‘Treason, if done knowingly’: Former PM Bennett excoriates Netanyahu over ‘Qatar-gate’

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Kan News reported new revelations in the “Qatar-gate” affair, an investigation into ties of Netanyahu’s aides with the state of Qatar.

“The terrorist government of Qatar(!) financed the security spokesperson(!!) of Israel’s Prime Minister during a time of war(!!!),” Bennett wrote as he launched into a long post on 𝕏.

His critique followed a report by Kan, which revealed recordings from an Israeli businessman who is based in the Arab Gulf, and who said he transferred money from a U.S. lobbyist employed by Qatar to Eli Feldstein, one of the suspects in the investigation that remains under a broad gag order.

This was allegedly a payment for a service related to the hostage issue, in which Qatar is one of the main mediators between Israel and Hamas.

In a statement responding to the report, Feldstein’s lawyers stated that since the gag order remained in place, “and the media would not have violated the order, it is clear that Feldstein is not a suspect in the affair."

The lawyers said that the money Feldstein received “was for strategy and communications services that Feldstein provided to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), and not for Qatar.”

They further claimed that the payment “was a temporary and partial solution” by the PMO for technical difficulties regarding Feldstein’s payment through the PMO channels, which didn't have “any impact on the identity of the recipient of the service – the Prime Minister.”

Kan reported that for part of his service with the PMO, Feldstein didn’t receive a direct salary because he had not passed a security clearance.

קטאר חדרה לקודש הקודשים של ביטחון ישראל - לשכת ראש הממשלה
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הבוקר התברר שהמשכורת של יועץ התקשורת לענייני ביטחון של נתניהו,
שולמה על ידי ממשלת קטאר.

אני אגיד זאת שוב, כי זה כל כך קשה לתפוס:
ממשלת הטרור של קטאר(!) מימנה את הדובר הבטחוני(!!) של ראש ממשלת ישראל, בעת מלחמה(!!!).…

— Naftali Bennett נפתלי בנט (@naftalibennett) March 19, 2025

Noting that he himself was prime minister until recently, Bennett wrote on 𝕏: “If I had discovered that one of my staff members was receiving funds from a foreign country, say Belgium, I would have fired them on the spot in disgrace. Immediately afterward, I would have summoned the head of the Shin Bet and the Police Commissioner and demanded they conduct an investigation and comb through my entire staff with a fine-tooth comb.” 

“Anyone who receives money or a salary from another country is committing a severe breach of trust. And that’s what I would have done if it were Belgium… If I had discovered that a staff member in my office was funded by Qatar or Iran – terrorist states that actively fund the murder of Israelis – it would be a hundred times worse.”

Bennett added several paragraphs explaining how Qatar’s “hands are drenched in rivers of Jewish blood,” including its support for Al Jazeera, as well as the funding of ISIS, the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and particularly, Hamas.

“If this was done knowingly, it’s treason against the State of Israel. Plain and simple,” Bennett stated.

“If it wasn’t done knowingly – meaning the advisor didn’t know their salary came from Qatar – then Qatar is operating unwitting agents in the Prime Minister’s Office, which is a security failure of the gravest kind.”

However, Bennett noted that the advisors in question were “not expelled in disgrace on suspicion of betraying Israel, but for some reason, Netanyahu continues to cover up the incident and fight the investigators themselves.”

“In such a situation, this government and its leader have utterly shattered every shred of public trust in their motives. They have no moral authority to send soldiers into battle,” he charged.

“This rotten government and all its members must resign today and allow the people of Israel to choose new leadership to rehabilitate Israel. For God’s sake, For the sake of the Jewish state’s survival, Go home already!”

While Netanyahu did not respond directly to Bennett’s broadside, his Likud Party responded in a statement later on Wednesday.

“Bennett brought Gazan workers into Israel for the first time since Protective Edge, and doubled and tripled the money for Gaza,” the party said.

“Now he is babbling over a fake affair that didn’t ever exist. On every other issue he is silent like a fish, and for good reason. In the midst of an existential war, Bennett, who deceived his voters and stole the votes of the right to form a government with Mansour Abbas and the Muslim Brotherhood, is attacking the right-wing government that is leading the campaign with lies.”