Netanyahu slated to testify after election on ties to Qatar in defamation suit

PM suing head of MEMRI media watchdog over unverified documents purporting to show Qatari payments to Likud; judge questions whether parts of case are strong enough to claim defamation

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will testify at the end of the year about Israel’s relations with Qatar as part of a defamation lawsuit against a series of prominent figures who alleged that the premier’s Likud party received funds from the Gulf state.

Netanyahu is suing Yigal Carmon — the head of Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) watchdog, Democrats party chief Yair Golan, former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon, former senior Mossad official Udi Levy and leading anti-government activist Shikma Bressler for their public allegations on the matter, which the premier maintains are false.

The lawsuits were filed last year, but the one against Carmon is the only one that has advanced to the evidence-presenting stage. At a Tuesday hearing on the case against the MEMRI president, a judge pushed the sides to set a date for Netanyahu to testify. The prime minister’s attorney said his client wouldn’t be free until after the October 27 elections.

Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court Judge Amir Dahan offered several dates in November and December and asked Netanyahu’s lawyer Khur Nizri to respond with a week regarding when would work for his client.

Netanyahu is suing Carmon for publishing documents that purported to show payments that Qatar made to the Likud and Yisrael Beytenu parties.

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The authenticity of those documents has not been proven, and a 2024 exposé by The Marker news site raised significant questions about the reliability of the sources tied to them.

Netanyahu is also suing Carmon for comments the latter made in an interview with the Israel Hayom daily last year in which he accused the prime minister of deceiving his supporters. “He went with the enemy and collaborated with Qatar,” Carmon is quoted as having said.

During the Tuesday hearing, though, Dahan maintained that the accusation does not amount to defamation in his eyes, but added that witness testimony would be necessary to reach a final conclusion.

Netanyahu has been seeking to fend off allegations of his ties to Qatar since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, with critics panning him for approving Qatari aid to Gaza and arguing that those funds allowed Hamas to build up its war chest ahead of the 2023 invasion.

The allegations against Netanyahu intensified in 2024 after investigations were opened into his top aides’ ties to the Qatari government.

Netanyahu advisers Yisrael Einhorn, Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein are accused of taking money to spearhead a pro-Qatari public relations campaign during the Gaza war, with Urich and Feldstein accused of working on behalf of Doha while they were still employed by the prime minister.

They are suspected of committing multiple offenses tied to the alleged dual employment, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corrupt actions involving lobbyists and businessmen.

Netanyahu claims the allegations are part of a witch hunt against him.

Outgoing Mossad chief David Barnea reportedly said in April meetings that alleged ties between some members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office staff and Qatar did not seem to have harmed national security or hostage deal negotiations — putting him at odds with former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, who has called the affair a serious security threat.

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