A former Mossad official who was questioned under caution in the Qatargate affair took part in meetings of Israel’s hostage negotiating team for two weeks early in the war with Hamas, and sometimes did so as an official representative of the spy agency, according to a Monday report on the Kan public broadcaster.
The official insisted to Kan that he had reported his ties to Qatar to the Mossad and to the IDF’s envoy for the hostage negotiations Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon; but the report claimed that the spy agency and members of the team were unaware of the connections.
The agent, referred to only as Shin, worked in cooperation with Qatari intelligence during his time at the spy agency and today does business in Qatar, Channel 12 reported in May.
According to Channel 12, Shin owns a company with retired IDF general Yoav Mordechai, who formed connections with the Qataris during his time as head of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the report “reveals again how Qatar managed to infiltrate the holy of holies of the struggle to return hostages — from the Prime Minister’s Office to the senior officials of the Mossad and the negotiating team.”
The forum demanded that the prime minister prove with actions that he is committed to returning all the hostages held in Gaza.
The Qatargate affair revolves primarily around suspicions that two Netanyahu aides — Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein — committed multiple offenses tied to their alleged work for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corrupt actions involving lobbyists and businessmen, all while working for the prime minister.
The investigation continues to expand, however, and the Shin Bet and police are now probing the involvement and business connections of former security officials with Qatar.
It emerged on Thursday that the Shin Bet and police believe that two suspects in the scandal — Shin and one other, both businessmen who previously held senior positions in the Mossad — were working for Qatari intelligence.
The second suspect was said to be David Saig, an Israeli businessman, former Mossad official, and a close friend of Shin, who was Saig’s boss during their time in the Mossad.
Police suspect that Mordechai connected two of the central suspects in the Qatargate affair, Urich and former Likud election campaign manager Yisrael Einhorn, to the Qatari government when they did public relations work for Doha ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
Urich and Einhorn are also suspected of having a business relationship with Shin and Saig, said Channel 12.
The report further said that Shin and Mordechai’s company has a relationship with a German company owned by Gil Birger, another Israeli businessman suspected of having transferred money from pro-Qatari lobbyist Jay Footlik to Feldstein.
Urich and Feldstein are both suspected of having conducted public relations work for Footlik’s company to improve Qatar’s image in Israel, specifically relating to its role as a mediator in hostage release negotiations with Hamas, while they were working at the same time as media advisers to Netanyahu.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.