“Qatargate” – Two officials in the Prime Minister’s Office arrested in connection with alleged financial ties to the Qatari government as attorney general requests Netanyahu submit to questioning.
By World Israel News Staff
Two aides to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were arrested Monday as part of the so-called “Qatargate” investigation, while Netanyahu himself has been asked to answer questions for investigators.
While the case is under a gag order until April 10, Israeli media outlets have reported that the two Netanyahu aides taken into custody are Eli Feldstein and Yonatan Urich, public relations employees in the Prime Minister’s Office.
The two face allegations of bribery, breach of trust, contact with foreign agents, money laundering, and tax offenses in connection to possible financial ties with the Qatari government.
Urich and Feldstein – the latter of whom was already under house arrest for allegedly leaking a sensitive government document to a newspaper – are suspected of receiving money from Qatar for work to improve the Gulf state’s image in Israel.
Qatar, which was for years Hamas’ primary patron, also allegedly paid the two aides during negotiations in Doha between Israel and the Gaza-basedterror group for the release of Israeli hostages.
Both the Israeli police and the Shin Bet internal security agency are investigating the case, with the latter still operating under the direction of chief Ronen Bar.
Bar, who has faced criticism over his agency’s failure to prevent the October 7th invasion, was fired by Netanyahu and his government earlier this month. He remains in office, however, since the Israeli Supreme Court froze his dismissal until a hearing is held on a petition against the government’s decision.
Netanyahu, who testified on Monday morning in his ongoing corruption trial, was asked in the afternoon by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to testify in the Qatargate investigation.
Later in the day, according to reports, Netanyahu was en route to offices of the police department’s Lahav 433 unit to answer questions in the matter.
Like Bar, Barhav-Miara faces dismissal, with the government voting unanimously last week to back a no-confidence measure against the Attorney General.
The Likud party responded to the arrests Monday and the request for Netanyahu to testify in the Qatargate investigation by accusing both Bar and Baharav-Miara of attempting to subvert the government and prevent their removal from office.
“The brutal arrest of Yonatan Urich is a new low in the political witch hunt to overthrow a right-wing prime minister and prevent the firing of the failed head of the Shin Bet,” the Likud said.
“After the fabricated investigations initiated by the prosecution and the head of the Shin Bet regarding the alleged forgery of protocols in the Prime Minister’s office and the blackmail of an officer in the military secretariat, which blew up in their faces, they invented another new fabricated scandal about Qatar, which will also blow up very quickly,” the ruling party added.
“For weeks, the prosecution and the head of the Shin Bet have been conducting futile investigations in secrecy under a gag order in an attempt to prevent the firing of the head of the Shin Bet, using Urich and others as cannon fodder. Their goal is to carry out a political coup using arrest warrants.
“This is not an investigation. This is not law enforcement. This is an attempt to assassinate democracy and replace the will of the people with the rule of bureaucrats.”