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Asia
Israel
August 26, 2024 Several weeks ago, Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs Chikli reportedly met in a private residence in Herzliya near Tel Aviv with Zorla, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Israeli private intelligence company Black Cube and the head of its Advisory Committee, former Israel Defense Forces Major General Eiland. According to Israeli newspaper The Marker, the purpose of the alleged meeting was to propose an intelligence operation to be carried out on American soil by Black Cube, on behalf of the Israeli government, with the understanding that intelligence operations carried out by the firm on American soil would not be officially attributed to the State of Israel. The intelligence operation would allegedly target a United States-based organization - “Students for Justice in Palestine”, an American-based organization, whose leaders are primarily American citizens that stands at the forefront of demonstrations against Israel on university campuses in the United States -demonstrations that the state of Israel views as anti-Semitic. The group has staged numerous demonstrations on university campuses across the United States since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war last October. However, it is unclear whether such intelligence operations were indeed authorized to proceed. Following the publication of The Marker report, the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs claimed the proposal for the intelligence operation had been initiated by Black Cube and that Ministry officials ultimately rejected it. An official statement issued by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs said: „At the company’s [Black Cube’s] request, a meeting was held with the ministry’s professional echelon, and at the end of it, it was decided not to proceed with any engagement”. Black Cube reportedly rejected the spying initiative based on concerns that such a high-risk operation could damage the company’s standing with the United States government and harm its ability to do business on American soil in the future. Black Cube stated: “[Our] company plans and carries out complex intelligence operations for the benefit of legal proceedings, all in accordance with the law of every country in which it operates. Black Cube does not operate and has never planned to operate against students or political protest groups in the USA”. Further information indicates that the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs may be considering executing such an operation after all. (Source: intelNews - U.S.)
by Dr. Barnea, a research fellow at the National Security Studies Center of the University of Haifa in Israel. He served as a senior officer in the Israel Security Agency (ISA). He is the author of We Never Expected That: A Comparative Study of Failures in National and Business Intelligence (Lexington Books, 2021).
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