Day 546 - Israeli flags fly in Budapest for PM's ICC-snubbing visit

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel

News

4.4 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

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Summary

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's Daily Briefing, which is followed a full installment of The Times of Israel's newest podcast series, the Friday Focus.

Qatar on Thursday denied funding a disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting Egypt’s role in negotiations to free Israelis held hostage in Gaza, amid a swirling Israeli investigation around the Gulf state’s links to two of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides. Berman weighs in on why he's unconvinced.

Yesterday, the courts extended the remand of Eli Feldstein and Jonatan Urich, the two aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who are key suspects in the ongoing Qatargate probe. The two men are suspected of having taken money from Qatar to spread pro-Qatari messaging to reporters while in the prime minister’s employ. We hear what further developments we saw yesterday in the investigation.

Berman, who accompanied the prime minister to Budapest, describes the reception the Israeli delegation was met with and then speaks about Hungary's announcement that it was leaving the International Criminal Court.

Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

For further reading:

Qatar denies paying to spread media narrative undermining Egypt’s role in hostage talks

Detention of key Qatargate suspects extended till Friday, as judge criticizes media leaks

Freed Jerusalem Post editor decries arrest, says he got ‘no benefits’ from Qatar trip

Netanyahu, in Budapest, lauds Orban’s withdrawal from ‘corrupt, rotten’ ICC

Hungary announces withdrawal from ICC as Netanyahu arrives for state visit

IMAGE: An Israeli flag is raised on the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, with the Buda Castle in Budapest in the background on April 2, 2025, as preparations are under way for the visit of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Times of Israel's daily briefing.
0:07.0	Today is Friday, April 4th, day 546 of the war.
0:12.5	Amanda Borsel Dan here with our diplomatic reporter, Laser Bearman, who is joining us from
0:16.9	Budapest.
0:18.2	Hi, Laser.
0:18.7	Thanks for taking the time today.
0:20.8	Good morning, Amanda. We are going. Thanks for taking the time today. Good morning, Amanda.
0:22.0	We are going to hear updates about the ongoing Qatar Gate investigation, now with Qatar's
0:28.1	input as well as we'll hear about the fallout from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's
0:33.1	trip to Hungary so far. Please stay tuned after our newsy shorter daily briefing today for a full
0:40.2	installment of our Friday focus, which zeroes in on the bromances between the Israeli
0:47.0	Prime Minister and leaders of some of Europe's more anti-liberal democracies. Okay, Laser, let's start with Katar Gate, and let's actually begin with
0:57.6	what we're hearing from Qatar. Well, in this first official statement from Qatar about the growing
1:03.7	Katargate scandal, not surprisingly, Qatar says it didn't do it, but I think there's some
1:09.4	details in their statement, which are worth discussing.
1:12.7	They say the statements were published by, quote, some journalists and media, alleging that Qatar made financial payments to undermine negotiations, to harm Egypt.
1:22.1	Well, it's not just some journalists and media.
1:24.5	It's the Shinbet and the police that believe this might have happened.
1:28.6	So that's, first of all, not true in the way that they're presenting it. And they say that the
1:35.1	allegations are, quote, baseless and serve to only the agendas of those who seek to sabotage
1:39.4	the mediation efforts and undermine relations between nations. And it also doesn't really fit the political reality in Israel.
1:47.8	They're saying what the shin bet and those who are criticizing in the streets,
	...

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