Maariv: Yair Lapid to submit a bill to Knesset declaring Qatar an enemy state!

The Israeli Maariv newspaper reported that Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid is expected to present a bill on the Knesset table on Monday under the title “Qatar is declared an enemy state”.

According to Maariv, the bill, which consists of only one clause, seeks to define Qatar as an enemy state and apply all the provisions of Israeli law regarding enemy states in all forms of legislation to it.

The explanatory note to the bill states that there is currently no general and comprehensive definition of the term enemy state in Israeli law.

However, there are various legislative provisions that refer directly or indirectly to relations with the enemy and activities related to it.

For example, the Trade with the Enemy Order of 1939, quoted from the British Mandate, allows the Minister of Finance to identify countries with which trade is prohibited, including Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon.

“In addition, Article 91 of the 1977 Penal Code defines an enemy as anyone who is a belligerent party or establishes a state of war against Israel or declares himself as such, whether war is declared or not, and whether there are military hostilities or not, as well as terrorist organizations,” the draft added.

The Penal Code includes several clauses related to offenses in this regard, such as “providing assistance to the enemy in war, serving in enemy forces, providing information to the enemy, and others”.

Article 7 of the Basic Law: The Knesset also states that a candidate for the Knesset shall be prohibited from supporting or residing in an enemy state illegally during the seven years preceding the submission of his candidacy.

Lapid added: “For years, the State of Qatar has been systematically and continuously working against the security and political interests of the State of Israel… It supports and finances terrorist organizations fighting Israel, especially the Hamas terrorist organization, and even part of the Hamas leadership resides in Qatar and operates from its territory… Moreover, Qatar is behind an international propaganda system that includes donations to universities around the world and Al Jazeera network, which embraces Hamas’s messages, systematically incites against Israel, and causes serious damage to Israel’s image in the world”.

In the bill, Lapid also referred to the “Qatargate” case, claiming, “Alongside all this, the State of Israel today lives in the midst of the most serious security issue in its history, as Qatar has recruited agents from within the Prime Minister’s Office… Against the background of this legislative situation, and in view of the absence of an explicit provision in the law regarding the status of the State of Qatar, its proposed to define Qatar legally as an enemy state, and to apply all the provisions applicable in Israeli law to enemy states”.

The Israeli opposition leader said: “Tomorrow we will begin the legislative proceedings of the bill, which seeks to correct a historical injustice in the authorities’ dealings with the State of Qatar… I call on all parliamentary blocs, especially those that call themselves national blocs, to show their public support for the law… If passed, it will help us push through similar legislation in collaboration with both the Republican and Democratic parties in the US Congress”.

The case, known as QatarGate, is a political scandal in Israel centered on allegations that advisers and aides close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received money from Qatari entities.

These allegations suggest that the goal was to improve Qatar’s image and promote its interests in Israel, especially in light of its mediation in prisoner release negotiations.

The investigations include prominent media and political advisers who are very close to Netanyahu.

For its part, the International Information Office in Qatar published a statement last April, in which it said, in response to “false media reports about the mediation process between Hamas and Israel”.

“The State of Qatar expresses its strong condemnation of the media statements made by some media professionals and media outlets that allege that the State of Qatar has paid money to reduce the efforts of the brotherly Arab Republic of Egypt or any of the mediators in the mediation process between Hamas and Israel,” the statement said.

“These allegations are baseless, and only serve agendas aimed at spoiling mediation efforts and undermining relations between brotherly peoples, and they represent a new episode in the series of misinformation and distraction from human suffering and the ongoing politicization of the war,” the statement added, warning against “the slide of these people towards serving projects that have no purpose other than to thwart mediation and increase the suffering of our brothers in Palestine”.