"Inside the Pro-Israel Information War"^1
On December 7th, 2023, Jack Paulson and Lee Fang released WhatsApp and Zoom leaks showing individuals tied to J Ventures willfully consipring to act and causing others to act in the United States as agents of a foreign principal, the Israel Defence Force to wit, without prior registration under the United States Foreign Agent Registration Act.
'We have obtained access to thousands of the group’s WhatsApp messages dating back to mid-October, and an intricate spreadsheet where group participants request and claim tasks ranging from social media responses to IDF support shipments. Separately, we have viewed a number of video meetings charting best practices for “hasbara” –-- an Israeli term of art for “public diplomacy” whose detractors see it as a euphemism for propaganda -- that offer a window into Israel’s public-relations war that is not limited to the tech sector.'^1
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Letter to the DOJ
To: [email protected]
Subject: Reporting FARA Violations by J Ventures
Body:
Employees of J Ventures, as disclosed in leaks of WhatsApp and Zoom cache, have been working in close contact with foreign principals since the October 7th start of the Israel-Palestine War.
Based on reporting from Jack Paulson and Lee Fang titled "Inside the Pro-Israel Information War"^1, members of the WhatsApp "J-Ventures Global Kibbutz Group" under the leadership of Oded Hermoni, Michael Rolnick, Eran Sandhaus, Jim Koshland, Andy Cohen, Stephani Cherrin, David Wagonfeld, Dina Nathusius, Sandy Cardin and Nadav Ben-Chanoch with support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, have on advice of Israeli Defense Force principals, carried out operations to:
- Retaliate against employees
- Hound Israel critics
- Cancel congresspersons speaking engagements
- Moderate and censor social and visual media
- Blacklist academia and students
- Smear nonprofits and journalists; and
- Attempt to ship military-grade equipment abroad
I am asking for a thorough investigation into whether the following persons named in this report knowingly and willfully conspired to act and cause others to act in the United States as an agent of a foreign principal without prior registration under the Foreign Agent Registration Act.
Email Department of Justice
Excerpts^1
Just days after the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel from Hamas, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a spokesperson for Israel Defense Forces, beamed into a Zoom meeting to brief pro-Israel activists from Silicon Valley. The participants included major venture capitalists and technology executives, such as Jordan Blashek, the President of America’s Frontier Fund, a national security investment firm backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
That’s where the efforts of J-Ventures’ hasbara WhatsApp group come in. The group, which also includes attorneys and individuals affiliated with the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), has tirelessly worked to fire employees and punish activists for expressing pro-Palestinian views. It has also engaged in a successful push to cancel events held by prominent Palestinian voices, including an Arizona State University talk featuring Rep. Rashida Tlaib … In some cases, officials from the IDF and other parts of the Israeli government have joined the effort. David, the Israeli foreign ministry official and an investor in J-Ventures, has shared official talking points in the WhatsApp group.
The WhatsApp group, spreadsheet, and various video discussions offer a rare public glimpse of how Israel and its American allies harness Israel’s influential tech sector and tech diaspora to run cover for the Jewish state as it endures scrutiny over the humanitarian impact of its invasion of Gaza.
The WhatsApp chats provide a rare look at the organizing efforts behind the broad push to fire critics of Israel and suppress public events featuring critics of the Israeli government … Sometimes it is unclear whether the group’s members actually have elite IDF and Israeli government connections, or are merely engaging in idle bluster. Saar Gillai, chair of Liquid Instruments and board member to several other tech companies, said he had passed the Palestinian solidarity organizing document "to 'friends' in places s tarting [sic] with 8....," an apparent reference to Israeli military intelligence Unit 8200. Unit 8200 is both a massive communications interception operation -- Israel’s rough equivalent to the U.S. National Security Agency -- and an elite intelligence analysis and cybersecurity unit that has become a springboard for Israel’s booming tech startup sector.
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