Two suspects have been arrested in a criminal investigation into alleged connections between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and Qatar, the Israel Police announced on Monday.
The suspects were identified as Yonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein, current and former aides, respectively, to Netanyahu.
The probe, which is being led by the police’s Lahav 433 National Unit for International Crimes and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), has been placed under a gag order.
Urich and Feldstein are suspected of contact with a foreign agent, money laundering, bribery, fraud and breach of trust, according to the police statement.
Gali Baharav-Miara, Israel’s attorney general, has summoned Netanyahu to testify openly in the case against his advisers, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News. The premier’s testimony will reportedly be taken at his Jerusalem office.
Netanyahu’s testimony in his ongoing corruption trial, which was taking place at the Jerusalem District Court, ended five hours early on Monday due to what his attorney described as “a certain event,” Channel 12 reported.
The outlet noted that no decision had been made on whether to question the prime minister under caution in the Qatar case, and that this would only be decided after his initial testimony on Monday evening.
On Feb. 27, Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party accused Baharav-Miara of “concocting false cases” against the premier’s staff.
“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 Likud stated, referencing the prime minister’s trial on corruption charges.
Baharav-Miara does not work for the prime minister, unlike in the United States, where the attorney general is an agent of the executive branch. The Netanyahu government has often clashed with Baharav-Miara, who was appointed by then-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in 2022.
The Qatar probe was reportedly launched in response to suspicions that Feldstein, while employed as a spokesman on military affairs in the PMO, simultaneously worked for a firm seeking to improve Doha’s image. He is also suspected of unlawful handling of classified material.
The alleged employment was said to have taken place as Netanyahu was publicly slamming Qatar as a backer of Hamas terrorism in the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu’s office and Feldstein’s lawyers have denied the reports.
Qatar, which has hosted Hamas’s 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.
Qatar has deflected accusations of playing a double game, saying the United States requested it open the mediation channel with Hamas.