Ex-Israeli PM’s Hacked Emails Expose Ties to Epstein

Emails hacked from the inbox of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak reveal discussions with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including exchanges about a trip to the disgraced financier’s private island. The emails – stolen last year by Handala, a hacking group with suspected ties to Iranian intelligence agencies – were provided to Straight Arrow News on Wednesday by the nonprofit leak archiver DDoSecrets.

The data cache, as first reported by Reason, includes more than 100,000 emails received and sent by Barak from 2007 to 2016. Barak was Israel’s defense minister for part of that time, from 2007 to 2013. He was prime minister from 1999 to 2001.

Many of the emails detail Epstein’s partnership with Barak in 2015, when the pair began investing in a security startup known as Reporty Homeland Security. Epstein, according to Reason’s reporting, used Barak “to seek out opportunities in the surveillance industry and build connections with powerful figures around the globe.”

Those influential figures, according to Reason, included Palantir founder Peter Thiel, along with the former director of Israeli signals intelligence and two individuals described as being in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

Emails reviewed by SAN show the closeness of Barak’s relationship with Epstein and the informality with which they addressed each other. In January 2014, Barak mentioned efforts to keep his security detail from accompanying him to Little Saint James, Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean.

“I’m still trying to arrange that the security guys will NOT come with us to the island,” Barak wrote. “Does this works for you?”

Epstein later responded by noting that a helicopter would pick up Barak once his flight from New York landed on St. Thomas. The emails do not say whether security officers or other guests attended with Barak.

‘Thx for the hospitality’

In another email from December of that year, Barak appears to compliment Epstein’s island.

“Hi Jeff,” the email begins. “Thx for the hospitality. Great, impressive island.”

Barak denied in July 2019 any wrongdoing or knowledge of the allegations against Epstein. At the same time, Barak announced he had ended their business relationship following Epstein’s arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges.

Barak had previously acknowledged visiting the island and Epstein’s home in New York City. However, he stated that he “never took part in any party or event with women or anything like that.”

Epstein was found dead in a New York jail cell just one month later while awaiting trial. He had pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to soliciting prostitution in a case involving the sexual exploitation of teenage girls.

A high-profile dinner

Another email reviewed by SAN from 2016 shows Epstein inviting Barak to a dinner with numerous high-profile figures, including movie director Woody Allen, who has been accused of child molestation by his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow. Allen has denied the accusation, and no charges have ever been filed.

In the email to Barak, Epstein also mentioned an invitation to “rotshcild,” an apparent reference to, according to other emails, French banker and CEO of Edmond de Rothschild Group, Ariane de Rothschild.

It remains unclear if Barak attended the dinner.