A newspaper editor was targeted by Arab ‘spies'. It could spell Netanyahu's downfall

Telegraph

05-04-2025

When Zvika Klein was asked to attend the offices of the Lahav 433 international crime investigations unit this week, he assumed he had nothing to fear.
One of the best-connected editors in the Jerusalem Post's recent history, and personally responsible for numerous scoops, the 42-year-old is a widely respected figure both in Israel and, thanks to his assiduous bridge-building, the international Jewish diaspora.
Yet, in his own words, shortly after arriving at police headquarters, 'everything turned upside down'.
Placed under arrest, Klein says he was then subjected to 12 hours of 'harsh' interrogation, his trailblazing scoops presented against him as evidence of possible crimes.
The investigation? So-called 'Qatargate', a scandal that reached fever pitch this week with the arrest of two of Benjamin Netanyahu's close aides.
In an extraordinary spectacle, even for a country already roiled by legal drama at the top of government, the prime minister was forced to cut short giving evidence in his corruption trial on Monday to assist police with their inquiries into his staff.
Investigators believe that Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein used their position in the prime minister's office to promote Qatar's image within Israeli and international media via off-the-record briefings in return for money.
In post-Oct 7 Israel, that is an acutely controversial claim.
This is because, first, the Gulf state is seen as having an uncomfortably close relationship with Hamas, both in the sense that it paid – with Israel's blessing – hundreds of millions of dollars into Gaza, which analysts now believe helped equip the terror group for the 2023 massacre; also the fact that Hamas was headquartered in Doha until last November.
Second, since the atrocity, Qatar has assumed a leading role in hosting and mediating the hostage negotiations.
These are talks which, for many Israelis, repeatedly failed to find achievable common ground, condemning the abductees to months of unnecessary incarceration. Thirty-four living hostages are still believed to be captive.
Critics in Israel, and internationally, accuse the oil-rich monarchy of seeking to present itself as a progressive force for regional and world cohesion, while at the same time quietly cleaving to the radical Islamism of the Muslim Brotherhood and funding terrorist groups.
If it is proved that Mr Netanyahu employed paid agents of, technically, a non-friendly Arab state in his office during a time of war, that could be too embarrassing even for him to survive.
On Tuesday, Judge Menahem Mizrahi issued a brief summary of investigators' lines of inquiry, saying there was 'reasonable suspicion' that the accusations he outlined were well-founded.
Among them was a claim that Mr Ulrich formed a direct connection with Jay Footlik, a pro-Qatar US lobbyist, with the aim not only of promoting Doha's status as the lead mediator for hostage negotiations but also criticising the role of Egypt.
Since diplomatic relations were established in the 1980s, leaving behind the wars of the previous decades, Egypt has developed into Israel's most important regional partner.
However, a bitter rivalry – described in one Israeli newspaper this week as a 'bottomless hatred' – has grown between Cairo and Doha, with the Egyptian military-rooted authoritarian regime contemptuous of Qatar's tolerance of the Muslim Brotherhood, who briefly won control of Egypt in 2012.
Israeli commentators have noted that since Oct 7, off-the-record briefings emanating from Mr Netanyahu's office have repeatedly talked down Cairo's ability to yield results in the hostage negotiations.
There were even a number of factually dubious suggestions that Egypt was preparing for war with Israel.
Commentators have suggested that this was part of a deliberate effort by Qatar to seize control of the hostage negotiations, potentially with the aim of finding a favourable outcome for Hamas. Some believe this directly harmed the prospects of a deal.
Qatar has angrily rejected any such notion.
'Things aren't black and white'
Correspondence on Mr Feldstein's phone led police to Klein, who was promoted to editor in chief of the Jerusalem Post shortly before the start of the current war.
In the months since, arguably his most eye-catching personal journalism has been on the subject of Qatar, facilitated by high-level access to Qatari ministers and officials.
Following a visit in 2024, during which he joined senior dignitaries at a luxury campsite and held meetings in the government headquarters, he published a long article seeking to interrogate the validity of criticisms against Qatar, which he described as a 'gorgeous country'.
The piece was nuanced, clearly outlining the concerns about Qatar.
However, Klein gave significant space to Qatari explanations for the Hamas funding issue, namely that they were simply facilitating an Israeli-US initiative. Similarly, on the question of why they were hosting Hamas in their capital.
Praising Qatari officials for understanding Israel 'probably better than Western diplomats', he concluded that the country sat in a 'complicated and sensitive region' where 'things aren't black and white'.
It has now emerged that Klein was offered the opportunity to visit Qatar by Yisrael Einhorn, a former Netanyahu aide, described by some Israeli press as Mr Urich's partner.
He is currently in Serbia, and Israeli police have spoken of attempting to force his return via Interpol in connection with Qatargate.
Additionally, it is now known that the pro-Qatar lobbyist Mr Footlik accompanied Klein to some of his meetings in Qatar.
When he returned to Israel, Mr Einhorn offered to engage a PR professional to help promote Klein's article describing his visit to Qatar in the Israeli press.
He reportedly said that 'the American' – Mr Footlik – would pay.
There was also a trip to Germany, where Mr Einhorn offered an exclusive interview with the Qatari ambassador Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammad Al Thani, who is now ambassador to Britain.
On Thursday, the editor issued an impassioned defence of his journalism and a denunciation of the police's conduct.
'In an instant, I went from a public servant to a suspect. Not even in my worst nightmares could I have imagined this,' he wrote.
He described his coverage of Qatar as a 'rare journalistic opportunity' for which he received 'nothing in return. No benefits, no payment, no promises'.
'This case will not intimidate me,' he said.
Klein pointed out that he had even decided to publish a column in the Jerusalem Post that was personally critical of his decision to travel to Qatar.
Klein is now free and faces no charges.
However, Mr Feldstein and Mr Ulrich reportedly gave contradictory versions of events under questioning this week and have now been released on house arrest. Both men, as well as Mr Einhorn, deny any wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, a scandal that has already embroiled the highest political offices of the state now grips an independent institution – the Jerusalem Post – which is older than the state itself.
For an Israeli public already nervous about threats to their country's democratic safeguards, given the alleged attempts to politicise the military and security service, the arrest of a prominent editor has caused inevitable alarm.
The irony that the arrest was part of an investigation in which Mr Netanyahu has been accused of subverting democracy to avoid, just illustrates the complexity of the turmoil gripping Israeli politics.
It is likely the Qatar scandal has some distance yet to run.