A new investigation by Washington Post has revealed that US business titans and billionaires had privately lobbying New York City Mayor, Eric Adams, and convinced him to crackdown on pro-Palestine encampment protesters at Colombia University.
The revelations, based on a WhatsApp chat log obtained by the newspaper, shed light on the group’s efforts to shape public opinion and influence government actions in favour of Israel, within the American society.
The WhatsApp group, titled “Israel Current Events”, was initiated shortly after the 7-October attack and eventually grew to include around 100 members, many of whom are featured on Forbes’s annual list of billionaires.
According to WhatsApp chat groups, Billionaires discussed making political donations to Adams and ways to pressure Colombia president to permit the mayor to send police to disperse the campus protests.
The chat’s participants include Kind snack company founder Daniel Lubetzky, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, billionaire Len Blavatnik, real estate investor Joseph Sitt, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and Joshua Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital and brother to Jared Kushner, former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
In one of the first messages sent in the WhatsApp group Oct. 12, the staffer posting on behalf of Sternlicht told the members of the group that the goal of the group was to change the narrative in favor of ‘Israel’, partly by conveying “the atrocities committed by Hamas to all Americans.
The chat logs reveal that the group’s activities extended beyond New York City, with some members attending private briefings with high-level Israeli officials, including former Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, war cabinet member Benny Gantz and Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog. The group also collaborated with the Israeli government to screen a film featuring footage compiled by the Israeli military, which was later shown at Harvard University with the help of chat member, Bill Ackman.
Revelations about the pro-Israel billionaires’ secret plotting will likely raise further questions about the role of money and influence in shaping government policies and public discourse in favour of a foreign power, like ‘Israel’
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