Ex-IDF deputy chief accuses Netanyahu’s office of treason

Yair Golan, who leads the far-left party The Democrats and once served as deputy chief of the IDF, calls for investigation of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office, accusing aides of betraying Israel to Qatar.

By World Israel News Staff

A former Israeli lawmaker and chief of a far-left party in the Knesset accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s staff of treason and called for a criminal investigation of the Prime Minister’s Office, citing aides’ alleged financial ties to Qatar.

Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of staff of the Israeli military who served as a deputy minister in the Bennett-Lapid government and became the head of the far-left The Democrats party last year, held a press conference Thursday afternoon accusing Netanyahu’s office of betraying the State of Israel and demanding that police launch a criminal probe.

“There is a suspicion of betrayal in the Prime Minister’s Office that must be investigated,” Golan said.

“The recent revelation is not another failure, it is not another corruption event or political scandal, and it is not a misjudgment – it is allegedly evidence of a business, financial, and personal connection between the Prime Minister’s Office and an enemy state before and during the war,” Golan said, noting Qatar’s longstanding ties to Hamas.

“Netanyahu’s closest advisors – people from the most important office in the State of Israel – allegedly received payments, maintained connections, and did business with the country that funded Hamas, a country whose leader sees Sheikh Qaradawi, a declared antisemite and prominent Israel-hater, as its spiritual teacher.”

Golan held the press conference two days after Israel’s Channel 12 published a report accusing PMO staffer Eli Feldstein, who worked on Netanyahu’s media team, of having worked as part of a public relations team on behalf of Qatar while employed by the PMO.

Feldstein is currently under house arrest in connection with the alleged leaking of government documents to the German daily Bild.

Three months earlier, a report by Ha’aretz accused two other PMO employees, Yonatan Urich and Srulik Einhorn, of providing public relations services to Qatar prior to the 2022 World Cup, held in Qatar.

Under the international soccer league FIFA’s rules, Qatar was required to permit Israel’s team and Israeli fans to enter the country, despite Doha having no official diplomatic ties to Israel at the time.

A temporary Israeli consulate was established in Qatar for the World Cup to provide basic services for visiting Israelis.