16 December 2023•Update: 16 December 2023
WASHINGTON
A group of pro-Israeli tech investors and executives in California’s Silicon Valley launched a WhatsApp group through which they defend Israel’s Gaza war, identify "enemies," and pressure pro-Palestinian individuals and institutions in media, academia, and the business world, according to an investigation by journalists Jack Poulson and Lee Fang.
The two journalists said they obtained access to thousands of messages in the WhatsApp group, officially named the “J-Ventures Global Kibbutz Group.” They assert that the group is a project of the US-Israeli investment fund J-Ventures, where participants "request and claim tasks ranging from social media responses to IDF support shipments."
They also said that a number of video meetings seen in the WhatsApp group show best practices for “hasbara” – an Israeli term for “public diplomacy,” indicating that Israel’s public-relations war “is not limited” to the tech sector.
"The WhatsApp group, spreadsheet, and various video discussions offer a rare public glimpse of how Israel and its American allies harness Israel’s influential tech sector and tech diaspora to run cover for the Jewish state as it endures scrutiny over the humanitarian impact of its invasion of Gaza," they said in their report published in the Substack.
The group, they say, is joined by more than 300 like-minded investors, tech executives, activists, and at least one senior Israeli government official.
As one example of how the group is used, the report said that a Dublin-based employee of the Israeli website building company Wix was fired after a screenshot of his pro-Palestinian LinkedIn post was shared in the WhatsApp group by a Miami-based investor.
The post was later used to pressure Wix’s general manager for Israel, who is also a member of the group chat, to fire the employee.
As many people around the world have been dismissed from their jobs for criticizing Israel's attacks on Gaza since Oct. 7 and are accused of "anti-semitism," the report reveals that the WhatsApp group played an active role in the "witch hunt" against these people.
