Netanyahu is rocked by a new scandal linking his close advisers to Qatar

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office is once again ensnared in scandal after police arrested two of his close associates this week on suspicion of accepting money from Qatar to promote a positive image of the Gulf Arab state in Israel.

The affair has gripped Israelis because Qatar, a country that many view as a patron of Hamas, and which has no formal diplomatic ties to Israel, appears to have penetrated the highest corridors of power.

Qatar, which is a key mediator for Hamas in its ceasefire negotiations with Israel, denies backing the militant group. Netanyahu has given a statement to police on the matter but is not a suspect in the case, which he says is baseless and meant to topple his rule.

The investigation is just the latest scandal to roil Netanyahu, who is the subject of a long-running corruption trial and regularly rails against a “deep state” that is out to get him.

Critics say Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, has worked in recent years to undermine Israel's state institutions, including its judiciary. Most recently, they point to his attempt to dismiss the head of Israel's domestic security agency, which is also investigating his office's alleged links to Qatar.

Dubbed “Qatargate” by Israeli media, the investigation centers on accusations that two close advisers to Netanyahu — longtime media consultant Jonatan Urich, and former spokesman Eli Feldstein — were hired to run a public-relations campaign to improve Qatar's image among Israelis while it was negotiating on behalf of Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza. Payments were allegedly funneled through an American lobbyist.

According to a court document, the American lobbyist and Urich struck a “business connection” to positively promote Qatar and spread negative messages about Egypt, another important mediator in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations.

Feldstein was allegedly paid to pass on those messages to journalists. He and Urich could face charges of contact with a foreign agent, money laundering, bribery, fraud and breach of trust, according to Israeli media. Other than financial gain, any other possible motives are unclear.

One Israeli journalist questioned in the case is Zvika Klein, the editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, an English-language daily. According to a report this week in the Post, Klein visited Qatar at the invitation of its government last year and subsequently wrote a series of articles about his impressions, one of which laid out Qatar's case against Israeli claims that it backs the militant group. The newspaper said Klein, who could not be reached for comment, is currently barred from speaking to journalists.

Lawyers for Urich and Feldstein did not respond to requests for comment.

Netanyahu has slammed the probe as a political witch hunt and accused police of holding his advisers as “hostages” — wording that angered many in Israel because Hamas is still holding dozens captive inside Gaza after its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war.

A judge on Tuesday extended the detentions of Urich and Feldstein, who has been indicted in a separate case involving the leak of classified information to a German tabloid.

If the new allegations are substantiated, “it’s an abuse of the office,” said Tomer Naor, of the Movement of Quality Government in Israel. What's particularly worrying, he said, is how easily outside actors appear to have gained access to the prime minister's inner circle — and that the advisers allegedly promoted Qatari talking points to journalists while giving the impression that the messaging was coming from the prime minister's office.

The nearly 18-monthlong war in Gaza rages on after last month's collapse of a 42-day ceasefire that Qatar played a key role in helping secure.

Among Israelis, the gas-rich emirate is best known for sending money to Gaza beginning in 2018 — an effort meant to help poor families. But analysts and former officials say some of the money dispatched with Netanyahu's blessing made its way to Hamas’ military wing and helped it prepare for the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

Israelis are also suspicious of Qatar's intentions because it is the homebase for Hamas' political leaders, and its broadcaster Al Jazeera is seen by Israel as a mouthpiece for Hamas, allegations the network denies. Qatar says it provided humanitarian aid to Gaza in full coordination with the Israeli government.

When reached by the AP, a Qatari government official did not directly respond to the alleged links to Netanyahu's advisers. He said mediation efforts on Gaza would continue. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Once the target of a regional blockade over its alleged ties to Islamist extremist groups and Iran, Qatar has long sought to be seen as an influential regional player and as a trusted conflict mediator.

But throughout the war in Gaza, many in Israel, including Netanyahu, have expressed anger that Qatar wasn't doing enough to pressure Hamas to meet Israel's terms for a ceasefire.

Qatar’s aim in the alleged public-relations campaign in Israel may have been to quell those accusations and make sure they didn’t influence the U.S., with whom it has close security ties, said Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank.

He said any effort to besmirch Egypt, a longtime mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, may have been a way to improve Qatar's own regional standing.

Qatar “brings up a lot of emotions” in Israel because it is viewed as having played a key role in bolstering Hamas ahead of its Oct. 7 attack, Guzansky said. Before the war, Netanyahu had approved the transfer of funds from Qatar to Gaza as part of a strategy to contain Hamas, he explained.

“Qatar is contemptible. But we should check ourselves first,” he said. “We not only allowed, we encouraged Qatar to invest in Gaza.”

It's not clear what, if anything, Netanyahu knew about his advisers' alleged wrongdoing.

Previous aides who got into trouble with the law have turned state witness against Netanyahu in his corruption trial. Netanyahu's testimony in that trial was halted after Urich and Feldstein's arrest this week; he was summoned to give police a statement about the case.

Netanyahu is under immense public pressure to accept responsibility for his role in failing to prevent the Oct. 7 attack, including allowing the transfer of Qatari cash to Gaza.

Mass protests erupted in recent weeks over Netanyahu's decision to end the Gaza ceasefire that had facilitated the release of dozens of hostages, and over his moves to fire the head of the country's domestic security agency and its attorney general.

The attempt to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar came as the agency was running its own probe into the Qatar links. That prompted accusations that Netanyahu was trying to snuff out the investigation.

Netanyahu has suggested, with little evidence, that the probe was a result of collusion between Bar and the attorney general as a way to thwart the domestic security chief’s dismissal. A court froze Bar's dismissal pending further hearings. That hasn't stopped Netanyahu from trying to appoint his replacement.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Israelis block a highway in Jerusalem to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and demand the release of the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli police push back people protesting against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government outside the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli police drag away people protesting against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government outside the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

People protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government outside the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

People protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government outside the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem, Israel, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

People protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government as they block a highway in Jerusalem, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Las Vegas Review-Journal announced Friday that it will no longer print its rival the Las Vegas Sun for the first time in decades, sharpening a legal dispute over the nation’s last joint operating agreement stemming from a 1970 law designed to preserve newspapers.

Readers “will not find a printed Las Vegas Sun insert inside,” the Review-Journal said in an editorial, noting the Sun maintains a website, has a few hundred thousand followers across social media platforms, and is free to produce its own newspaper.

“We encourage them to do so. The Review-Journal competes with countless sources of news and entertainment, but we would welcome one more. We just don’t want to foot the bill. It is time the Sun stood up on its own two feet,” the editorial said, without specifying the cost.

The two publications will be in court Friday and the Sun hopes a judge will order printing to immediately resume, attorney Leif Reid said in an email. It will be the first day in 76 years that the Sun hasn’t been printed, he said.

“This does irreparable harm to our community, as no one benefits when a local newspaper is prevented from being published,” he said.

The now-rare joint operating agreement required the Sun to be printed as a daily insert in the Review-Journal, while both companies remained editorially independent with separate newsrooms and websites.

A lower court had found the agreement was unenforceable because a 2005 update was never signed by the U.S. attorney general, and in February the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the Sun.

The Review-Journal editorial called the Supreme Court decision a decisive victory, saying that halting publication of the Sun on Friday was “a result of 6½ years of litigation between the newspapers, precipitated by the Sun.”

Such agreements between rival publications have dwindled as part of a "long, slow goodbye of newspapers as we knew them,” said Ken Doctor, a news business analyst. The Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News ended a 40-year agreement last year. USA Today Co., which owns the Detroit Free Press, recently announced its plans to purchase the Detroit News.

In 1950, the Sun was founded in response to the Review-Journal’s refusal to negotiate with typesetters from the International Typographical Union. The union started its own newspaper and reached out to businessman Hank Greenspun for financial backing. The Greenspuns still own the paper.

The Review-Journal has been publishing since 1909, first as the Clark County Review. It is owned by the Adelson family, casino magnates and mega GOP donors, and remains the state’s largest newspaper.

The Review-Journal’s editorials lean more conservative, while the Sun’s lean liberal. The 1970 law signed by then President Richard Nixon, called the Newspaper Preservation Act, was designed to save newspapers costs while maintaining competition and editorial variety in cities as newspapers began to financially struggle.

The papers first entered into a joint operating agreement in 1989 when the Sun was struggling to stay afloat financially. The agreement made the Sun an afternoon newspaper during weekdays and a section within the Review-Journal on weekend mornings, while the Review-Journal handled production, distribution and advertising. The Review-Journal also collected all revenue and was required to pay the Sun monthly to cover the Sun’s news and editorial expenses.

In 2005 the agreement was amended to make the Sun an insert in the Review-Journal every morning.

Review-Journal owners sought to end the agreement in 2019, and in response the Sun’s owners filed a lawsuit alleging that ending the agreement violated anti-trust laws.

The 1970 law allowing such agreements was signed at a time when news options weren't as prevalent and there was more concern over news monopolies.

Las Vegas — and Nevada as a whole — today have more strong, independent news organizations compared to other places, said Stephen Bates, a journalism and media professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The Sun also publishes online. But it has argued in court that losing its print product could make it harder to recruit staff, cause a loss in readers, and even force it to close.

Genelle Belmas, a journalism professor at the University of Kansas who specializes in media law, said it would be disappointing if the last joint operating agreement in the country ends. During visits to Vegas, she's enjoyed being able to pick up the Review-Journal and see the Sun folded inside, offering two differing points of view in one place. Online news outlets make it easier for consumers to stay in their echo chambers, she said.

“Every local news outlet we lose — and that includes big towns, small towns, whatever — is a loss of perspective and a loss of a potential alternative view,” Belmas said.

The exterior of the Las Vegas Review-Journal is shown Friday, April 3, 2026, in Las Vegas (AP Photo/Ty Oneil)

The front page of the Las Vegas Review-Journal is shown Friday, April 3, 2026, in Las Vegas (AP Photo/Ty Oneil)

FILE - This Dec. 17, 2015 file photo shows a sign outside the building housing the Las Vegas Review-Journal in Las Vegas. AP Photo/John Locher, File)