Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid has denied claims that he held a private meeting with senior Qatari officials, saying the discussion took place in the presence of families of Israeli hostages.
However, a report by Kan News contradicted Lapid’s account, stating that he first participated in a limited meeting with senior Qatari representatives attended only by members of his team, without the hostages’ families. According to the report, a separate meeting was held afterward with representatives of three hostages’ families.
The report said both meetings took place on January 12, 2025, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Paris. It also noted that during the talks Lapid praised Qatar’s conduct in the negotiations and that issues related to future relations between Israel and Qatar were discussed.
Lapid’s office acknowledged that he initially met alone with the Qatari representatives. “Lapid and his team sat with the Qatari representative for a discussion on the issue of the hostages, and afterward the families of the hostages joined the meeting," his office said.
Lapid also accused the Prime Minister’s Office of hypocrisy, claiming that it had secretly received millions of dollars from Qatar and facilitated the transfer of tens of millions of dollars in cash to Hamas’s military wing. He also noted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Qatari officials in the White House following Operation Summit Of Fire and promised that such an attack would not happen again.
Lapid argued that the report was meant to distract from legislation he initiated that would designate Qatar as an enemy state. “We recommend that the Prime Minister’s Office support the law instead of continuing to sell the security of the State of Israel for monetary gain," he said.