

He added, “I find it hard to believe that instead of dealing with the public relations and good name of the State of Israel in the world, they found time to make money through public relations for Qatar. Therefore, a professional and thorough investigation on the matter is required these days. If it turns out that the reports are true, this is not only a clear conflict of interest but also clear harm to national security.”

Lapid also addressed the letter to State Attorney Amit Eisman and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar.

Democrats’ chairman Yair Golan also called for an investigation. In a post on social media on Wednesday Golan wrote, “These shocking suspicions cannot be ignored. The Prime Minister’s closest advisors received payments from Qatari companies – a country that funds Hamas, operates the Al-Jazeera incitement machine, and serves as an ideological and financial base for extremist Wahhabi organizations. This is not a minor detail – this is a case that raises serious concerns about Netanyahu’s own judgment and, even worse, about possible connections between him and hostile elements to Israel.”

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Golan continued, “This matter must be investigated thoroughly, down to the last dollar. Every money trail, every employment agreement, every meeting – the Israeli public must know the truth. Are the most critical national security decisions being made with clean judgment? Are the hostage release process and policy regarding the day after [the war] in Gaza being influenced by unimaginable, foreign considerations? The mere thought is chilling.”

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel wrote a letter to the Shin Bet head on Wednesday as well.