MintPress speaks with Ari
Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli spy who worked closely with Robert Maxwell,
Ghislaine Maxwell’s father, as part of their work with Israeli military
intelligence and had frequent encounters with Jeffrey Epstein.
MONTREAL — In
recent weeks, renewed attention has been brought to the allegations that
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking and sexual blackmail
operation was run on behalf of Israeli military intelligence. Those claims
revolve around statements made by a former Israeli military intelligence
official turned public relations consultant Ari Ben-Menashe, whose allegations
regarding the Epstein scandal were reported by MintPress this
past October.
Ben-Menashe’s
claims related to Epstein first surfaced in an interview between Ben-Menashe
and Zev Shalev of the independent news outlet, Narativ.
As detailed in a MintPress summary and commentary of
that interview, Ben-Menashe claimed to have seen Jeffrey Epstein in the office
of Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine Maxwell’s father, several times in the 1980s.
At
the time, Ben-Menashe was in close contact with Robert Maxwell regarding their
mutual work with Israeli military intelligence. Maxwell, in addition to heading
a media empire and being a one-time member of U.K. parliament, was a longtime
operative for Israeli intelligence, so much so that his 1991 funeral was
attended by no less than six serving and former heads of
Israeli intelligence as well as several high-ranking Israeli politicians and
prime ministers.
Maxwell
is alleged to have recruited Jeffrey Epstein for Israeli intelligence and later
introduced Epstein to Ben-Menashe and another operative, Nicholas Davies.
Epstein was introduced to Ben-Menashe as having been pre-approved by leading
figures in Israel’s military intelligence directorate, known as Aman.
MintPress recently
conducted its own interview with Mr. Ben-Menashe as part of an ongoing investigation on the life and connections of
the now-infamous Jeffrey Epstein.
Part
of that interview is provided below with relevant commentary, particularly
regarding claims related to the relationship between Epstein and former Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Epstein’s trip to Tel Aviv immediately prior to his
first arrest, and the reasons for Israeli military intelligence’s interest in
orchestrating and financing a major sexual blackmail operation targeting top
U.S. politicians.
“Israel Requested that Epstein
Target Clinton”
MintPress News first
asked Ben-Menashe about Robert Maxwell, a known asset and operative for Israeli
intelligence, having recruited Jeffrey Epstein. Ben-Menashe confirmed this
to MintPress and also noted that,
after their initial meeting, Epstein was frequently present in Maxwell’s office
in London.
During
the 1980s, as MintPress previously reported, Epstein claimed to have been an
intelligence operative and so-called “bounty hunter” in the world of shadow
finance. During this time, he was known to have developed close relationships
with several British arms dealers, particularly Sir Douglas Leese. Thus,
Epstein appeared to frequently be traveling between the Middle East and London,
which is also supported by Epstein’s now-infamous Austrian passport which he
was believed to have carried during this period of time.
Ben-Menashe
told MintPress that he had not only met
Epstein after Epstein had been recently recruited by Israeli military
intelligence, but had seen him on several occasions thereafter as Epstein “used
to be in [Robert Maxwell’s] office [in London] quite often” and would arrive
there between trips to and from Israel.
In
addition, Ben-Menashe revealed his understanding of why Epstein was eventually
shepherded into acting as a professional sexual blackmailer on behalf of
Israeli military intelligence. Per Ben-Menashe, there were concerns among
Israeli intelligence figures that, following the Reagan Era, a new president
would push for Israel to make peace with the Palestinians, something those
officials sought to avoid by any means necessary.
ABM | Here’s
the thing… Mr. Carter… as in President Carter… the Israelis feared that Mr.
Clinton, when he was campaigning for President, will be a repeat of Mr. Carter.
He wanted to press them for peace with the Palestinians and all that stuff.
They feared… Clinton wasn’t that… but they feared he was that… And I think Mr.
Epstein was sent early on to catch up with President Clinton.
MintPress News (MPN) | Well,
that’s interesting because the first year Clinton was in office, Epstein was
already attending donor dinners at the White House and making White House
visits as well.
ABM | Yeah,
that’s right. That’s right. I believe his biggest client was Mr. Clinton catch,
or catch, or whatever, and he had a few other congressmen and what not but
Clinton was, was his biggest catch.
Thus,
Ben-Menashe argues, when Bill Clinton’s candidacy in the 1992 U.S. Presidential
election became clear, efforts were made to target him via sexual blackmail and
Jeffrey Epstein was chosen for that purpose. Bill Clinton was eventually blackmailed by the state of Israel and his
administration was also targeted by Israeli espionage as part of the “Mega” spy scandal. Epstein’s involvement in the Clinton
administration and his visits to the White House date back to Clinton’s first year in office. More
information on the Epstein-Clinton relationship can be found in this MintPressreport.
In
addition, MintPress also asked Ben-Menashe if
he was aware of Ghislaine Maxwell being directly involved with her father’s
intelligence-related activities prior to his death in 1991. Ben-Menashe noted
that Ghislaine accompanied her father so frequently, including on a now-infamous 1989 party on Maxwell’s yacht where Donald Trump and
several key figures in the PROMIS software scandal were in attendance, that she
was involved in his intelligence-related activities to some extent. However, he
stopped short of saying how involved she was or what she has specifically been
involved in prior to her father’s death.
When did Epstein really meet
Ehud Barak?
One
of the more controversial ties between Epstein and powerful politicians is that
between Epstein and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Barak has claimed
to have only met Epstein in 2002 and, from that point on, their relationship
was very public, with Barak frequently visiting and even spending the night at
residences owned by Epstein, including apartments where he housed the underage
girls that he exploited. Barak also visited Epstein’s now-infamous island and
recruited him to help fund the Israeli intelligence-connected company, Carbyne911.
However,
there appear to be indications that Epstein and Barak may have met much earlier
than Barak has since claimed. Given that Ben-Menashe claimed to have learned of
Epstein’s recruitment by Israeli military intelligence in the 1980s, MintPress asked
if one of the people involved in his recruitment was Ehud Barak. Barak served
as head of Israel’s military intelligence directorate, Aman, from April 1983 to
January 1986.
Ben-Menashe
could not recall the exact year when he first became aware of Epstein’s
recruitment by Israeli military intelligence but stated that it was “most
likely” during Ehud Barak’s tenure as the head of Aman. Yet, even if Epstein’s
recruitment did not take place while Barak headed Aman, it is highly likely —
per Ben-Menashe — that Epstein had met Barak during this time because “Robert
Maxwell became buddies with Ehud Barak…and he [Robert Maxwell] probably
introduced them, the young man [Epstein] to Mr. Barak” if the two were not
already acquainted.
Since
the Epstein scandal broke, Ehud Barak has insisted that he did not meet Epstein
until the year 2002 and claimed that the two had been introduced by former
Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres. Ben-Menashe dismissed the possibility that
this claim was true, emphatically stating that he was “sure they had met
before” and that he did not believe that their first meeting was in 2002.
Epstein’s 2008 Trip to Tel Aviv
Just
a few months before he was sentenced to prison for the first time in June 2008,
Jeffrey Epstein had made a sudden visit to
the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv. In April of that year, the Palm Beach Daily News reported
that Epstein was staying at the Tel Aviv Hilton and quoted an Epstein spokesman
as saying that he was “spending Passover, meeting with Israeli research
scientists, and taking a tour of military bases.”
Sometime
prior to Epstein’s sentencing on June 30 of that year, Alexander Acosta
–then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida– signed off on a
lenient sentence for Epstein who was charged with soliciting sex from a minor.
That legal arrangement has since been nicknamed the “sweetheart deal.” Acosta
later told Trump transition officials prior to his nomination for Secretary of
Labor that his decision to approve the “sweetheart deal” came after he had
been told to back off in the Epstein case because Epstein
“belonged to intelligence.”
Though
Acosta did not specify from whom he had received this information, former CIA
agent Phil Giraldi has made a convincing case that they originated from Epstein’s
then-lawyer Alan Dershowitz, a close associate of Epstein with ties to
high-ranking Israeli politicians, and Barry Krischer, then-Florida State
Attorney for Palm Beach who recently received an award from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for
his “outstanding contribution to the legal profession and to the community at
large.”
As
detailed in a previous MintPress report on
Epstein’s ties to Israel published this past August, the ADL’s long-time top
funders have close ties to Epstein and his sexual blackmail network,
particularly the Bronfman family of Seagrams fame.
Ben-Menashe
told MintPress that Epstein’s 2008 Tel Aviv
visit was likely “blowing smoke” and involved Epstein “trying to make himself
important maybe not to get arrested” and “hoping that the Israelis would help
him.” He then added that “At the time they probably did” help Epstein, but
added that “the second time around [i.e. 2019], well…it would be a harder
sell.”