Netanyahu: Ties to former PM Barak prove Epstein didn’t work for Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that the “unusual close relationship” between former prime minister Ehud Barak and disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein proves the latter was not an Israeli agent, contrary to conspiracy theories abounding online.

“Jeffrey Epstein’s unusual close relationship with Ehud Barak doesn’t suggest Epstein worked for Israel. It proves the opposite,” wrote Netanyahu, in English, on X.

“Stuck on his election loss from over two decades ago, Barak has for years obsessively attempted to undermine Israeli democracy by working with the anti-Zionist radical left in failed attempts to overthrow the elected Israeli government,” Netanyahu claimed.

“Barak’s personal fixation led him to engage in activities publicly and behind the scenes to undermine the government of Israel, including fueling mass protest movements, fomenting unrest and feeding false media narratives,” he said, referring to Barak’s outspoken support for protests against the government’s contentious efforts to weaken the judiciary.

Read more: No, the Epstein files don’t show that he worked for Mossad

The US Justice Department’s release of millions of internal documents related to Epstein last week revealed and confirmed his ties to many prominent people in politics, finance, academia and business, including Barak, who succeeded Netanyahu as prime minister from 1999 to 2001, and then served as Netanyahu’s defense minister from 2009 to 2013.

Barak’s business and personal ties to Epstein have been known for years.

There is no evidence of wrongdoing by Barak, a former IDF chief who was Netanyahu’s commanding officer in the elite Matkal unit.

Nor is there evidence of ties between Epstein and the intelligence service of Israel — in fact, in one email, after being invited to Israel, Epstein rejected the invite, saying, “I do not like Israel. AT ALL.”

However, after a previous US Justice Department release of Epstein files showed the financier claiming to have advised Barak’s 2019 election campaign, Netanyahu in November shared an article from an anti-Israel socialist outlet which suggested, based on Epstein’s ties to Barak, that the sex offender had once worked for Israeli intelligence.

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges, including soliciting an underage girl. He was arrested again in 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors. His death in a Manhattan jail cell that year was ruled a suicide.

The US Justice Department began releasing files related to Epstein last year under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted after months of public and political pressure that requires the US government to open its files on the late financier and his confidant and onetime girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Last week’s disclosure represents the largest document dump to date about a saga that the administration of US President Donald Trump has struggled to shake because of his own previous association with Epstein.

Criminal investigations into the financier have long animated online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and others — including many of Trump’s supporters — who have suspected government cover-ups and clamored for a full accounting.