PNN – Two advisers to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were arrested on Monday as part of an investigation on suspicion of leaking information and receiving money from foreign sources.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, the Palestinian news agency “Ma’a” quoted Israeli media as saying that in the same case, the Israeli police heard Netanyahu’s testimony after the agreement of Cabinet Legal Advisor Gali Bharao Meara.
The two arrested are Eli Feldstein, the prime minister’s spokesman, and Yonatan Orich, Netanyahu’s media advisor.
These individuals are suspected of committing crimes including contacting a foreign party, money laundering, accepting bribes, fraud, and breach of trust.
Both Aurich and Wildstein were taken to jail and are scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday for their plea hearing.
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the purpose of hearing Netanyahu’s testimony is to prevent any possible interference in the investigation process. The Israeli judicial investigators listened to Netanyahu’s testimony in a session that lasted about an hour and a half in his office.
In this connection, Netanyahu’s Likud party, in a strongly worded statement that did not mention Feldstein by name, expressed its support for Orich, describing his arrest as “a repressive police action and a new attempt in a campaign of political harassment” aimed at toppling a right-wing prime minister and preventing the removal of the failed Shin Bet chief.
The statement said the purpose of Orikh’s arrest was to intimidate him and extract false testimony against him through threats and arbitrary detention, adding: The investigation is conducted in the dark and under gag orders and Orich and others are used as fuel for internal political conflicts.
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Likud added: The goal is to carry out a political coup through arrest warrants, and these are not investigations and law enforcement, but an attempt to assassinate democracy and replace the rule of the bureaucracy with the representation of the people.
According to Israeli media, the ongoing investigation also includes a journalist suspected of facilitating contact between Feldstein and Gil Berger, an Israeli businessman who recently admitted to helping Feldstein through “lobbying for Qatar.”
Sources reported that the investigation also includes suspicions that Feldstein provided public relations services to a party that worked for Qatar on the issue of Zionist prisoners and missing persons.
Haaretz previously reported that Orich worked through a private marketing firm on a campaign that was working to improve Qatar’s image ahead of the 2022 World Cup, a claim Orich later denied.
The investigation into this case began after the Shabak (Israel’s internal security agency) provided new information to the Israeli Attorney General, and with the presence of representatives from the Ministry of Justice and the Police Command.
The investigation includes examining procedures for “protecting confidential information” in the Prime Minister’s Office and other ministries amid suspicions of “leaking sensitive information to foreign media.”
The Shin Bet had previously informed Knesset members that it had begun investigating the relations of “parties within the Prime Minister’s Office” with Qatar following press reports of “mutual interests” between some advisors in the Prime Minister’s Office and individuals linked to Qatar.
Meanwhile, a Qatari official commented on the case in an interview with the Washington Post, describing it as a targeted smear campaign targeting Doha.
The Qatari official said that the campaign is being carried out by parties who seek to prolong the conflict and prevent an agreement to release prisoners, adding that Qatar will continue its mediation efforts in cooperation with the United States and regional partners.
Referring to efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, he added that his country would not allow parties seeking to sabotage the negotiations to disrupt Doha’s mediation role.