Barak confirms
Ronan Farrow’s New Yorker story is dated two days ago; today the Guardian adds a bit of confirmation:
The former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak has said he introduced the disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein to a Tel Aviv-based investigations firm made up of former spies reportedly hired by the producer to suppress sexual abuse allegations against him.
Weinstein allegedly hired an “army of spies” in an attempt to stop accusers from going public with sexual misconduct claims against him, according to a report in the New Yorker this week.
The magazine claims that among the private security agencies hired by Weinstein, starting from around autumn 2016, was Black Cube, which is largely run by former officers of Israeli intelligence agencies, including Mossad.
“Over a year ago, Barak was asked by Harvey Weinstein if he knew an Israeli company he had heard of, that was capable of helping him with business issues he had. Barak confirmed to [Weinstein] the company he heard of was likely Black Cube,” a spokesperson for Barak said in a statement.
What next? Trump offered him CIA help?
The New Yorker reports that Weinstein sought the assistance of ex-employees from his movie enterprises to help collect names and place calls. Investigations also allegedly sometimes went through Weinstein’s lawyers. Among them, the New Yorker claims, was David Boies, who represented Al Gore in his 2000 presidential election dispute with George W Bush.
The New Yorker claims Boies signed a contract demanding that Black Cube seek to uncover information to stop the publication of a New York Times story about Weinstein’s sexual abuse when his firm was also representing the Times in a libel case. Boies told the magazine “it was a mistake” to have been involved with the investigators.
There’s no business like show business, eh? As is only underlined by the fact that it’s Ronan Farrow reporting on this in the New Yorker.
Meanwhile, another person alleged to have been spied on, the actor Asia Argento, described the revelations as terrifying, writing on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/AsiaArgento/status/927835369529401344
Police in London, Los Angeles and New York have launched investigations into the alleged behaviour by Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual assault and harassment by more than 90 women.
What’s the therapy for that?
Orange jumpsuit? That’s the new black, so I hear — one color fits all misfits, if another comes to mind.
Meanwhile, National Review is publishing pieces that go on about how the women are most guilty, because they haven’t spoken up. How dare they remain silent?
Being followed by an ex-Mossad agent is one damn good reason to stay silent. And besides, if there was anything, anything at all, that these folks found, it would be spread everywhere. So the women maybe had consensual sex with someone? Oh, then we’re okay, because that means they are free and open for all sexual encounters with all men everywhere at all times.
Maybe they had some private activities they wanted to keep private? Well, ladies, if you don’t want life to become a living hell, with every bit of your life spilled on the pages of every newspaper in the world, you’d better keep your mouth shut, you know what I mean?
One of my friends in town was telling me a couple of days ago about when he had to deal with a sexual harassment claim while he was a supervisor at the local grocery store. The owner of the store was also in the room as he talked to the young woman, and the owner (an older man, greatest generation) told the woman “Well, you’re a pretty girl, you have to expect that to happen.” When the girl left, my friend explained to him that he just can’t do that…it’s not okay to expect women who work for you to have to deal with such things.
And me? I only reported once. I was told I should be flattered, that it wasn’t sexual harassment because he didn’t have the ability to fire or promote me, and that I was to blame for…well, I’m not sure. I dressed decently (though quite modestly), and they seemed to think the fact that I wore dresses to work most days indicated that I was on the make…WTF? I never reported an instance again, because it had become obvious that I would receive abuse for the report, and the man wasn’t even asked a single question. It was just, boys will be boys. My career there didn’t last much longer, either.
Giora Eiland is a household name in Israel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giora_Eiland
https://www.blackcube.com/board/
His Wikipedia entry doesn’t mention Black Cube.