Outrage on all sides over ‘Qatargate’ as Netanyahu goes on attack; Israel Police summon 3 more journalists for questioning

Thursday saw another flurry of developments in the “Qatargate” affair, starting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who attacked the prosecutors by reiterating his claim that the affair was a political witch hunt against him.

“You’re not fooling anyone,” Netanyahu said in a short video statement published on Thursday morning. “We all know why they are doing this.”

Meanwhile, the Rishon LeZion Magistrate Court for the second time rejected a police request to significantly extend the detention of Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein, the two main suspects in the affair, who were close aides of the prime minister.

The court granted an extension of 24 hours for the detention of the suspects, who were arrested on Monday. They are accused of having been paid by Qatar to influence public opinion in the Gulf emirate’s favor.

Urich’s attorneys noted that “It's ironic when the police want to request a one-week detention extension on the grounds of obstructing an investigation while doing nothing to prevent the numerous leaks in the case.”

After the outrage over the “Qatargate” affair had mostly come from the right until now, left-leaning politicians and journalists also began criticizing the conduct of the police and the Attorney General in recent days, particularly after Jerusalem Post Editor-in-Chief Zvika Klein was questioned under caution, placed under house arrest, and his phone was confiscated.

“It's really crazy that the police take the phone of an Israeli newspaper editor and all his sources and information without a warrant. And even now, four days later, the device is still being held by the police. Was this also approved by all the parties involved?” wondered Michael Shemesh, a journalist at Kan News.

Klein was released from house arrest on Thursday without further restrictions, but three other senior and well-known journalists were summoned for questioning: Channel 12’s Nir Dvori, Kan News’s Suleiman Maswadeh, and Israel Hayom’s Shirit Avitan Cohen.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman defended their actions, stating that the law enforcement system "attaches the utmost importance to ensuring freedom of the press.”

Therefore, they said, it is their “policy to minimize, as much as possible, situations in which testimonies are taken from journalists.”

“The journalists who were summoned… are not suspects and are not being asked about their sources. The journalist who was questioned with a warning [Klein] in the case was originally summoned to give open testimony and not as a suspect.”

Baharav-Miara and Aisman added that during Klein’s testimony, “A significant suspicion was formed that the journalist, along with the Prime Minister's advisors, was part of the mechanism for receiving benefits from Qatar.”

Associates of Klein hit back in a statement, emphasizing that Klein never received any benefit from Qatar or anyone on its behalf.

“His visit to the country took place solely as part of his journalistic work, and that is precisely what he was being investigated for.”

They further rejected the claim he was “part of any mechanism,” adding that “Klein is a professional and respected journalist who has won many awards for his work, especially in the field of diaspora coverage.”

The statement closed by noting “that his mobile phone was taken and is still being held by the police without a warrant, and it is still unclear what he is suspected of – if he is even defined as a suspect at all.”

Channel 12 News’ Amit Segal, one of the most influential journalists in the country, noted that the claims of the Attorney General don’t match prior reports that Klein was suspected of “contact with a foreign agent” due to a visit to Qatar.

“I'm ignoring for a moment the absurdity of the claim that Klein mediated between Feldstein and Urich or something like that, and that it's laughably ridiculous to think that such a scenario is even possible,” Segal wrote.

“Not to mention the prosecutor's ignoring the simple question - did you or did you not allow him to be questioned with a warning? Did you or did you not allow him to take the phone? There are clear guidelines for questioning journalists. Did you follow them or not?”

The Qatargate affair revolves around the suspicion that close aides of the prime minister received money to boost the image of Qatar in Israel while casting in a bad light Egypt, which, alongside Qatar, is the main mediator for the negotiations over Israel’s hostages in Gaza.

The investigation took a drastic turn on Monday, when Netanyahu was questioned by the police but released without being cautioned, meaning there are no indications to make him a criminal suspect for the moment.

Netanyahu has cast the affair as the latest attempt to remove him from power, and in his video message on Thursday, he attempted to paint his political rivals as being closer to Qatar than he is.

The emirate “is a complex country, not a simple one, but it is not an enemy state, and many praise it,” Netanyahu said.

“Do you know who really praised Qatar? First of all, the opposition leader, Yair Lapid,” he noted.

“In January, he met with a Qatari official and came back praising them for the positive role they play. And who else praised Qatar? Benny Gantz praised them many times, again, for the positive role they play.”

“Who else praised Qatar? The head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar,” Netanyahu continued, claiming that Bar was invited by the Qatari state to a VIP box at the World Cup, before adding, “I am told that this VIP box is worth thousands of dollars, some say even tens of thousands of dollars.”

In response, the Shin Bet later stated that Bar and Mossad director David Barnea were in Qatar for professional work trips under Netanyahu’s approval, “to closely monitor the organizations' activities and the protection of Israelis in the area from terrorist threats.”

As part of this, “work meetings were held with professionals and senior officials, some of which took place – at the hosts' request – at the football stadium where the games were held,” the Shin Bet stated.