Netanyahu accused of 'treason' over alleged Qatar funding

Former Israeli premier Naftali Bennett, widely regarded as a leading contender in next year's legislative elections, called on Monday for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing his office of "treason" over alleged Qatari funding to his aides.

Netanyahu has also announced he intends to seek another term in office ahead of the legislative elections scheduled for October 2026.

At the centre of the controversy is the so-called "Qatargate" affair, in which close associates of Netanyahu are suspected of having been recruited by Qatar to promote the Gulf monarchy's image in Israel.

Qatar hosts senior Hamas leaders and has played a mediating role between Israel and the Palestinian resistance movement during the war in Gaza.

An investigation is underway, and two of Netanyahu's aides were taken into custody in late March.

"Netanyahu's office betrayed the State of Israel and IDF (Israeli military) soldiers in wartime, and acted on Qatar's behalf out of greed, while Netanyahu himself seeks to cover up the affair," Bennett charged in posts on his social media accounts.

"This is the most serious act of treason in Israel's history," he said.

"Whether Netanyahu knew or did not know that his office was working for money for an enemy during wartime, both scenarios require his immediate resignation," Bennett added.

Bennet's remarks followed a report aired Sunday evening on Israel's i24news television channel, which purportedly revealed conversations between two of Netanyahu's advisers in connection with the case.

In April 2025, Netanyahu declared that Qatar was "not an enemy" of Israel, defending his two advisers who had been taken into custody.

According to Israeli media, the aides are also suspected of having transferred confidential information to Qatari sources in the midst of the war in Gaza.

Bennett accused "three of Netanyahu's closest advisers" of having "acted as paid agents of Qatar" -- at a time when Israeli soldiers "were fighting and falling under bullets bought with Qatari money".

The third person refers to an aide who allegedly crafted pro-Qatar messages that the other two assistants then disseminated.

According to polls, Bennett, who temporarily unseated Netanyahu as the head of government in June 2021, and then announced his withdrawal from politics in 2022, appears to be the best-placed candidate to defeat the sitting premier in the next elections.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid, who briefly served as premier as part of a power-sharing deal with Bennet, similarly said on X that the Qatargate affair is indeed the "most serious treason case" in the history of the state.