New documents show some believed the disgraced American financier had links to Israeli intelligence services and settler groups.
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The ties between disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein and Israel are becoming clearer after the release of millions of documents related to the convicted sex offender by the United States Department of Justice, following a years-long campaign.
The documents have revealed more details of Epstein’s interactions with members of the global elite, including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. But they also document his funding of Israeli groups, including Friends of the Israeli Defence Forces, and the settler organisation the Jewish National Fund, as well as his ties to members of Israel’s overseas intelligence services.
Ten days since the US Department of Justice last released millions of documents related to Epstein – and ten and a half years since his death in US custody – details of his interactions with other members of the global elite continue to dominate the world’s headlines.
Here’s what we know.
While the documents provide more evidence for those who believe that Epstein was an Israeli intelligence asset, it is still not something we can say for certain.
An FBI memo produced by the bureau’s Los Angeles field office in October 2020 reported that one of its sources had come to believe Epstein “was a co-opted Mossad agent”.
According to the document, the disgraced financier was described as having been “trained as a spy” for Israel’s intelligence service.
The source also claimed Epstein maintained links to US and allied intelligence circles through his longtime lawyer Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard University law professor whose network, it said, included “many students from wealthy families”. Among those cited were Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy, and his brother, Josh Kushner, both described in the memo as former students.
Epstein’s email correspondence also shows him to have had extensive contact with senior Ehud Barak aide and Israeli military intelligence Yoni Koren, who made regular stays at Epstein’s New York residence and whose cancer treatment in 2012, the emails show, Epstein appears to have paid for.
