In case you’ve been away from this planet over the past few months, you should know that Qatargate is an Israeli national security scandal centered on allegations of conflict of interest and endangerment of state security during the Iron Sword War (which is still going on, by the way). Senior advisors to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are suspected of receiving payments from the Qatari government in return for advancing Qatar’s interests both within Israel and abroad.
Speculations that Qatargate is a hoax orchestrated by Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s clandestine police, have emerged on the right, suggesting that Bar initiated the investigation to undermine Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government who were trying to sack him.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has dismissed the allegations as “fake news” and a “smear campaign,” asserting that the investigation is politically driven.
Be that as it may, on Monday, TheMarker reported that newly obtained documents indicate the State Attorney’s Office had already faced the challenge of defining Qatar as an enemy state as early as 2014, during a separate security investigation. At the time, the Attorney’s Office requested an intelligence assessment declaring Qatar—along with several other countries—as an enemy state. However, the IDF Intelligence Division’s research department declined to issue such an assessment.
The ambiguity surrounding the designation of Qatar as an enemy state partly arises from Israel’s Penal Code, which includes offenses such as aiding the enemy during wartime but does not provide a definitive list of those enemy states one must not aid. Another relevant statute, the 1939 Trading with the Enemy Ordinance, empowers the Minister of Finance to specify countries with which trade is prohibited. While this list includes Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Lebanon, it notably does not include Qatar.
Another law, the Anti-Infiltration Law, lists countries to and from which entry is prohibited, but it, too, does not include Qatar.
IS QATAR AN ENEMY STATE?
The 2014 investigation focused on an Israeli citizen suspected of hacking into a database containing millions of sensitive records about Israeli citizens, allegedly with the intent to sell the information to the highest bidder. He approached the embassies of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Iran in Thailand and communicated with their representatives. At the time, the State Attorney’s Office believed that he contacted these embassies expecting their governments would be interested in acquiring the data to harm the Israeli economy.
According to the wording of the Justice Ministry’s request to the IDF Intelligence Corps, the State Attorney’s Office sought clarification on whether, during 2014—the period relevant to the security charge outlined in the indictment—Iran, and if possible, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, could be classified as “enemy states.” The definition in question, drawn from the Penal Law, refers to “anyone who is a belligerent party or maintains a state of war against Israel or declares themselves as such, whether or not war has been formally declared, and regardless of the presence of active military hostilities.”
The request was submitted on December 25, 2014, and on January 5, 2015, an internal email was sent to the attorneys handling the case stating that “the Intelligence Service’s attorney announced that, ultimately, after consulting with the authorized officials in the research division of the Intelligence Service, they would not be able to provide an opinion regarding Saudi Arabia or Qatar as enemy states. As a result, an opinion would be issued solely on the matter of Iran.”
QATAR AND ISRAEL
Qatar established unofficial trade relations with Israel in 1996, becoming the second country on the Arabian Peninsula to do so, following Oman, and in the context of the Israel–Jordan peace treaty. These trade ties continued until 2009, when Qatar severed them in response to Operation Cast Lead.
Following the 2014 Operation Protective Edge, Israeli leaders sharply criticized Qatar for its diplomatic and financial support of Hamas, accusing it of being a key sponsor of terrorism. Then-Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman even called for the expulsion of Al Jazeera journalists from Israel, citing the network’s Qatari ownership.
But then, on March 9, 2015, Qatar’s ambassador to Gaza reportedly sought Israel’s direct approval to bring construction materials into the Gaza Strip after Egypt denied the Qatari delegation entry through the Rafah border crossing. This move drew strong condemnation from the Palestinian Authority and Fatah, who accused Qatar of bypassing established diplomatic channels.
In June 2015, Qatar hosted indirect talks in Doha between Israel and Hamas aimed at negotiating a potential five-year ceasefire agreement.
In December 2018, Israel approved a €13 million payment from Qatar to Gazan workers as part of a six-month financial aid initiative aimed at alleviating the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
In November 2021, Israel and Qatar signed an agreement permitting Qatar to engage in the diamond trade and allowing Israeli merchants to enter Qatar and establish offices.
During the Gaza war, Qatar acted as a mediator between Hamas and Israel, playing a key role in securing the 2023 ceasefire agreement. As part of the deal, more than 100 Israeli hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian security prisoners.
In April 2024, Brigadier General Essa Al-Nassr of the Emiri Guard and a member of Qatar’s legislative assembly declared that “there will be no peace nor negotiations with the Zionist entity for one reason: because their mentality does not recognize negotiations, but rather only… breaking promises and lying… They only recognize one thing, which is killings; since they are killers of prophets.” He also described the October 7 attacks as a “prelude to the annihilation of the corruption of the ‘second Zionist entity’ upon earth.”
ISRAELI OFFICIALS’ VISITS TO QATAR
Despite Qatar’s support for Hamas, Israeli leaders have maintained direct channels of communication with the emirate over the years. In January 2007, President Shimon Peres made a high-profile visit to Doha, having previously visited in 1996 to inaugurate Israel’s new trade bureau in the Qatari capital.
In January 2008, then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak held a discreet meeting with former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland—a meeting that Israel has kept under wraps.
In April 2008, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni traveled to Qatar, where she attended a conference and held meetings with the Emir, the Prime Minister, and the Minister of Oil and Gas.
