Khaberni - The American Indian-origin spiritual teacher and famous health book author, Deepak Chopra, was lavish in his praise of Israel as enthusiastic about Jeffrey Epstein joining him in Tel Aviv.
According to a report published by the British "Times," two years before his arrest in 2019, Epstein was invited to meet Chopra during the latter's visit to give a lecture at the Menara Hall in Tel Aviv.
Chopra wrote, according to one of the messages released among millions of documents related to Epstein: "Come to Israel with us. Relax and enjoy with interesting people. If you want, use an alias. Bring your girls. It will be fun having you. Love,"
However, Epstein seemed hesitant. He wrote: "Another place. I really don't like Israel at all."
The reasons for Epstein's refusal of the invitation in March 2017 remain among the mysteries in the files released by the US Department of Justice; these documents paint a contradictory and confusing picture of his relationship with Israel, especially with its former Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
"Epstein received spy training"
Claims that Epstein may have been working for a foreign security service have increased in the United States, a theory largely promoted by right-wing media figure Tucker Carlson and others.
The files included allegations from a confidential source to the "Federal Bureau of Investigation" that Epstein - contrary to his aversion expressed - was actually working for the Israeli intelligence agency (Mossad). A report by the office in Los Angeles in October 2020 stated that the source "became convinced that Epstein was an agent recruited by (Mossad)."
The report claimed that Epstein "received spy training" for Mossad, and that he had connections with American and allied intelligence operations, through his longtime personal lawyer Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School professor who was part of a circle that included "many students from wealthy families." It mentioned that Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, and his brother Josh, were "among his students."
However, Dershowitz scoffed at the claims, saying: "I do not believe that any intelligence agency would have truly trusted him," adding that Epstein would not have kept such a thing from his lawyer.
Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considered Epstein's friendship with Barak as evidence that he was not a spy, and wrote on the "X" platform: "The close and unusual relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and Ehud Barak does not indicate that he worked for Israel; rather, it proves the opposite."
The files showed that Barak and his wife Nili repeatedly stayed at Epstein's apartment in New York, planning a visit just before his last arrest and his death a month later in a Manhattan prison in 2019. Their relationship continued after his first arrest in 2006 on sex trafficking and minor solicitation charges. Barak later said he regretted his relationship with Epstein.
In 2018, Epstein asked Barak via email "to clarify that I do not work for (Mossad)." He also asked him a year earlier if anyone had asked him "to help recruit former (Mossad) operatives to conduct dirty investigations."
The documents indicate that Epstein contributed to a $1.5 million investment in a nascent Israeli company called "Carbyne" (formerly known as "Reporty Homeland Security"). Barak warned that "the Israeli trick of using Cyprus to avoid taxes is old and risky," and businesswoman Nicole Junkermann suggested using Luxembourg instead of Cyprus.
"No Conclusive Evidence"
The source of his wealth has raised widespread questions. Lynette Nusbacher, a former intelligence officer in the British army, said it was theoretically possible that he served as an intelligence asset, but "there is no evidence to prove that he was anything more than the person convicted of his crimes."
In 2003, Epstein applied for a second passport for his partner Ghislaine Maxwell "to avoid conflicting visa stamps"; indicating that she intended to travel to Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Her father - the late media mogul Robert Maxwell - was suspected of having ties to "Mossad."
Epstein was born to Jewish parents and grew up in "Sea Gate," a gated community predominantly inhabited by Jews, in Coney Island, and it is known that he visited Israel with his family in 1985; staying at the "Plaza" hotel in Tel Aviv, and the "King David" hotel in Jerusalem, and it is said that he rented a "limousine" to tour with his parents.
Other visits were not officially documented. In a message dated May 20, 2012, he asked his secretary Leslie Groff: "Find me flights from Paris to Tel Aviv, then from Tel Aviv to New York, or from Tel Aviv to Yalta (Crimea)." On May 21 he added: "Book 24 to Tel Aviv, and first class to New York on 27.".
Epstein was subscribed to a website for bidding on luxury real estate, which offered him options for bidding on the most exclusive homes in Israel.
Even if he was not keen to travel to Israel by 2017, he did not express aversion to Israeli women; he asked Chopra to find him an "attractive Israeli blonde... mind over matter." Chopra responded, warning that Israeli women are "fighters, aggressive, and very exciting."
Last week Chopra said: "I want to be clear, I have never participated in any criminal or exploitative behavior."
He added: "I strongly condemn abuse and exploitation in all its forms."
The deep and long-standing relationship between Epstein and Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her role in a minor sex trafficking network, adds more fuel to conspiracy theories about his connection to Israel.
Maxwell's father, the late media mogul Robert Maxwell, was widely suspected of having ties to the Israeli intelligence agency, and is known to have injected millions into the Israeli economy, promising to invest "at least a quarter of a billion dollars" for then Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
Robert Maxwell was found floating off the Canary Islands in 1991 after falling from his yacht "Lady Ghislaine." His body was transported to Israel to be buried in the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, a cemetery reserved for serving Israel's elite.
Did Mossad assassinate Robert Maxwell?
There were hints in Epstein's messages that he believed Maxwell was assassinated by "Mossad". On March 15, 2018, an email from Epstein to an undisclosed recipient was titled: "It has been passed." In the message, Epstein speculated about Maxwell's fate, alleging that he threatened the Israeli intelligence agency after working as an unofficial agent, spying on the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union.
The email echoed a theory proposed by Gordon Thomas and Martin Dillon, authors of the book "Robert Maxwell Assassinated: Israel's Super Spy," who said that Maxwell was pushed by "Mossad."
They alleged that he carried out operations for the agency; but he threatened to expose the matter unless he was paid $600 million in interest on debts exceeding $3 billion.
Many experts The Times contacted said they had not encountered information proving Maxwell's ties to "Mossad," let alone linking Epstein to the Israeli intelligence establishment.
However, an Israeli author with ties to the agency, speaking anonymously, said you never know who "Mossad" might employ.
He said: "Anyone could be a spy."
