The statements of Eli Feldsteinthe only one accused at the moment in the so-called Catargate, to public television CAN have served to tighten the siege on the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and link more people around them into the plot.
Catargate exploded in 2024, when it was learned that Feldstein, spokesperson for military affairs of the Israeli Government, was linked to a Qatari propaganda company and had helped spread certain messages to different media to improve the image of the emirate.
Although at first Netanyahu’s own government described Feldstein as “a good Zionist” and denied his participation in any type of plot, over time he has become the perfect containment dam and Justice has already knocked on his door to try him for “revelation of confidential information to a foreign agent with the aim of compromising national security”, in reference to the leak to the German newspaper. BILD of the IDF minutes of the talks immediately after October 7.
Feldstein’s job, among others, was to publicly exonerate Netanyahu and his government of any responsibility for the attacks… while trying to convince public opinion that Qatar was the ideal intermediary for a peaceful solution to the conflict… and to accuse, paradoxically, Egypt and its intelligence services of colluding with Hamas.
Egypt and Qatar have a complex diplomatic relationship, due to the emirate’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
From the World Cup to the 7th
At least four names are linked in one way or another to this Qatari propaganda operation, which, if confirmed, would be very serious for the security of the State.
To think that the emirate, which still does not recognize Israel and is actively fighting for its destruction, has infiltrated four like-minded people at the top of the Government would be a very hard blow not only for Netanyahu, but for the country in general.
Aside from Feldstein, the other suspects are Jonatan Urich, Srulik Einhorn and, after the interview given to the state channel, Tzachi Braverman.
Urich was Netanyahu’s personal advisor in the months after the attack of October 7, 2023, when the events took place.
According to the Israeli Prosecutor’s Office, Urich and Feldstein would have launched a pro-government narrative in response to Netanyahu’s own request to counteract stories critical of the numerous security failures that allowed the terrorists to roam freely for hours and hours both through the Nova Festival and through the various kibbutzim bordering Gaza.
The thing is that, by then, both were on the payroll of the company The Third Circle, dedicated to improving Qatar’s image in Israel.
Their activity came from before, when they did lobby for the 2022 World Cup, to be held in the Arab emirate, but crossed a red line by leaking to the German newspaper, BILDsome secret papers from the IDF in relation to what happened on October 7 in which it was the army that looked bad and not the Netanyahu Government.
The staunch defense of Einhorn and Braverman
This leak is what is at the heart of the criminal accusation, but it may be no more than a grain of sand on an immense beach.
Just as both the Likud and the Government itself have had no problem throwing dirt on Feldstein, they continue to protect Urich, who works in the conservative party and has not been fired from Netanyahu’s office, although Justice preventively prevents him from continuing to exercise his status as an advisor.
The prime minister himself has come out to defend him, calling the accusations “political” and “invented.”
Urich and Feldstein are joined by two other important administration officials: Einhorn and Braverman. Einhorn was another of Netanyahu’s personal advisors and was in charge, according to the accusation, of designing the messages that he then transmitted to Urich and Braverman for dissemination to the media.
Einhorn combined his public position with the management of Perception Media, another company in charge of improving Qatar’s image in the world.
In addition, he had been one of Netanyahu’s strategists during the different electoral campaigns that the everlasting prime minister had to face from 2019 to 2022. In May 2024, he decided to leave his position and settled in Belgrade, as he is also one of the main advisors of the pro-Russian Serbian president. Aleksandar Vucica position he still occupies.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the transfer of confidential information between Einhorn, Urich and Feldstein was constant, thus confusing personal interests with those of the country’s security.
The chief of staff, in the spotlight
The last leg of this table is Tzachi Braverman. Braverman is neither more nor less than Netanyahu’s chief of staff and was already accused in 2024 of extorting an IDF officer to alter the minutes of the talks immediately after the October 7 attack.
According to Feldstein CANBraverman was perfectly aware of what was happening and even offered to “stop” the investigation in exchange for his silence.
The prime minister’s office has always maintained that all these accusations against Braverman were a “witch hunt” to take down Netanyahu.
The two have worked together at least since 2016 and, in fact, Braverman, considered the right-hand man of the Likud leader, was conveniently transferred this May to London to take up the position of Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom and keep him away from the shock wave of Catargate.
Obviously, the reaction of the opposition has not been long in coming. The former prime minister Naphtali Bennett He described what happened as “the most serious act of betrayal” in Israel’s history and stated that “whether he knew or did not know what was happening, Netanyahu must resign.”
The former prime minister also expressed himself in similar terms. Yair Lapidwho leads the opposition to the prime minister in the Knesset.
“Three of Netanyahu’s closest advisors were in practice paid agents for Qatar and Hamas in the thick of the war, while our soldiers fought and died under Hamas bullets that had been bought with Qatari money. This clearly explains why the government of Israel failed in the great objective it had set for itself in the war: the destruction of Hamas,” added Bennett.
The relationship between Qatar, Hamas and Netanyahu has always been confusing and the prime minister had to admit in 2024 that he turned a blind eye to the emirate’s payments to the terrorist group, understanding that this was causing greater damage to Fatah and the Palestinian Authority.