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(JNS) Attorneys for Zvika Klein cleared the Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief’s name for publication on Tuesday after the Israel Police questioned him the prior day.
A police source told Hebrew media that law enforcement authorities obtained the required approval from Israel’s State Attorney’s Office to question Klein for alleged contact with a foreign agent, as part of Israel’s “Qatargate” affair.
Israeli law enforcement is required legally to seek such permission prior to interrogating journalists. Klein was reportedly interviewed under caution, meaning that his responses could be used against him potentially in court.
The Israel Police’s Lahav 433 National Unit for International Crimes, working with the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), arrested Yonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein, current and former aides respectively to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Monday.
Urich and Feldstein are reportedly suspected of contact with a foreign agent, money laundering, bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
The Qatar probe was launched in response to allegations that Feldstein, while employed as a spokesman on military affairs for the prime minister, also worked for a firm seeking to boost Doha’s image.
In February, Israel’s Channel 13 News reported that Feldstein arranged a visit to Qatar for Klein, who published a series of articles about the trip in 2024 in which he described meetings with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and other officials.
Klein has denied coordinating with Feldstein, responding to Channel 13 that “Qatar’s government reached out to us, The Jerusalem Post, because they knew we are a balanced and influential media outlet, also read by government officials and influential American Jews—as many other countries do—and we have no need for intermediaries.”
The Post editor added that he had never met Feldstein “in my life” and the first time the two spoke on the phone was after his visit to Qatar.
Qatar, which has hosted Hamas’s leadership and has provided the organization with hundreds of millions of dollars, played a role in mediating the freedom of hostages held by the terrorist group.
Doha has deflected accusations of playing a double game, saying that the United States requested that it open the mediation channel with Hamas.
Netanyahu, who testified to police in the affair on Monday evening, has denounced the Qatar probe as “political witch-hunt” aimed at bringing down his government by targeting staff of the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Israeli premier was summoned to provide open testimony, meaning that—unlike Klein—he was able to present his account without interruption or guidance from police detectives.

