Overview
- Haaretz says Pinkas received payments totaling hundreds of thousands over more than a year from a company controlled by lobbyist Jay Footlik.
- Funds were paid between January 2024 and March 2025 while Pinkas was on Haaretz’s payroll and were routed through businessman Gil Birger.
- Several Pinkas columns contained lines that matched messaging from a campaign drafted by Footlik, according to the report.
- Pinkas denies involvement in any pro-Qatar effort and says the money compensated him for three policy papers after earlier unpaid assistance.
- Haaretz management confronted him over the payments, he denied writing on behalf of Qatar, and his work at the paper ended after the meeting.