Bennett tells Netanyahu to declare Qatar an enemy over election interference claims

Naftali Bennett, the former Israeli prime minister, challenged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to formally designate Qatar as an enemy state, as suspicions of Qatari involvement in Israel's election process drew public debate. Ynet carried Bennett's challenge in a news alert, quoting him as telling Netanyahu that if the security of the state was truly his concern, he should "declare Qatar an enemy."

In a fuller statement reported by N12 through its correspondent Shoshi Hatuka, Bennett said he supported the head of the Shin Bet and the chair of the elections committee in carrying the inquiry into the suspected improper interference through to its conclusion. In the same statement he dismissed what he called panicked outcries from Netanyahu and his supporters, and accused the prime minister of keeping advisers in his office who, Bennett said, had been paid large sums by Qatar.

What Bennett said

According to the N12 report, Bennett's statement had two parts. The first was an endorsement of the official process: he said he relied on the Shin Bet chief and the elections committee chair to complete their examination of the suspicion of improper interference in the electoral process.

The second part was an attack on Netanyahu. Bennett said that advisers still working in the prime minister's office had, in his words, been shown to have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Qatar during the massacre and the war, and had worked from inside that office to advance Qatari interests. He argued that Netanyahu had only now turned his attention to Qatar because it suited his own interests, and that he was using the issue to sow chaos and undermine public trust in the democratic process.

The Ynet alert, a short headline linking to a longer item, framed the same message as a direct demand: that Netanyahu, if he regarded national security as paramount, should declare Qatar an enemy.

The bodies named in the statement

The Shin Bet, also known as the Israel Security Agency, is Israel's domestic security and counterintelligence service. It answers to the prime minister's office and is responsible for, among other things, countering foreign espionage and influence operations inside Israel.

The elections committee referred to is Israel's Central Elections Committee, the body that organises and oversees national elections to the Knesset, Israel's parliament. It is chaired by a justice of the Supreme Court.

Bennett's backing for both bodies places the question of Qatari involvement with officials who are formally separate from the political campaigns, while he directs his criticism at Netanyahu personally.

Why Qatar is a sensitive subject in Israel

Qatar is a Gulf state that has no formal diplomatic relations with Israel. It has hosted members of Hamas's political leadership and has also acted as a mediator in negotiations over the war in Gaza and the release of hostages. That dual role has made it a recurring point of contention in Israeli politics.

When Bennett refers to "the massacre and the war," he means the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel and the war in Gaza that followed it. His claim that advisers in Netanyahu's office were paid by Qatar during that period is an allegation he presents as established; the reports carry it as Bennett's statement and do not independently confirm it.

Who is Naftali Bennett

Bennett served as Israel's prime minister at the head of a broad coalition that replaced a Netanyahu government. He is a political rival of Netanyahu, and his statement should be read in the context of an election contest in which the two men are opponents.

What the reports do not say

Neither report explains what the suspected Qatari involvement in the elections consists of, when it was first raised, or who raised it. They do not say what Netanyahu or his allies have said on the subject, beyond Bennett's characterisation of their response as panicked outcries.

The reports do not name the advisers Bennett refers to, and do not give a response from them, from the prime minister's office or from Qatar. They do not say whether the Shin Bet or the Central Elections Committee has confirmed that an examination is under way, what its scope is, or when it might conclude.

It is also not stated what a formal declaration of Qatar as an enemy would involve in legal or practical terms, or whether any such step is under consideration.