Pars Today

Pars Today- According to a report, American trade titans and billionaires have launched a WhatsApp group to mold public opinion on the Israeli war in Gaza and asked the New York City mayor to use police to disperse the demonstration in Colombia University in support for Palestine.

A report was recently released on Washington Post showing the American billionaires' membership in a WhatsApp group with the aim of changing the narrative of the Israeli war in Gaza.

The group which was formed on October 12, 2023, was introduced as a way to "change public view" about Israel and some billionaires, including Starbucks CEO (Howard Schultz), founder of Dell (Michael Dell) and Joshua Kushner, brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law, participated in it.

One of the worrisome points in this report is the attempt of the members to provoke the NYC mayor (Eric Adams) to resort to the police to crackdown on a protest rally which supports Palestine in Colombia University. This move reveals the effort to censor and suppress the free thoughts and protests of students which have been accepted as a basis of a democratic society.

In addition, according to this report, the group members have proposed to employ private investigators during protests to help the police. This shows the attempt to make use of the sources of rich people to crackdown on protests.

This WhatsApp group had more than 100 members and was dubbed as "Current Events of Israel".

According to the Washington Post report, the said group was launched by the real estate capitalist, Barry Sternlicht, who was not a direct member of chat, but used to participate as an employee.

The mentioned employee had said in October that the group has the mission to help "Israel's victory in the war" of public opinion in the US; while Israel itself is trying for "victory in the physical war".

The Israeli war against Gaza has killed more than 35 thousand Palestinians most of whom are women and children, and has made homeless the vast majority of the people in the besieged region.

According to the report, over 12 thousand members of this WhatsApp group were in the list of the Forbes annual billionaires.

Earlier in the war, the members of this group had attended the private sessions with the former Israeli premier, Naftali Bennett, the current opposition figure and member of the war cabinet, Benny Gantz, and the Israeli ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog.

The members of this group have also collaborated with the Israeli government to screen the movie made by the Israeli military, a movie showing Hamas' attack on October 7 alleging Hamas to have killed nearly 12,00 Israelis.

According to the reports, on November, Sternlicht launched a $50-million media campaign against Hamas with the help of media and trade titans.

It is essential to review precisely the impacts of such measures on the protests of students and freedom of expression. Moreover, this shows how power and money can affect political and social decisions, and how these impacts may be detrimental to freedom and social justice.

Finally, these events challenge the financial power system's involvement in the political and social affairs and reveal the need to enforce limitations on abuse of power and wealth.

Sources: US billionaires joined Whatsapp group to 'change Israel narrative'. 2024. Middle East Eye. Business titans privately urged NYC mayor use police on Colombia protesters, chats show. 2024. The Washington Post

Key phrases: US- Israel relations, Israel's influence in the US, Gaza and Israel war, Israeli lies   

RM/UR