By Farrukh Abadi
A leaked WhatsApp group chat reveals dozens of capitalists pushing for increased repression of student protesters and funding pro-Israel propaganda, as reported by the monopoly Washington Post.
The chat was titled “Israel Current Events” and had roughly 100 members, including over a dozen billionaires.
The chat was initiated by a staffer for the billionaire real estate capitalist Barry Sternlicht at his behest. The Washington Post writes that the stated purpose of the chat, which was formed shortly after October 7, “was to ‘change the narrative’ in favor of Israel, partly by conveying ‘the atrocities committed by Hamas… to all Americans’.… While Israel worked to ‘win the physical war,’ the chat group’s members would ‘help win the war’ of U.S. public opinion by funding an information campaign against Hamas.”
Members of the group received private meetings and briefings from top Israeli government officials, including Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet; Naftali Bennett, a former Israeli prime minister; and Michael Herzog, Israel’s ambassador to the US.
Following the establishment of the second student encampment at Columbia University on April 18, members of the chat discussed how they could support NYC Mayor Eric Adams in shutting down the protests on campus and pressure Columbia’s president and board of trustees to allow the “NYPD [to] return.”
Members of the chat met privately with the mayor on April 26, about a week after NYPD’s first round of mass arrests on Columbia’s campus and four days before the second round.
Following the meeting, real estate capitalist Joseph Sitt reported back to the group stating: “He’s open to any ideas we have.” Group members discussed how Adams had accepted their proposal to fund private investigators to support NYPD in cracking down on student protesters.
Billionaire Daniel Lubetzky, founder of the Kind snack company, stated a concrete next step was “getting Black Leaders to condemn Anti-Semitism,” along with sharing a campaigning link for Adams and pressuring Columbia’s president and board of trustees to call the police back onto their campus.
The group chat was disbanded earlier in May, allegedly because it had moved past its initial goals.
Photo: NYPD on armored BearCat vehicle breech student-occupied building on April 30, just days after Adams met with capitalists demanding more repression.
