Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman, Eliezer Feldstein, who is in custody in the “leaking of secret documents” case and is among the suspects in the “Qatargate” scandal, was revealed to have received money from US consultant Jay Potlik, who carries out lobbying activities for Qatar through an Israeli businessman.
Israeli state television KAN broadcast a voice recording in which Israeli businessman Gil Birger said that he transferred the money he received from US lobbyist Jay Potlik, who works on behalf of Qatar, to Netanyahu’s advisor Feldstein.
According to these voice recordings, US consultant Jay Potlik, who carries out lobbying activities on behalf of the Qatari government, gave the money to an Israeli businessman named Gil Birger, and Birger transferred it to Feldstein while he was working as Netanyahu’s spokesman.
It was recorded that Feldstein, who did not receive a salary because he did not go through a security investigation despite being defined as a spokesman during his time in the Prime Ministry, received his salary from Birger’s company with the money coming from Qatar.
After the recording was published, Feldstein’s lawyers Oded Saburai and Sion Hausman admitted that their client received money from an Israeli businessman who was claimed to be mediating between Qatar and Israel. However, they claimed that he did not know that this money came from Qatar.
The lawyers claimed that this method was a temporary and partial solution produced for Feldstein, who could not receive a salary from the Prime Ministry, to receive his money, and that Feldstein did not know that it was related to Qatar, saying, “He did not transfer information to Qatar and never received money from them.”
On the other hand, hours after the voice recordings were published, the police detained two suspects last night as part of the ongoing investigation. However, it is not yet known what the suspects are accused of, as there is a publication ban on the case.
Apart from the Qatargate scandal, Feldstein is accused of endangering national security by leaking secret military documents. Prosecutors claim that Feldstein tried to manipulate public opinion by leaking the documents.
On the other hand, it is also alleged that Netanyahu’s former advisors, Jonatan Urich and Yisrael Einhorn, carried out public relations work in favor of Qatar before the 2022 World Cup. While the three names at the center of the allegations deny the accusations, Netanyahu’s office also denied the allegations.
Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara ordered the police and domestic intelligence unit Shin Bet to launch an investigation to investigate these allegations at the end of February. Netanyahu’s announcement that he would dismiss Shin Bet President Ronen Bar at the weekend drew the reaction of the opposition and non-governmental organizations. The opposition says that Netanyahu is trying to prevent the investigation with this decision.
Channel 13 previously reported that hundreds of thousands of dollars were transferred from Qatar to Netanyahu’s advisors. According to the news, the large amount of money coming from Qatar surprised the authorities conducting the investigation.
