To be sure, I was shocked when The Jerusalem Post’s editor-in-chief, Zvika Klein, went to Qatar. I could not believe the platitudes that he gave to the Qataris, saying they are a force for moderation and a peacemaker with an outstretched arm to Israel. There is not a single Qatar expert I know—and I know many—who shares those views.
I strongly believe that it was poor editorial judgment on Klein’s part to allow himself to be put up by the Qataris, and, worse, to buy into and repeat the stories he was told so effusively.
The stories Klein wrote are in many ways representative of the downfall of The Jerusalem Post from a respected publication to one that has acquired the unfortunate reputation for being a pay-for-play news publication. That is certainly the case with their conferences and their Jerusalem Report magazine. That said, the arrest and questioning of Klein, who I know and believe to be a very decent and honest person, was unwarranted—pun intended.
Even if he did receive money to write nice things about Qatar (which he did not), that should not be a crime. The Jerusalem Post is a commercial entity, not a government vehicle. But here is what is more important: The idea that Israel’s state prosecution and legal system can arrest and interrogate a journalist because they do not like or approve of what was written is the behavior of a Marxist police state.
Tied into the larger investigation, yet another one was launched against members of the prime minister’s office. The legal junta now threatens to silence free speech.
Tied into the attempts to continuously politicize investigations against the elected officials the legal system does not approve of or policies that violate their progressive worldview, a major problem can be seen.
Although I feel deeply for the suffering of Klein, as well as his wife and children, and I wish that he did not go through this tortuous experience, I’m glad this happened. That is not because I vehemently disagree with what he wrote. I believe Klein and any other journalist in Israel should write whatever they believe, and readers can decide for themselves whether they agree or not.
Rather, it is time for the Israeli public to see that the legal system is not out to protect the rights of its citizens. It’s out to protect its worldview.
The Qatargate story is a complicated one. The security and intelligence establishment was, for years, pushing a right-wing government to avoid military conflict with Hamas. To avoid that conflict, Qatar became, according to the establishment, a necessary source of funding.
Fast forward to post-Oct. 7.
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was having difficulty negotiating the return of the hostages, members of the establishment and the opposition were praising Qatar, saying Netanyahu was the problem. Then Netanyahu successfully negotiated the partial release of hostages. So far, 196 out of 255 hostages have had their fates resolved, with more than half of them returning alive. It is a major political accomplishment while simultaneously tragic. Netanyahu understood that to get the remaining hostages out alive, the real threat of a much greater military force was required.
Once Netanyahu ordered more force, members of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum changed their tune, calling for an end to the war. It is well-established that the Hostage Forum has been run by the very same organizers as the anti-Netanyahu protests for the past six years and the anti-reform protests in the weeks before the war.
It may be difficult to understand, but the Hostages Forum does not want Netanyahu to win the war. And many of its organizers, to the detriment of the families with loved ones still suffering in captivity, do not want Netanyahu to succeed in bringing the hostages home alive. They understand that succeeding in those two goals, which we were told would be impossible, would cement his power. Enter Qatargate.
Just as Netanyahu had a green light from President Donald Trump to break the ceasefire with Hamas and just as renewed force was likely to force Hamas to negotiate a better deal than Phase 1, an investigation was suddenly launched to determine whether or not Qatar had purchased influence in Netanyahu’s office.
The alleged scandal does little to soil Netanyahu. Israel’s prime minister has proven he can withstand nearly any pressures and allegations to the great disdain of all his political enemies. Rather, the Qatargate scandal is meant to anger Qatar. By angering Qatar, the negotiators and backers of Hamas, the Israeli legal/intelligence system is banking that negotiations will suddenly become more difficult.
This begs the question: Did the organizers behind the Hostages Forum protests seize on the hostage crisis because they recognized from the beginning that it was unlikely Netanyahu could bring them all home?
After all, the hostages are not in Netanyahu’s care. They are being held by a brutal terror organization, Hamas, in heavily booby-trapped underground tunnels. Even the slogan, “Bring them home,” is meant to put the responsibility on Netanyahu, instead of on the hostage-takers.
Over the last six years, we have seen the legal system, the attorney general, the state prosecution and the opposition violate the law and the rights of its citizens over and over again. They have launched absurd investigations and indictments of the prime minister with no validity. They illegally leaked cherry-picked details of those cases on the eve of elections to affect voter outcomes. They have negated the will of the majority of Israeli voters by installing their own prime minister, Naftali Bennett, who 95% of the country did not vote for. And they have been shutting down key junctions and functions across the country for years.
That is just a short list.
The case against Zvika Klein is the latest high-profile foul-up and affront to Israeli citizens’ rights to determine their own destiny by this legal system. But sunlight is the best disinfectant. Hopefully, the piece Klein wrote about what happened—one the best he’s ever written—will bring to light that the current system is willing to do anything and everything to cling to its waning power.
It’s an ugly reality, but one that can be corrected if Israelis internalize what is happening before their eyes and take action.