Asher Fredman אשר פרדמן
There is so much that is off about the so-called Qatargate scandal, especially about the house arrest (now canceled) of @Jerusalem_Post Editor in Chief @ZvikaKlein. First of all- I have been very vocal about Qatar's support for terror. Meir Ben Shabbat and I wrote an article in The Hill suggesting Qatar be designated a State Sponsor of Terror. Unless Qatar changes it ways, it should be treated as an enemy state. But- it was primarily the Israeli Left that wanted to treat Qatar with kids gloves, because they supported the same goal of ending the war against Hamas in return for a hostage deal. Remember in September 2024 when Ronald Lauder organized a meeting for Benny Gantz with the Qatari PM? I kept getting paid posts in my X feed from the Qataris highlighting how wonderful that meeting was. Remember when Jewish Insider, Politico and others reported that advisers to the hostage families received Qatari funding? Unfortunately, Qatar is not designated as an enemy state. Qatar has hosted countless journalists, and other influential commentators, business people and former officials in Doha. Obviously the point of these lavish trips is to create a positive impression of the country. The same is with Qatar's investments in the West, and its sponsorship of research centers, universities, conferences and sporting events. This whitewashing of Qatar's true nature is extremely upsetting, and at the Misgav Institute we have been working hard to expose Qatar's true face. But there is no reason to assume that a journalist that visited Qatar and then wrote positive stories about Doha did anything illegal. One has to wonder if there was another motivation for what seems like over-eagerness and overreach in arresting Zvika and confiscating his phone? And for the slow and tepid response by so many of the self-appointed 'gatekeepers' of democracy?