Former prime minister Naftali Bennett launched a blistering attack on Israel’s current leadership on Tuesday, demanding that law enforcement and security agencies fully pursue the so-called “Qatargate” scandal — including questioning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself — warning that the affair represents a grave national security breach at the highest levels of government.

In a video statement, Bennett called on the Shin Bet security agency and the Israel Police to “exhaust the investigation to its very end,” insisting that no one involved be spared scrutiny. The investigation centers on allegations that Netanyahu’s close aide Jonatan Urich and former spokesman Eli Feldstein carried out work for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm while serving in the Prime Minister’s Office. Such conduct could constitute contact with a foreign agent and a range of corruption offenses involving lobbyists and businessmen.

“Their actions are a knife in the heart of our heroic soldiers, and a knife in the heart of the entire people of Israel,” Bennett said.

He described the affair as “the gravest betrayal in the history of the State of Israel,” arguing that the alleged infiltration did not involve fringe actors, but figures operating at the core of Israel’s political power. According to Bennett, the presence of individuals allegedly working on behalf of Qatar inside the prime minister’s inner circle constitutes a major intelligence and security victory for an adversarial state.

“Planting active agents inside the office of the prime minister of Israel is a significant intelligence and security success for our enemy, Qatar,” he said.

Bennett stopped short of accusing Netanyahu of personally directing the alleged activity or knowingly approving it. However, he questioned the prime minister’s response — or lack thereof — to the unfolding scandal.

“I am not claiming that Netanyahu gave the order to act on behalf of Qatar, or even that he knew his closest advisers were receiving hundreds of thousands of shekels from the enemy,” Bennett said. “But why is the prime minister silent? Why is he, at this very moment, covering up the betrayal in his office?”

According to Bennett, Netanyahu should have acted immediately upon learning of the allegations, firing the advisers in disgrace, summoning the heads of the Shin Bet and the Israel Police, and ordering a sweeping security probe to uncover the full network involved and assess what intelligence may have been compromised.

“Instead,” Bennett alleged, “the prime minister and his people are doing everything they can to torpedo the investigation of the truth.”

Bennett called on investigators to establish who knew about the alleged activities and when, and to determine the extent of any damage to Israel’s national security, including questioning Netanyahu himself if necessary.

“It is your national duty,” Bennett said, addressing Israel’s security and law enforcement agencies. “I trust the systems to act quickly and not abandon the security of the state.”

Netanyahu’s Likud issued a scathing response, accusing Bennett of mudslinging and political diversion, insisting that the key suspects “were never part of the Prime Minister’s Bureau” and that there is “not a shred of involvement by the Prime Minister’s Office or anyone on its behalf.”

Likud further argued that Netanyahu has consistently clashed with Qatar, noting that “since the beginning of the war, the Prime Minister’s Office and the prime minister have attacked Qatar, and Qatar has attacked the prime minister countless times.”

The party also turned the accusation back on Bennett personally, blasting him for using the word “treason” and accusing him of hypocrisy for forming a previous government with Islamist parties.

“Bennett would do well to look at himself,” the statement said, claiming he “betrayed his voters” and accusing him of spreading what it called “blood libels” to divert attention from damaging materials allegedly exposed in the recent hacking of his phone.

Last week, Bennett confirmed that hackers gained access to his Telegram account and that files, including his contact list, were leaked online.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)