\u201cIf there are corrupt people within the Prime Minister\u2019s Office who, amid a war, worked for Qatar, they need to be pilloried and sit behind bars for many years,\u201d Smotrich said.<\/p>\n
However, Smotrich asserted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself has acted throughout the war based only on \u201crelevant considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n
If \u201cquestionable figures\u201d managed to \u201cinfiltrate\u201d the Prime Minister\u2019s Office, \u201cit\u2019s very serious,\u201d Smotrich said.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSomeone who was working for an enemy state in a time of war \u2014 I don\u2019t have words to describe how despicable and serious it is,\u201d Smotrich said.<\/p>\n \t The minister said that during the two years of the war, he did not meet with Eli Feldstein, a central suspect<\/a> in the Qatargate affair.<\/p>\n Feldstein and top Netanyahu adviser Jonathan Urich are alleged to have worked \u2014 while they were in Netanyahu\u2019s employ \u2014 on behalf of Qatar for the Perception PR firm headed by Yisrael Einhorn, Netanyahu\u2019s former campaign manager, in the scandal known as Qatargate.<\/p>\n Einhorn and Perception are believed to have conducted campaigns in Israel and abroad to boost Qatar\u2019s image, particularly in connection with its role as a mediator in hostage talks.<\/p>\n Feldstein alleged during a lengthy interview with the Kan public broadcaster this week that Netanyahu was behind the leak of classified intelligence to the German daily Bild to sway Israeli public opinion regarding ongoing hostage negotiations last year. Feldstein was indicted in the Bild leak scandal last year.<\/p>\n He also said Netanyahu\u2019s chief of staff Tzachi Braverman got wind of the secret investigation into Feldstein\u2019s leak to Bild months before it was publicized, and assured Feldstein that he\u2019d be able to quash the probe, as well as stop an investigation regarding IDF information security if Feldstein needed it.<\/p>\n Asked if it was a problem if Netanyahu didn\u2019t know about the scandal, Smotrich said on Thursday, \u201cit\u2019s a problem,\u201d but said he couldn\u2019t determine its scope.<\/p>\n He repeated that Netanyahu acted only \u201cwith a higher purpose, 100% only with relevant considerations, 100% for the good of the State of Israel and its security and future and existence.\u201d<\/p>\n \t Both the Prime Minister\u2019s Office and Braverman have denied Feldstein\u2019s allegations and accused him of lying. Netanyahu has also dismissed the allegations against Urich.<\/p>\n While many opposition figures have long supported the ongoing investigation into the scandals, the past two days have seen Chikli and Likud MK Eli Dallal join the chorus of voices backing the probe.<\/p>\n Lapid: Shin Bet deputy head\u2019s resignation could scuttle Qatargate probe<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said on Thursday the recent resignation<\/a> of the deputy head of the Shin Bet \u201craises concerns\u201d that the person appointed in his place will shut down the investigation into Qatargate.<\/p>\n The deputy director of the Shin Bet resigned from the security agency after some 30 years of service, less than three months after the agency\u2019s new director, David Zini, stepped into the role and amid reports of serious and frequent differences of opinion between Zini and the deputy, identified only by his first initial in Hebrew, Shin.<\/p>\n Lapid added that when Zini was appointed to lead the agency, Netanyahu \u201cpledged that Zini would not involve himself in the Qatargate affair. The High Court of Justice has made this a binding order.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[Shin] should manage this investigation until his retirement and then appoint someone to replace him without interference from [Zini] or Prime Minister Netanyahu\u2019s office,\u201d the opposition leader said.<\/p>\n \t Zini, a former IDF general seen as a Netanyahu loyalist, was nominated by the prime minister to lead the agency in May, in part due to the controversial ouster of former chief Ronen Bar. Bar was investigating the Qatargate scandal, which the prime minister has dismissed as a \u201cwitch hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n Liberman: Mossad working to repair Qatar\u2019s image<\/p>\n Amid the ongoing Qatargate scandal, Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman took aim at the Mossad spy agency, alleging that it has\u00a0been working in secret to rehabilitate Qatar\u2019s image.<\/p>\n In comments at the Ogen Conference organized by Yedioth Ahronoth, Liberman\u00a0 that Mossad chief David Barnea \u201cheld a meeting about a month ago with the Qataris in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n In that meeting, Liberman claimed, \u201cthey decided to establish four \u2018working committees,\u2019 including a committee focused on the issue of media and the Qataris\u2019 image.\u201d<\/p>\n The meeting, hosted by by the US, was ostensibly held to patch up ties between Israel and Qatar after the botched Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Doha.<\/p>\n In a statement attributed to the Mossad cited in Hebrew media outlets, the agency flatly denied the assertion, calling it \u201cunfounded, false and devoid of any basis.\u201d<\/p>\n \t Liberman, a former defense minister, asserted that Israel has \u201creturned to October 6 \u2014 the same formula, the same Qatari intermediaries, and Hamas only grows stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n The Mossad statement asserted that Barnea did meet in New York<\/a> with Qatari officials as well as US special envoy Steve Witkoff, and \u201cdealt with a series of significant issues related to the Middle East and the Gaza Strip, including senior Hamas figures hosted by Qatar.\u201d<\/p>\n The only issue related to the media that arose in the meeting, the agency asserted, was a demand that Qatar act against the Al Jazeera network, \u201cwhich incites hatred, antisemitism, and terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tEli Feldstein, a former media adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and one of the suspects in the so-called Qatargate investigation, and a defendant in the Bild leak scandal, speaks to the Kan public broadcaster in an interview aired December 23, 2025. (Screenshot: Kan)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/WhatsApp_Image_2025-12-24_at_18.33.29-640x400.jpeg\")
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\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at an Israeli Air Force pilots\u2019 graduation ceremony at the Hatzerim Airbase, December 24, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/F251224YS164-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tMK Yair Lapid speaks at the Knesset on December 24, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/OAM3031-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tYisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman addresses the Knesset, December 24, 2025. (Noam Moskowitz, Office of the Knesset Spokesperson)<\/p>\n
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