Two long -standing assistants of the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, were arrested for three days after the Israeli police arrested them for alleged illegal ties between high -level and Qatar assistants, a case known as ‘Qatargate’, CNN reported.
Netanyahu testified on Monday in the investigation, which alleged Qatar payments to some of its assistants, an investigation that denounced as “politically motivated.”
The two assistants, Yonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein were arrested on Monday. Arrests increase political tensions in the country, where the Government is trying to say goodbye to both the Chief of National Security and the Attorney General, while expanding the power of politicians about the appointment of judges.
The movements have revived a protest movement in Israel, coinciding with the government’s resumption to fight this month in the Gaza Strip.
Feldstein had been arrested separately at the end of last year and released in house arrest for accusations of filtering a classified document related to hostage negotiations in Gaza to change the critical coverage of the media of the Israeli leader.
“As soon as they asked me to testify, I said it was free and that I wanted to testify immediately,” Netyahu said in a video statement.
“I understood that it was a political investigation, but I did not realize how political it was, and they are holding Yonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein hostage … There is no case, there is absolutely nothing, just a political witch hunt, nothing more.”
Netanyahu is separately in trial for accusations of corruption he denies.
‘A new bass’
Israeli media reported that a journalist from a prominent local publication had also been summoned to interrogate in the case.
Qatar, a state of the Gulf rich in gas, has no diplomatic ties with Israel and has long received the leaders of the Palestinian Group Hamas.
“The brutal arrest of Yonatan Urich marks a new minimum in the hunt for political witches to tear down a right -wing prime minister and to avoid the dismissal of the failed head of Shin’s bet,” said a statement published by Likud, the political party of Netanyahu.
Two weeks ago, the Israeli government unanimously approved Netanyahu’s proposal to say goodbye to Ronen Bar, the Head of Shin’s bet, the Israel’s internal security agency.
The Supreme Court froze the dismissal of the bar and must hold a detailed hearing on the case on April 8.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who faces a similar dismissal, said that the initial ruling of the Superior Court prevents the hiring of a new security chief, but Netanyahu did it anyway on Monday.
In his statement on Monday, the Likud party linked Qatargate investigations with efforts to prevent the layoffs of Bar and Baharav-Miara, saying that “for weeks, the prosecution and the head of Shin Bet have conducted investigations without foundation in the dark under a gag order, trying to avoid the dismissal of the boss of the bet while using Urich and others like Cannon Fodder.”
Earlier this month, the Shin Bet agency announced that it had begun to investigate Netanyahu’s assistants in relation to the case, except for the publication of any detail.
Bar has accused Netanyahu of having a “personal interest” in saying goodbye to “avoid research on the events that lead to October 7 and other serious issues” that the bet is Vista.
In a letter, Bar referred to the “complex, broad and highly sensitive research” that involved people close to Netanyahu who allegedly received money from Qatar.
On Monday night, anti -government protesters again joined a protest outside of Parliament, mocking Netanyahu and asking for the end of Gaza’s conflict and an agreement to release hostages that still have militants there.
