February 14, 2025
Philip C. Johnson, Ph.D.
It sounds like a crazy conspiracy theory. Of course Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu would never knowingly allow harm to come to Israeli citizens. Right? But, recent reports have raised concerns about potential financial connections between Netanyahu’s administration and Qatar, particularly regarding the funding of Hamas as well as providing better “PR” for Qatar.
One February 12th, the Jerusalem Post reported that there are now demands for an investigation in the wake of a report that Eli Feldstein – a member of the prime minister’s media team – had provided public relations services to the Qataris while working in the prime minister’s office. (Fedlstein is currently under house arrest for leaking classified documents to a German newspaper.)
That is concerning enough. But according to a very reliable source that I have with a media/production asset inside Israel, the story goes all the way to the top, to Netanyahu himself. In our very recent communication the source told me:
“It’s all about money. Bibi never took any bribe from Israelis, but he took anything he could from foreigners. And Qatar had a lot to give. It’s all about greed and him staying in office.”
He continued, “There is evidence connecting former head of Mossad, Yossi Cohen, who was also on Doha’s (Qatar’s) pay, and supposed evidence for allowing the Qataris access to Israel’s Air Force 1’s secured communication system a few days before Oct. 7. Evidence is popping out every day now.”
As I tried to wrap my head about this, I countered with the fact that Netanyahu has released the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) on Hamas. So clearly his primary interest is in protecting Israel and in destroying the terrorist organization, Hamas, who had murdered 1200 people on October 7th and taken 251 people hostage.
He responded with this: “Only he refused to turn the IDF on them. He was forced to do so by the army command and public cries. And he left the heart of Gaza intact, to allow Hamas to stay there forever. It aligns with local politics – if the war ends, Netanyahu won’t stay in office. It’s in his interests to keep Hamas alive and prolong the war. I know it all sounds like a crazy conspiracy theory, but once you isolate his personal interest, there’s no other way to understand it.”
As uncomfortable as this possibility might be – it tracks with questions that everyone has had about the horrific tragedy of October 7th: What happened to Israel’s famed security? And why was there such a slow response to the attacks from the IDF.
In September of 2024, I met with Israeli Knesset Member, Boaz Bismuth, in his office in Jerusalem. When I asked him about the security failures, he admitted that they were troubling and that “responsibility for Israel’s intelligence failure will be very deep, very high and very large.”
I guess we will see just how high the responsibilities will go. If these reports turn out to be true, it will be difficult for many to reconcile.
Meanwhile, in about 12 hours – noon on Saturday in Israel – Hamas is scheduled to release three hostages. Note that it is ONLY three. Not ALL remaining hostages, not the “release every hostage or all Hell will break out” that Donald Trump had insisted and that Netanyahu had agreed to. Just three. And so one thing is sure: Hamas remains in tact and is still holding more than 70 hostages.
The Global Nexter 