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Money doesn’t talk, it swears – Bob Dylan
A group of billionaires, working to shape US opinion of the war in Gaza, privately pressed New York City Mayor Eric Adams to send police to evict the pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University. Business executives Daniel Lubetzky of Kind snack company, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, billionaire Len Blavatnik, and real estate investor Joseph Sitt held a Zoom call on April 26 with Mayor Eric Adams. In a WhatsApp chat former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, Joshua Kushner, Jared Kushner’s brother, and real estate magnate Barry Sternlicht sent messages in support of shaping the US perception of the invasion of Gaza. The goal was to “change the narrative” in favor of Israel. This chat group formed shortly after October 7. Titled “Israel Current Events”, the chat expanded to around 100 members, many of whom appear on Forbes’ annual list of billionaires. “He’s open to any ideas we have,” chat member Sitt said in reference to Mayor Adams. “As you saw he’s ok if we hire private investigators to then have his police force intel team work with them.” Adams showed a willingness to send law enforcement to deal with campus protests from the get-go. On April 18, the day after the Gaza solidarity encampment was established, officers arrested more than 100 protesters. The mayor claimed that the students were affected by “outside influences” and that police repression was necessary to prevent “children from being radicalized.” College students are not children. On October 12 a staffer for chat member Sternlicht stated the group’s mission. While Israel worked to “win the physical war”, the chat group’s members would “help win the war” of U.S. public opinion by funding an information campaign against Hamas. This campaign is titled “Facts for Peace.” They then launched a $50 million anti-Hamas media campaign on places such as its website, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and X, which combined attracts over 170,000 followers. According to chat records, some chat members attended private briefings with former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett; Benny Gantz from the Israeli war cabinet and Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, months before the protests at Columbia began. “Most appreciative for the behind the scenes briefing by Naftali Bennett,” Schultz, former CEO of Starbucks, wrote on October 16. “Quite extraordinary.” Lubetzky, from the snack company Kind, posted in the chat an Instagram video showing an Israeli Arab journalist getting hit by a man the video claimed was an “anti-Israel protester.” Shortly afterwards, billionaire Blavatnik posted a picture of Mayor Adams and wrote, “He needs help.” They set up a link for donations to Adams 2025 campaign through the Democratic party’s Act Blue page. Billionaire Loeb wrote “I’ll be grateful when the perpetrators are dragged off campus.” They were. In early May the chat was shut down. Sources: article by Hannah Natanson and Emmanuel Felton.
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