Israel PM attacks Qatar’s probe as a “witch hunt” after the arrest of aid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced an investigation into the possible ties between his aid and Qatar as a “witch hunt”, after testifying to the police.

A adviser and a former spokesperson were arrested on Monday for alleged payments of the Arab State of the Gulf as part of the investigation, which was nicknamed “Qatar-Gate”. They denied any reprehensible act.

Netanyahu, who was not appointed suspect, accused the police of holding the two men as “hostages”, adding: “There is no case”.

A manager of Qatari also rejected the investigation as a “smear campaign” against Qatar, who played a key role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas during the war in Gaza.

This arises when Netanyahu faces the climbing of demonstrations in Israel for its policies, in particular the resumption of the offensive of Israel against Hamas before obtaining the release of all the remaining hostages, the rejection of the director of the internal security agency of Shin Bet and the progression of a controversial plan to use the judicial.

Israel police on Monday announced that two suspects had been detained as part of an investigation into the bonds of the Prime Minister and Qatar. He has provided no other details, citing an order for a gap imposed by the court on the case.

Israeli media reports later identified them as Yonatan Urich, an advisor very close to Netanyahu, and Eli Feldstein, a former spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s office, and said they were suspected of contact with a foreign agent, money laundering, corruption, fraud and a violation of the trust.

Netanyahu then interrupted an appearance during his separate trial on accusations of corruption, which he denies, to testify registered in the police investigating the case at his office in Jerusalem.

After being questioned, Netanyahu published an online video in which he condemned both arrests and the wider investigation.

“I understood that it was a political investigation, but I did not know how political it was,” he said. “They hold Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein as hostages, making their life miserable on anything.”

“There is no case, there is absolutely nothing, just a political witch hunt, nothing else.”

The Prime Minister’s Likoud party also published a statement accusing the Office of the Attorney General and the Tibia chief of “manufacture” of the case and tries to “terrorize the Yonatan Urich in order to extract from him false testimonies against the Prime Minister by blackmail”.

On Tuesday, a judge of the Rishon Lezion magistrate court extended the detention of Urich and three -day feldstein, saying that there were “reasonable suspicions” which required an in -depth investigation. Police had requested an extension of nine days.

Judge Menahem Mizrahi said in a decision that the investigators suspected that the two men had acted to “promote Qatar in a positive light” and “spread negative messages on Egypt” and its role as another mediator in the ceasefire of Gaza.

To this end, said the judge, a “commercial and economic connection” was created between an American lobbying company working for Qatar “by the mediation of (Urich) in exchange for monetary payments which have been transmitted to (Feldstein)” through an Israeli businessman.

Last week, the Israeli media published a recording in which the businessman was heard that he had transferred funds to Feldstein on behalf of an American lobbyist working for Qatar.

At the time, feldstein lawyers said payments were “for strategic and communication services that Feldstein provided at the Prime Minister’s office, not for Qatar”. They also said that Feldstein was not aware of any connection between businessman and other parties, including Qatar. Ulrich lawyers said he had denied his participation.

A police representative told Judge Mizrahi on Tuesday that Urich was also suspected of spending messages from journalists from a source related to Qatar, who were presented as if they came from senior Israeli political leaders.

Ulrich’s legal team, which includes the defense lawyer for Netanyahu, Amit Hadad, said that she would submit a request to raise the tag ordinance to expose “the injustice made to him”. The judge then approved the request, claiming that the gag prescription had been raped several times.

A manager of Qatari told Financial Times: “This is not the first time that we have been the subject of a defamation campaign for those who do not want to see the end of this conflict (the Gaza War) or the remaining hostages returned to their families.”

Qatar has long defended the Palestinian cause and welcomes Hamas political leaders, which is prohibited as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries.

Between 2018 and the start of the current war, which was launched by the attack on October 7, 2023 of Hamas against Israel, the Gulf State provided hundreds of millions of dollars in Aid for Gaza.

The Israeli governments have made it possible to transfer money to pay the salary of government officials managed by Hamas in Gaza, support the poorest families and finance fuel deliveries for the power plant alone. However, criticisms said he helped Hamas stay in power and finance his military activities.

Since the war, Qatar has helped, with the United States and Egypt, to be part of two cease-fire contracts and hostage release between Israel and Hamas.

The last lasted between January 19 and March 18, when Israel renewed its air and terrestrial campaign, blaming Hamas for rejecting a new American proposal for an extension and the release of its remaining 59 hostages. Hamas accused Israel of having violated the initial agreement.

Netanyahu said that the “only objective” of Qatar-Gate’s investigation was to prevent the rejection of the director of the HEADI BET internal security agency, who participated in the investigation and to “overthrow a right-wing Prime Minister”.

The government dismissed Ronen Bar on March 21, saying that he had lost confidence in him about the inability to prevent Hamas’ deadly attack on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

However, the Supreme Court suspended the dismissal pending a hearing on April 8 in response to the petitions of opposition political parties and a non -governmental organization, which declared that this decision had been made for inappropriate reasons and constituted a serious conflict of interest.

Bar will remain in office until the Supreme Court reigns over petitions, although the court has enabled the Prime Minister to interview potential replacements in the meantime.

Tuesday, Netanyahu’s office announced that he had canceled a decision made the day before to appoint the former Navy commander, the vice-Adm Eli Sharvit, the next Shin Bet chief.

“The Prime Minister thanked Vice-Adm Sharvit for his desire to be called to duty, but informed him that after a new examination, he intends to examine other candidates,” said a statement.

This decision occurred after Likud officials criticized Sharvit’s participation in mass demonstrations in 2023 against the judicial overhaul.

The American Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also described the appointment of Sharvit as “problematic” in response to a recent article criticizing President Donald Trump’s policies on climate change.