Qatar denies paying to spread media narrative undermining Egypt’s role in hostage talks

Qatar on Thursday denied funding a disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting Egypt’s role in negotiations to free Israelis held hostage in Gaza, amid a swirling Israeli investigation around the Gulf state’s links to two of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides.

In a statement, Qatar’s International Media Office accused media outlets of helping sabotage hostage talks by reporting on suspicions laid out in Israeli court that longtime Netanyahu aide Jonatan Urich and former spokesman Eli Feldstein were paid by Doha to boost the public’s perception of its role in the negotiations at the expense of Egypt.

“The State of Qatar strongly condemns the statements published by some journalists and media outlets alleging that Qatar has made financial payments to undermine the efforts of Egypt or any of the mediators involved in the ongoing negotiations between Hamas and Israel,” the media office said.

“The State of Qatar affirms that these allegations are baseless and serve only the agendas of those who seek to sabotage the mediation efforts and undermine relations between nations,” it added.

Urich and Feldstein have been held by police since they were detained for questioning on Monday as police probed suspicions of multiple offenses tied to their alleged work for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corruption charges involving lobbyists and businessmen.

The Rishon Lezion Magistrates Court on Thursday extended their detention for another day to enable investigators to continue their probes.

A journalist, Jerusalem Post editor in chief Zvika Klein, has also been questioned as a suspect, and on Thursday three more journalists were questioned by police, though they are not suspected of wrongdoing and were instead summoned as individuals with knowledge of the events.

On Tuesday, Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court Judge Menachem Mizrahi said that Urich and Feldstein were suspected of having accepted payments from a Qatari lobbyist in order to spread a media narrative boosting Doha’s role in the Israel-Hamas hostage talks at Egypt’s expense — all while they were still working for Netanyahu.

According to the suspicions, Urich and Feldstein carried out the pro-Doha work for The Third Circle, a lobbying firm owned by lobbyist Jay Footlik, at the same time as they were working as media aides to Netanyahu.

At times, they are alleged to have passed pro-Qatari messages to reporters in the name of “senior political officials,” a code often used by the prime minister’s advisers for Netanyahu himself when they do not want a comment directly attributed to him.

The statement from Qatar notably did not deny or address its lobbyist’s alleged payments to Netanyahu’s aides or alleged efforts to boost its image, with the statement instead focused on the accusation pertaining to Egypt.

Qatar claimed the allegation “represent[s] a new development in the ongoing misinformation campaign that is attempting to divert attention away from the humanitarian suffering and perpetuate the politicization of the war.”

The statement also stressed that Qatar remained committed to its mediating role and touted its cooperation with Egypt in that effort.

Egypt and Qatar have had bumpy ties over the years, with relations severed between 2013 and 2021 over Doha’s support for ousted Islamist Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

In February, the Haaretz daily reported that the military was examining who was behind articles and social media reports alleging Egypt was deploying forces to the Sinai Peninsula in violation of the peace agreement with Israel. Senior officials quoted in the report said they would not rule out the possibility that the reports were a Qatari effort to weaken Egypt’s position as a mediator vis-a-vis the United States.

During meetings in recent months with US lawmakers, Israeli politicians similarly alleged that Egypt was violating the peace treaty by massing troops along the Gaza border, while Israel’s ambassador to Washington also raised the issue during a meeting in late January with the executives of American Jewish groups.

“Egypt is in very serious violation of our peace agreement in the Sinai. This is an issue that is going to come to the fore because it’s not tolerable,” Yechiel Leiter said in a recording obtained by The Times of Israel.

“We have bases being built that can only be used for offensive operations, for offensive weapons — that’s a clear violation,” he said. “For a long time, it’s been shunted aside, and this continues. This is going to be an issue that we’re going to put on the table very soon and very emphatically.”

Leiter also accused Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s family of profiting from the desperation of Palestinians seeking to flee the Gaza Strip and of duplicitously operating to benefit Hamas.

The comments angered Cairo, which later raised them during a meeting in with Netanyahu’s top confidante Ron Dermer, according to an Israeli official and a second source familiar with the matter.

Unlike Israel’s political leaders, the Israeli security establishment has not been voicing concern to counterparts in Cairo regarding Egypt’s military posture in the Sinai Peninsula, the two sources said.

Some have pointed to recently posted footage showing a large Egyptian tank presence in the Sinai, but those clips have not been verified, and an Israeli security official said the clips were not recent.

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