Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he would sue Moshe Ya’alon, who served both as defense minister and IDF chief of staff, after he claimed the premier received millions from Qatar.
In an interview with Israel’s Kan Reshet Bet public radio channel earlier on Tuesday, Ya’alon claimed that “unproven” intelligence from files “presented as” Emirati intelligence proved that the premier “received $15 million in 2012, and $50 million from Qatar in 2018.”
Ya’alon did not present any evidence for the allegations, but claimed that “when the head of the Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency director Ronen Bar] investigates this, they immediately start to dismiss him.”
Netanyahu is reportedly preparing to fire Bar, after removing him last month from the Israeli team that is currently in Doha to negotiate the future of the ceasefire deal with the Hamas terrorist organization.
In a video statement posted to his social media accounts on Tuesday, Netanyahu accused Ya’alon of spreading “a despicable lie” about him while warning that he has “decided not to be silent any longer.”
The premier said Ya’alon was part of a broader “campaign of threats of extortion” against him and his family but would not stop him “from continuing to make the right decisions for the security of our country.”
“I’ll tell you this—I didn’t receive anything from Qatar, but I will receive from Bogie,” Netanyahu declared, using Ya’alon’s nickname. The prime minister added, “This is just the beginning.”
Under Israel’s 1965 Defamation Law, courts may award a compensation of up to 50,000 shekels ($13,700) in libel suits without proving damages.
Last month, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara opened an initial criminal probe into what she described as “the connection between elements in the Prime Minister’s Office and elements linked to Qatar.”
Qatar, which has hosted the Hamas leadership and has provided the organization with hundreds of millions of dollars, played a role in mediating the freedom of hostages held by the terrorist group.
Baharav-Miara decided to open the investigation following discussions with State Attorney Amit Aisman and officials from the Israel Police and the Shin Bet indicating possible suspicions of abuse of office and conflicts of interest, the country’s Ynet news outlet reported.
Netanyahu’s Likud Party accused Baharav-Miara of “concocting false cases” against the prime minister’s people out of personal interest.
“As the cases concocted against Prime Minister Netanyahu crumble in court, new and false cases are concocted against his people out of the personal interests of those leading the investigation,” the political party stated, in reference to the premier’s ongoing trial on corruption charges.