Zvika Klein, editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, sat down for a televised interview to share his account of the distressing experience he underwent earlier in the week when he was questioned by police as a suspect in the unfolding Qatargate scandal. During the interview, he spoke candidly about his ties to three associates — past and present — of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, all of whom are reportedly at the center of the investigation.
In his conversation with Channel 12 aired overnight, Klein became visibly emotional as he recounted the grueling twelve-hour police interrogation on Monday, during which authorities confiscated his phone. He described returning home around midnight to an empty house — his wife was overseas — only to face his confused children the next morning, asking where he had been.
Klein expressed skepticism that Netanyahu is even aware of what is happening among his closest advisers, appearing to refer to accusations that members of the prime minister’s inner circle were working covertly on behalf of Qatar. He also voiced unease over possible consequences he might face for sharing sensitive information about his communications with people linked to the case.
The case, dubbed Qatargate, centers on allegations that Netanyahu advisers Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein engaged in illicit activities while reportedly working for a Qatari lobbying organization. These include suspicions of communicating with a foreign agent and being involved in corruption schemes with lobbyists and businessmen. Urich is currently behind bars, while Feldstein is confined to his home. A third figure, Yisrael Einhorn, is also wanted for questioning and is currently residing in Serbia.
Klein was brought in for questioning on Monday and was subsequently designated a suspect. While other members of the press have been questioned in connection to the probe, none have been classified as suspects. Though initially placed under house arrest, Klein was released from that restriction by Thursday. He has denied all allegations and criticized the way authorities handled his detention.
During the interview, which was filmed prior to Shabbos and aired Saturday night, Klein was asked about his journalistic work concerning Qatar.
He explained that his involvement with the matter began in the lead-up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, when he published a report stating that kosher food could not be brought into the country. That article prompted a message from Urich, a longtime Netanyahu aide.
Klein noted that he and Urich had a longstanding friendship, adding, “I love him.” He also pointed out that at the time, Netanyahu was serving as leader of the opposition.
Urich told him he had a friend — seemingly referring to someone linked to the Qataris — who was unhappy with the article and found it “problematic.” In response, Klein invited them to submit a rebuttal or further information, saying, “send me other things… I want the truth.”
According to Klein, that friend turned out to be Einhorn, whom he described as “a very talented guy.” (Einhorn had been featured in a Jerusalem Post ranking in October 2024 as one of the 50 most influential Jews, lauded as “The strategic mastermind behind Netanyahu’s success.”)
Klein said he developed a growing interest in Qatar due to its rising influence in the region, particularly after the Hamas-led massacre on October 7, 2023, and the hostage deal negotiated in November of that year, in which Qatar played a significant role.
Once he became editor of The Jerusalem Post, Klein said he intensified his efforts to gain direct access to Qatari officials. Einhorn, who had contacts with powerful individuals, was instrumental in facilitating those connections.
As part of the buildup to a Jerusalem Post event in Germany in early 2024, Einhorn mentioned to Klein that although he didn’t have a direct line to the Qataris, he had a contact named “Ryan” based in the UK who did.
Through that intermediary, an interview between Klein and the Qatari ambassador to Germany was arranged for the conference stage. Klein said he declined a request to present the ambassador with an award. Instead, he insisted on receiving a public commitment from the ambassador to work toward the return of all hostages. That promise was made, he said, both to him and directly to Meirav Leshem Gonen, the mother of Romi, a hostage recently freed by Hamas.
“As far as I’m concerned, what I was doing was work [on behalf of the hostages] that sanctified God,” Klein told Channel 12.
He described his 2024 trip to Qatar — during which he interviewed the Qatari prime minister — as the result of persistent lobbying via Einhorn, who eventually connected him to Jay Footlik, a U.S. lobbyist now at the heart of the Qatargate case. Klein said he met with Footlik in Tel Aviv to explore the possibility of visiting Qatar, and eventually traveled there for a three-day visit. Footlik, whom Klein called “a wonderful man,” accompanied him throughout the trip, acting as his “babysitter.”
After publishing reports about the trip in The Jerusalem Post and in the Hebrew outlets Walla! and Maariv, Klein said some of his colleagues wrote critical pieces about the visit. Although Einhorn encouraged him to appear on television to discuss the trip, Klein said he declined because he didn’t want to be seen as self-promoting during wartime.
Einhorn then mentioned “a guy called Eli Feldstein” who might be able to help him.
“I said, who is he, a PR guy? They said, ‘He’ll help you,’” Klein recalled. He said Einhorn instructed him not to tell Feldstein that Einhorn was the one who had connected them.
Klein remembered that he had once messaged Feldstein years ago when Feldstein worked for far-right politician Itamar Ben Gvir, but Feldstein had never responded.
Klein said he told Einhorn he didn’t have funds to organize media appearances, and Einhorn suggested telling Feldstein that someone in the U.S. would cover the cost. Klein said the call with Feldstein was brief — “I understand today that apparently he knew all about this” — and Feldstein said he didn’t want any money. Klein then gave interviews about the Qatar trip to both Channel 12 and Channel 13.
Asked how he ended up under police investigation, Klein implied that the reaction might have been much more intense had he been leading one of the major Hebrew-language outlets.
He added that police took his phone on Monday, and that it still had not been returned. In the meantime, he said he was borrowing a phone from his neighbor’s daughter.
“By speaking to you, I have burned a lot of journalistic connections. I’ll pay a price — people will want to get back at me,” he told the interviewer.
“I want the truth to come out,” he added. “And as time passes, I realize I don’t know all the truth.”
He repeated what he has previously emphasized: “I got no benefits,” from the Qatar visit. “Nobody offered me any benefits.”
Asked who financed his flight to Qatar, Klein replied, “They paid for the flight,” referring to the Qataris. He said he had clearly noted in his articles that the Qatari government invited him to Doha, and that he was not compensated for any of the resulting publications.
At the time he was called in for questioning, Klein said his wife was away dealing with the death of her mother, leaving him to manage their children’s daily routine. Expecting to be home after a short testimony, he instead got back close to midnight.
In his absence, neighbors watched the children. The next morning, when the kids wanted to know where he had been, Klein said, choking up, that he simply told them, “I was helping the police.”
Reflecting on his life in Israel, Klein said he has no regrets about immigrating with his family from Chicago at the age of three. He praised the people of Israel, saying he had received messages of support from individuals across the societal spectrum.
At that point, interviewer Ben Caspit addressed Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara directly through the camera, stating, “if there’s nothing here that we don’t know,” she owes Klein an apology.
When asked to summarize the Qatargate story in his capacity as a journalist, Klein responded, “I don’t know all the facts… I want to be careful… I can’t expose testimonies that I saw.”
He said that during his initial questioning — before being formally cautioned and before his phone was taken — he had offered to let police look through the contents. “I offered to show them everything in my phone… I thought I knew everything.”
But now, with more insight into the case, he said, “….God almighty… There’s a problem here. It’s not [a question of] right and left.”
Asked whether Netanyahu is aware of what’s happening in his own office, Klein responded, “I don’t have enough information. In my opinion, no.”
And what about Urich? “I really hope not. I truly don’t know… I really love him… He’s a complicated guy… Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but truly, since 2022, [as regards my journalistic interactions on Qatar,] his name did not come up with me.”
{Matzav.com}
