Jeffrey Epstein advised former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to look into working with Palantir, Middle East Eye reported, citing an audio recording released by the U.S. Justice Department. In the recording of a discussion between Epstein and Barak, which reportedly took place in February 2013, Epstein refers to an unnamed third person suggesting there were “two cyber companies” to “look at.”
“I’ve never met Peter Thiel. And everybody says he sort of jumps around and acts really strange, like he’s on drugs,” Epstein tells Barak of the Palantir’s co-founder, with the former Israeli prime minister agreeing. “However, he has a company called Palantir ... so he thought that Peter would put you on the board of Palantir.... [H]e’s going to come here next week so I wanted to talk to him, if I talk to you.” According to MEE, Barak’s name comes up more than 4,000 times in the Epstein files.
Palantir, MEE goes on to note, would open a headquarters in Tel Aviv in 2015 and has played a vital role in many of Israel’s military operations in the occupied territories and neighboring states.
Both Thiel and the company have been outspoken in their support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, announcing in a letter to shareholders a month after the war began in October 2023 that they were “one of a few companies in the world to stand up and announce our support for Israel, which remains steadfast.”
