Israel attacking the Qatar probe attacked the “witch chase” after the arrest of assistants

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the investigation of the potential ties between his aides and Qatar as a “charming chase”, after he had a police certificate.

A former counselor and spokesman was arrested on Monday due to alleged payments from the Arab Gulf state as part of the investigation, which was called “Qatar Gate”. They denied any violations.

Netanyahu, who was not called as a suspect, accused the police of carrying the two men as “hostages”, adding: “There is no case.”

A Qatari official also rejected the investigation as a “distortion campaign” against Qatar, who played a major role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas during the war in Gaza.

This comes at a time when Netanyahu is facing the escalating protests in Israel over his policies, including the resumption of Israel’s attack against Hamas before securing the launch of all the remaining hostages, the dismissal of the director of the internal security agency to Shain bent, and a controversial plan to reform the ruling.

On Monday, the Israel Police Force announced that two suspects had been detained as part of an investigation into relations between the Prime Minister and Qatar office. There were no further details, noting that a gap imposed by the court in the case.

Israeli media reports later determined that they are Yunatan Auric, a very close consultant for Netanyahu and Elie Felcstein, a former spokesman for the Prime Minister’s office, and said they were suspected of calling a foreign agent, money laundering, bribery, fraud, and confidence.

Netanyahu later briefly appeared in his separate trial on charges of corruption, which he denies, to submit a registered police certificate to investigate the case in his office in Jerusalem.

After interrogating, Netanyahu posted a video on the Internet in which he condemned both arrests and the broader investigation.

“I understood that it was a political investigation, but I did not realize how it was political,” he said. “They are holding Jonatan Auric and Elie Felcstein as hostages, making their lives miserable because of nothing.”

“There is no case, nothing at all, just a witch political chase, nothing else.”

The Prime Minister Likud Party also issued a statement accusing the Prosecutor’s Office and President of Shen Hann “to manufacture” the case and try to “intimidate Yonatan Yurtic in order to extract a false testimony against the Prime Minister through extortion.”

On Tuesday, a Jishon Leson Magistrate judge expanded the detention of Uric and Vilstein for three days, saying that there were “reasonable doubts” that require a comprehensive investigation. The police requested an extension for nine days.

Judge Minahim Mazrai said in a decision that investigators suspected that the two men had acted to “strengthen Qatar in a positive light” and “spreading negative messages about Egypt” and its role as another mediator in the ceasefire talks in Gaza.

For this purpose, the judge said that a “commercial and economic communication” has been created between an American pressure company working for Qatar “through the mediation (URICH) for the cash payments that were passed to (Feldstein)” through an Israeli businessman.

Last week, the Israeli media released a registration in which the businessman heard he had transferred money to Velcestin on behalf of American pressure groups working in Qatar.

At that time, Feldstein’s lawyers said that payments “for strategic services and communications provided by Feldstein to the Prime Minister’s office, not in favor of Qatar.” They also said that Velcettein was unaware of any businessman and other parties, including Qatar. Ulrich’s lawyers said he denied his involvement.

The police representative told Mazrai on Tuesday that Yoric is also suspected of adopting the messages of journalists from a source linked to Qatar, which was presented as if it came from senior Israeli or Israeli security officials.

The Ulrich Legal team, which includes the defense lawyer in Netanyahu, Amit Hadad, said that they will submit a request to raise the gap in the case to expose “the injustice that was taken to him.” The judge continued to approve the request, saying that the matter of the gag has over and over again.

“This is not the first time that we are the subject of a distortion campaign by those who do not want to see an end to this conflict (the Gaza war) or the remaining hostages who have returned to their families,” a Qatari official told the Financial Times.

Qatar has always defended the Palestinian issue and political leaders in Hamas, which it prohibits as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries.

Between 2018 and the beginning of the current war, which arose in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 on Israel, the Gulf state provided hundreds of millions of aid in Gaza.

Israeli governments allowed the transfer of money to pay the wages of civilian employees in the Hamas government in Gaza, support the poorest families, and to finance fuel delivery operations for the only power plant in the region. However, critics have confirmed that it helps Hamas to remain in power and finance its military activities.

Since the war, Qatar, along with the United States and Egypt, has helped to mediate two shootings and hostages between Israel and Hamas.

It lasted between January 19 and March 18, when Israel renewed its air and land campaign, Hamas blamed a new American proposal to extend and issue 59 hostages. Hamas accused Israel of violating the original deal.

Netanyahu claimed that the “only purpose” of the investigation in Qatar is to prevent the refusal of the local security agency Shane Pitt, which participated in the investigation, and “the overthrow of the right -wing Prime Minister.”

The government launched Ronin Bar on March 21, saying it lost confidence in it due to the failure to prevent the deadly Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

However, the Supreme Court suspended the dismissal awaiting a hearing on April 8 in response to the petitions of the opposition political parties and an irregular organization, which said that this step was taken for inappropriate reasons and constituted a severe conflict of interests.

BAR will remain in the stage until the Supreme Court rules the petitions, although the court allowed the Prime Minister to conduct a possible alternative interview in the meantime.

On Tuesday, the Netanyahu office announced that it reflected a decision taken the day before to appoint former naval commander Ilie Carvit as the next president of Shen.

“The Prime Minister thanked the Deputy Admiral Carvit for his willingness to summon the duty, but he informed him that, after further study, he intends to examine other candidates,” a statement said.

This decision came after Likud officials criticized Carvit’s participation in the 2023 mass protests against judicial reform.

American Republican Senator Lindsay Graham also described the appointment of Carvit as a “problem” in response to a recent article criticizing President Donald Trump’s policies on climate change.