Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides were allegedly paid to transform Qatar’s public reputation in Israel by arranging press junkets, inventing sources, and planting stories that brazenly inverted popular views. From Qatar’s perspective, the campaign was a success: the Qataris became crucial players in peace talks over Gaza. Within Israel, though, it has become the center of a nearly unprecedented scandal—a legal case, now known as Qatargate, that involves a sweeping police investigation and potential indictments of several members of Netanyahu’s innermost circle. Of all the corruption accusations that have plagued Netanyahu over the years, “the charge that his aides doubled as influence agents for Qatar may be the most politically damaging,” Ruth Margalit writes. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/pI…