No, the Epstein files don’t show that he worked for Mossad

Conspiracy theories have swirled around Jeffrey Epstein for years — that he worked for the Mossad, that he was “Israel’s greatest ally,” that his crimes were inspired by the Talmud.

The latest tranche of files from Epstein’s case does not confirm the allegations, but has still fueled antisemitic and anti-Israel hostility from the left and from the right.

“They might as well call it the Israel files,” said the popular far-left streamer Hasan Piker.

“Blood libel hits a lot different after reading the Epstein files. The goyim know,” said the far-right internet personality and former MMA star Jake Shields.

The Epstein files are documents compiled by investigators on the late sexual predator and financier since he was arrested in 2005 for abusing girls. The documents shed light on Epstein’s sprawling, global network of powerful acquaintances.

There are millions of documents in the files, many unrelated to sex trafficking, and parsing the material is tedious and time-consuming. The documents are shorn of context, names are redacted, there are duplicates, and due to formatting, some documents do not respond to search terms. Investigators record tips they receive, whether they are accurate or not, and the veracity of many claims in the files is impossible to verify.

The overwhelming volume of material means that, while it is difficult to process the documents into coherent and accurate narratives, there is plenty to cherry-pick and blast out on social media. That, coupled with the difficulty of disproving a negative, makes the files fertile ground for conspiracies.

Take the widespread allegation that Epstein was an Israeli intelligence agent from figures like Tucker Carlson, who said at a summit last year that Epstein was working for a “foreign government.”

“No one’s allowed to say that foreign government is Israel,” Carlson said, leaning into tropes about both hidden Jewish power and Jewish control of the media.

The Mossad is mentioned repeatedly in the files, but so is the CIA, the UK’s intelligence services, and the KGB. Nearly all mentions of the agencies are news reports that Epstein received via email. Israel is mentioned in thousands of documents, but fewer times than countries including Russia, China, Canada and France.

In one email, after being invited to Israel, Epstein rejected the invite, saying, “I do not like Israel. AT ALL.”

The Mossad is mentioned in some of Epstein’s personal correspondence, without evidence that he worked for the intelligence agency.

Epstein was friendly with former prime minister Ehud Barak, meeting with him dozens of times, which was known years ago.

In 2018, while discussing a meeting via email, Epstein told Barak, “You should make clear that I don’t work for Mossad,” followed by a smiley face. The first rumors of Epstein’s connections to Israeli intelligence had started at around the same time.

In 2017, Barak asked Epstein if another acquaintance “got to the Mossad guys through you?” Later, Epstein, possibly confused, asked Barak if he had helped facilitate work with former Mossad agents. Barak told Epstein to call him, but didn’t answer his phone.

An audio recording of a conversation between Epstein and Barak that was more than three hours long stood out for its banality. The private conversation did not mention the Mossad.

In addition to Epstein’s ties with Barak, he knew other world leaders such as US President Donald Trump, the UK’s former Prince Andrew, and harsh critics of Israel like Noam Chomsky.

Other allegations in the files are from unknown sources and do not provide evidence.

A sender named Mark Iverson said in 2021, after Epstein’s death, that he suspected Epstein, as well as his partner Ghislaine Maxwell and her father Robert, “were all Mossad agents.” His evidence was Robert Maxwell’s funeral in Israel. The email’s recipient was redacted.

Another email, citing an anonymous tipster to the FBI, said the source had been “convinced that Epstein was a co-opted Mossad agent,” without any further information.

Both allegations were presented as suspicions, indicating the anonymous sources did not have actual evidence. It’s possible the accusers were animated by the same antisemitic conspiracies about conniving Jews as the commentators propagating the allegations after the files’ release.

That’s it for Mossad in the millions of files. It’s not impossible that Epstein had ties to Israeli intelligence, but amid the mountains of material, the evidence isn’t there.

There are also Epstein files that say the Earth was once flat, refer to an alien abduction, and that humans could control the weather “with the super lasers.”

Like previous releases of files from the case, the tranche put out this week still inspired another round of Mossad conspiracies, from Iranian state media to leftist Gen Z influencers.

The statements highlighted the so-called horseshoe theory of antisemitism, which posits that the political spectrum is not a straight line, but a near-circle, with the far-left and far-right converging, particularly when it comes to Jews and Israel.

Carlson is an exemplar of the theory, as his far-right hostility to Israel merges with the views of leftist guests such as the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinians Francesca Albanese and Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s.

Carlson hosted the progressive activist Cenk Uygur on his show on Friday to discuss “Epstein, JFK, and 9-11 Files,” tying all three incidents to Israel, as well as the Iraq war.

“There’s just no question about it. He is definitely intelligence, and in every turn, he’s looking to help one country and it’s Israel,” Uygur said of Epstein.

“You get the sense that it reveals the superstructure beneath. It gives you a glimpse into how power is exercised globally,” Carlson said.