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2025-03-21 Israel-Palestine-Jordan
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Qatari Money for Netanyahu's People: A Huge Scandal Evolves in Israel
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Leonid Tsukanov
| Is this a big deal or is this just another case of the Israeli Deep State trying to take Bibi Netanyahu down by any means possible, as they’ve been twisting and turning to do since he became prime minister for the second time in 2009? With the various wars Israel is currently fighting — or war fronts, anyway — I’ve been ignoring this situation. Perhaps I should not have done so. |
[REGNUM] The scandal over leaks of confidential data from the Israeli prime minister's office (known as the Feldstein affair) continues to gather momentum. Now it involves one of the powerful monarchies of the Persian Gulf.
Despite the fact that the case is hidden under the heading of “special investigation”, imposed by the special services at the initial stage, information about individual turns of the investigation periodically becomes public knowledge.
In particular, recently new major figures have become known – the investigation has involved not only the Israeli political class, but also the business community.
The Feldstein scandal has long gone beyond a simple investigation into abuse of office and has acquired the colorful name “Qatargate,” with a hint that the investigation could end with the resignation of the country’s top officials.
However, potential defendants in “Qatargate” are also in no hurry to give up without a fight.
THE CRUX OF THE MATTER
Israeli Prime Minister Eliezer Feldstein, a top aide, was arrested in November 2024. According to investigators, he was involved in the transfer of confidential documents to the foreign press, bypassing military censorship, and also organized “insider leaks” from high offices.
Allegedly, this was done with the permission of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, who was thus “fighting fakes” about Israel’s foreign and domestic policies.
Later, the scope of the case expanded significantly - the number of defendants increased to five, and most of them turned out to be connected in one way or another with the prime minister's office.
It also turned out that Feldstein managed not only to pass on confidential documents, but also to consult (based on the same documents) the Qatari authorities, helping the monarchy become a key intermediary in the return of Israeli hostages.
Given the close ties between Doha and Hamas, this turn of events seriously shook the Israeli public and sparked speculation about the real extent of the damage to national security. However, as it turned out later, it was far from the last.
COMPLEX SCHEME
The new public figure is Israeli businessman Gil Birger, who works with the Gulf states. It was he who paid Feldstein fees for his work on improving Doha's image when he combined work for the prime minister's office and political consulting.
However, as Birger himself claims, he was only a link in a complex lobbying scheme. Thus, the main services to Qatar - including the development of a strategy for "whitewashing" the reputation - were provided by the American political consultant Jay Footlick, who officially worked for the Qatari government. He was also the initiator of hiring Feldstein.
However, due to the complexities of tax legislation and the organization of transfers from Qatar to Israel, the lobbyist asked Birger to act as an "accountant" for their mini-enterprise for some time. The parties cooperated in this manner for several months.
Despite the fact that Birger's testimony is largely indirectly confirmed by the testimony of witnesses, as well as by the materials of the intelligence services' own investigation, the businessman clearly downplayed his participation in "Qatargate".
In particular, he did not mention that he and Futlik are connected with the arrested Netanyahu supporters from the Likud party, including through cooperation in several election campaigns, as well as participation – albeit very indirectly – in the development of shadow channels of trade between Israel and the Arabian monarchies.
In addition, according to the testimony of individual witnesses, Futlik allegedly worked with representatives of Hamas, seeking (albeit, apparently, unsuccessfully) the release of Israeli hostages for generous profits to individual field commanders.
It would hardly have been possible to take such a risky step without the approval of higher-ups. And it would hardly have been possible for a lobbyist working in the interests of Qatar to do so at his own expense.
CONFLICT WITH COUNTERINTELLIGENCE
There are many among the Israeli elites who are trying to extract additional dividends from the Feldstein affair. Especially in the context of the scandal affecting the reputation of the “unsinkable” Netanyahu, whose role in the schemes of the arrested political strategists is still unclear.
Among those in favor of “shaking up” the prime minister’s office is the head of the General Security Service (Shabaq), Ronen Bar, who has been authorized by the authorities to investigate the high-profile case.
Bar's dissatisfaction is partly dictated by wounded professional pride. The Shin Bet chief was one of the leaders of the official negotiating team with Hamas for a year and a half. He regularly encountered criticism from the authorities because the dialogue had reached a dead end, and several times found himself on the verge of resignation because of this.
The information that the prime minister’s office was playing its own diplomatic game behind his back – not always taking into account national interests and even contradicting the statements of official negotiators – was an unpleasant discovery for him.
The Shin Bet chief was among the first to voice the term "Qatargate", transparently hinting at the real scale of the damage done to the country. Netanyahu's attempts to quickly remove Bar from his post under the pretext of incompetence only made things worse.
Many believed that the Israeli prime minister was trying to hinder the investigation and hush up Qatargate. The country was rocked by protests in support of the high-ranking counterintelligence officer.
PRIME MINISTER ASKS FOR AUDIT
As for Netanyahu himself, he is in no hurry to comment on the voiced accusations, apparently working out an escape route.
The prime minister does indeed have reason to be concerned - Feldstein's lawyers unanimously insist that their client was not aware of the real state of affairs and believed that he was acting on the prime minister's instructions, receiving fees from him - simply in the form of a "gray" salary.
He is echoed by businessman Birger, who stated that “Qatari money” allegedly went to pay salaries to office employees on Netanyahu’s orders, and none of those accused in “Qatargate” intentionally cooperated with the authorities of a foreign country.
This approach raises the risk of a broader audit of Netanyahu's office's financial flows over the past year - something the government may well decide to do under growing public pressure.
The risk that the "Qatargate" that has become public knowledge will in fact turn out to be only a small part of political schemes and multi-move schemes is not illusory. And Netanyahu himself will have to justify them.
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Posted by badanov 2025-03-21 00:00||
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Front Page|| [11132 views ]
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File under: Govt of Qatar (MB)
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Posted by mossomo 2025-03-21 12:39||
2025-03-21 12:39||
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