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Palantir, endless war, and the global Zionist surveillance state

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In the previous article in this series, we stated that the Palantir company was a product of the “counter-terrorism” concept that followed September 11th.

The Dissident blog points out that Palantir’s system is based on the “Total Information Awareness” idea of John Poindexter, a former Reagan-era official who proposed the creation of a massive database containing all information on American citizens after the 9/11 attacks.

Poindexter and Richard Perle, one of the neocon architects of the Iraq War, met with Palantir’s founders, Alex Karp and Peter Thiel, because their new company, Palantir, “had a similar purpose to what Poindexter was trying to create at the Pentagon.”

Palantir soon incorporated and received millions of dollars in funding from In-Q-Tel, the venture capital investment arm of the CIA.

Palantir’s software allowed intelligence agencies to create a massive database on Americans. Bloomberg wrote, “Using Palantir technology, the FBI can now create comprehensive files on U.S. citizens in an instant, combining security camera footage from outside a pharmacy with credit card transactions, cell phone records, emails, flight records, and internet search histories.”


Within the framework of Palantir’s mission to “save Western civilization,” its bond with Israel, which operates as the spearhead [a translation of uç beyi, a historical term for a frontier lord or vanguard] of this civilization, deserves special attention.

The New York Times wrote, “Mr. Karp is unwavering in his support for Israel. The company took out a full-page ad in The New York Times last year declaring, ‘Palantir stands with Israel.'”

The company’s official social media accounts openly supported Israel’s attacks in Gaza, which have amounted to genocide. On October 11, 2023, the company tweeted, “Certain kinds of evil can only be fought with force. Palantir stands with Israel.”

On October 7, 2024, exactly one year after the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, the company’s official X account once again reiterated its support for the genocide in Gaza, tweeting, “Palantir remembers October 7th. We stand with Israel.”

Alex Karp openly expressed his pro-war and pro-Israel views. The CEO told The New York Times that Israel should “turn [Gaza] into a parking lot.”

In the same New York Times article, Karp described protests against providing weapons to Israel as “an infection within society,” stating that he supported stopping these protests.

Karp also boasted to the newspaper that he uses his technology to sustain the war in Ukraine and the occupation in Gaza, saying, “I am not going to apologize for giving our product to Ukraine, to Israel or to many other places.”(1)

In an interview to Time, Karp said he saw an opportunity in Ukraine for Palantir to fulfill its mission to “defend the West” and “make our enemies tremble with fear.”

Government officials were trained to use Palantir’s tool called MetaConstellation, which provides a near-real-time picture of a specific battlefield using commercial data, including satellite imagery.

Palantir’s software integrates this information with commercial and classified government data, including from allies, allowing military officials to relay enemy positions to commanders on the ground or to decide to strike a target. This is part of what Karp calls the digital “kill chain.”

At a Palantir earnings call in 2024, Karp boasted, “I am exceedingly proud that after October 7th, within a couple of weeks, we were on the ground in Israel and involved in operationally crucial operations.”

When Karp was protested by a Palestinian activist at a conference for Palantir’s role in aiding the genocide in Gaza, he said, “I believe he [the protester] is a product of an evil force of Hamas that he is not aware of. He is part of their strategy, their product, without being aware of it.”

In a 2024 interview with CNBC, Karp said that supporting Israel was the most important issue for him, asking, “The most important issue of our day is war and peace, and the most important metaphor for that is: What do you think about what’s happening in Israel?”

Karp also called for an end to pro-Palestinian protests. At a conference, Karp said, “What’s happening on university campuses [referring to pro-Palestinian protests] is some sort of sideshow—no, they are the main show, because if we lose the intellectual debate, you can’t deploy any army in the West.”

Palantir’s mastermind, Peter Thiel, shares similar views. When asked about Israel’s use of artificial intelligence in Gaza, Thiel said, “I don’t know all the details of what’s going on in Israel, because my bias is to defer to Israel.”

Thiel continued, saying he believed that “in general” the Israeli army has the right to decide what it wants to do and that “in general” it is in the right.


This commitment to Israel does not end there.

The company is so intertwined with Israel that it boasted on social media about holding its first board meeting of 2024 in Tel Aviv.

Before the board meeting, Karp and Thiel met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and shared the meeting on social media, writing, “We are proud to stand with Israel, supporting its culture of innovation, technology, and democracy.”

Following the board meeting, CTECH reported that Palantir announced it had signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Israeli Ministry of Defense to “provide Palantir technology to aid the country’s war efforts.”

The agreement was signed after a meeting between Israeli defense officials and Thiel and Karp.

After signing the deal, Karp told Israeli entrepreneur Yossi Vardi:

“There are many people in the (tech) industry who are not as pro-Israel as I am, but they too see Israel as a very special place and generally understand Israel’s position better and appreciate the success of building a country out of the desert.”

Globes, an Israeli business news site, reported that during this trip, Karp “participated in a public event at Tel Aviv University” and “showered praise on Israel.”

Globes wrote that Israel was preparing to purchase from Palantir “an AI-based system called AIP, designed to assist in intelligence-based decision-making and to analyze enemy targets and recommend combat moves.”

The same report also included the claim that Palantir expected to generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue from the deal with Israel.


Journalist Antony Loewenstein writes, “Israel’s military-industrial complex sees its occupation as a vital testing ground for trying out the latest methods of killing and surveillance.”

Loewenstein points out that Palestinians are seen as “guinea pigs,” but this activity is not limited to Palestine (Karp told Time, “There are things we can do on the battlefield that we can’t do at home”). According to him, “Silicon Valley has taken notice,” and the new Trump era “heralds an even tighter alliance between big tech, Israel, and the defense sector.”

William Hartung, evaluating Palantir and American foreign policy for Responsible Statecraft, states that Palantir’s goal is “to shape overall U.S. national security policy, which in turn can determine what military technologies the U.S. will invest in for the next generation.”

After starting his new role as Palantir’s head of defense, former Republican Representative Mike Gallagher promised to use his connections within the government to facilitate the growth of emerging military technology companies, largely by securing a larger share of tax revenues.

Another characteristic of Gallagher is that he stood out as a leading “China hawk” during his time in Congress. Gallagher is the co-author of a recent article in Foreign Affairs titled “No Substitute for Victory: America’s Competition With China Must Be Won, Not Managed.”

In the article, Gallagher and his co-author Matthew Pottinger argue that the U.S. “must implement a better policy” and call for action to rearm the U.S. military, reduce China’s economic influence, and build a broader coalition against China.

Judging by his stance as chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, Gallagher’s views are quite close to those of Palantir’s executives.

Close, because Palantir CEO Alex Karp has said that the U.S. will “probably” go to war with China and that the best policy is to “scare the shit out of your enemy.”

In a moment of striking candor, Karp admitted, “Our product is sometimes used to kill people”: “If I were younger in college, would I be protesting myself?”

Palantir’s advisor, Jacob Helberg, described the company as “the AI arms dealer of the 21st century.”


Karp has long rejected the widespread criticism that Palantir’s products enable governments to conduct warrantless surveillance of their citizens.

When I say he rejects them, don’t think he denies the reality. It’s more of a, “Yes, I do it, but you should ask why I do it.”

The CEO says he sees a “moral imperative” to provide Western governments with the best new technologies, calling for “closer collaboration between the state and the tech sector,” which he believes will allow the West to maintain its superiority over its global rivals.

For years, the U.S. has imposed strict regulations on the export of weapons systems to foreign countries due to the lack of accountability once they are in the hands of users and the possibility of serious war crimes being committed. At least, that’s how it is on paper.

But Karp legitimizes his own products by saying, “The power of advanced algorithmic warfare systems is now so great that it is equivalent to having tactical nuclear weapons against an enemy that only has conventional weapons.”

If the West didn’t have “real enemies,” Karp told Bloomberg, he would be one of those trying to limit the use of artificial intelligence in the military: “But the reality we live in now, as Israel knows, is that our enemies are real and dangerous and operate far beyond the norms of behavior.”

Karp stated in 2023 that Palantir was in talks with “hundreds” of potential partners about its AIP platform, but details like pricing and terms were still being determined.

Karp told analysts that Palantir was refocusing its engineering teams and other resources on artificial intelligence to meet demand, stating that it was “aggressively pursuing” this opportunity.


“How Big Tech Captured the Army”

This was the headline of a June 17 report in The Bulwark.

The recent entry of officials from high-tech companies like Meta, OpenAI, and Palantir into the military has raised concerns that Silicon Valley is taking control.

But is it just the American military? NATO announced it will use Palantir’s artificial intelligence platform for “faster military decision-making.” The MSS NATO system aims to automate data analysis that previously required large teams.

Berliner Zeitung reported that in the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition negotiations, it was agreed that the CSU would take over the Federal Ministry of the Interior in the future. This means Palantir will have more opportunities at the federal level, as in Bavaria, where the CSU is in power, the state police have been using the company’s software since August of last year.

According to the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, the cross-procedural research and analysis platform VeRA makes it possible to “quickly and reliably analyze and process large amounts of data from a wide variety of sources and to generate important findings at high speed.”

Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia are also currently using Palantir. According to information from Bayerischer Rundfunk, Berlin and Baden-Württemberg are also currently considering collaborating with the company.(2)

In the United Kingdom, Palantir already has a £330 million National Health Service (NHS) data contract. In May, to encourage hospitals to adopt this technology, the government signed an £8 million deal with consulting giant KPMG to “promote the adoption” of Palantir’s technology in the NHS. London also used Palantir systems to monitor its military.


Until now, the Pentagon’s known “Gang of Five” consisted of the following companies: Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman.

A recent report from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft reveals that the share of private companies in the Pentagon’s defense spending is steadily increasing.

Over the last 35 years, the Pentagon has allocated a growing portion of its budget to private sector contracts. In the fiscal years 1990-1999, the Pentagon’s average annual spending on contracts amounted to 41% of its total spending. This ratio has increased every decade: in the first five years of this decade, the share of private companies in the Pentagon budget reached a record high of 54%.

For the 2020-2024 period, $2.4 trillion of the total $4.4 trillion in defense spending was awarded to private companies.

However, the overwhelming majority of this share went to five large companies. Between 2020 and 2024, the Pentagon’s top five arms suppliers received contracts totaling $771 billion. This amount committed to the top five companies constitutes one-third of the total $2.4 trillion in contracts awarded by the Pentagon between 2020 and 2024.

Lockheed Martin was the clear leader with $313 billion in contracts between 2020 and 2024, while its closest competitor, Raytheon (now RTX), received $145 billion in contracts.

However, the report’s findings point to something else: this dominance is increasingly under threat from a new generation of military technology companies.

While the big five companies continue to hold a large portion of the Pentagon’s defense spending budget, there has been an increase in new contracts with tech firms specializing in artificial intelligence for military applications such as drones, unmanned ships, and armored vehicles.

The rise of these new military technology firms marks the biggest shift in the arms industry in the last five years.

The report states, “Companies like SpaceX, Palantir, and Anduril have received billions of dollars in contracts from the Pentagon for communications, targeting, unmanned vehicles, drone defense systems, and hypersonic weapons. The funds from these contracts will be transferred to the companies over time, which will place them among the Pentagon’s largest contractors in terms of contract value in the next few years.”

According to the report, Palantir signed a $618 million contract with the army for a data platform using artificial intelligence, a $480 million contract to continue work on the Project Maven targeting system, and a five-year, $463 million contract with the U.S. Special Operations Command to integrate advanced commercial software into its operations.

The report notes, “As the Pentagon moves toward AI-powered weapons systems, including swarms of drones, ships, and combat vehicles, the dominance of the Big Five companies may diminish.”

In the first quarter of 2025, Palantir’s revenue grew by 39% year-over-year, while its U.S. sales increased by 55%. The commercial division now generates $1 billion in annual revenue, indicating long-term demand in sectors such as energy, finance, and logistics.

“This diversity is vital,” writes AInvest. Palantir’s AI platforms are being adopted by critical infrastructure operators to mitigate risks such as cyberattacks, a significant security vulnerability due to “Iran’s asymmetric warfare tactics.” Partnerships with cybersecurity firms like Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike further strengthen defense capabilities against state-sponsored threats.(3)

“AI self-confidence” is coming to the fore. In a brochure/article titled “Rebooting the Arsenal of Democracy” published on Anduril’s blog, the Gang of Five are described as “relics of the Cold War” that must be eliminated if America wants to take the lead in developing and producing the weapons of the future:

“Why can’t the existing defense companies do better? The largest defense companies are staffed by patriots, but they lack the software expertise or business model to build the technology we need. Tomorrow’s weapons—autonomous systems, cyber weapons and defenses, networked systems, and more—run on software, while these companies specialize in hardware. These companies work slowly, while the best engineers enjoy working fast… These companies built the tools that kept us safe in the past, but they are not the future of our defense.”

Palantir’s stock price more than quadrupled last year, making it more valuable than RTX and Lockheed Martin at the beginning of this year. Behind these shadowy companies is a new breed of predators known as “venture capital” (VC). Leading VC firms like Thiel’s Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and Lux Capital are among the rising stars of the defense sector, such as Anduril, Hadrian, and Rebellion Defense.

Furthermore, new defense monopolies are forming. A consortium led by Anduril and Palantir plans to join with other defense technology companies like SpaceX, OpenAI, Saronic, and Scale AI to bid jointly on military contracts.

In this process, venture capitalists are not only achieving high returns on investment but also gaining increasing influence over U.S. foreign policy. Michael Kratsios, Thiel’s former chief advisor, and other Thiel-connected individuals, including Jacob Helberg, a senior advisor at Palantir, are being appointed to positions such as Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Deputy Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, respectively.

“Working for the Pentagon doesn’t seem like a bad thing anymore,” says William Hartung, a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “Many of these new companies seem to want it very much, and venture capital firms are facilitating it.”

Palmer Luckey of Anduril describes venture capitalists who want to protect their current investments as “hawkish,” saying, “Anyone who cares about Ukraine is also watching Taiwan, because… a slide south for Taiwan poses a real existential threat to many of their investments [there]. For this reason, we see a hawkish stance in most venture capitalists.”(4)

A representative of the VC group America’s Frontier Fund (AFF) is more blunt, not hesitating to say, referring to Taiwan: “If there is a kinetic event in the Pacific, some of our investments will increase 10-fold overnight.”

Under the heading “geopolitical impact risks,” AInvest implies that Palantir is comfortable: “Rising tensions in the Middle East, the South China Sea, and Eastern Europe ensure that the demand for analytical services in this area remains stable.”

The most carrion-like version of capitalism wants endless war, a global Zionist surveillance empire.


(1) Time magazine writes that Palantir CEO Alex Karp was “the first major Western corporate leader to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since Russia’s invasion.” The article admits that in the year and a half since Karp’s first meeting with Zelensky, Palantir has become “unprecedentedly involved” in the daily affairs of a foreign government at war: “More than half a dozen Ukrainian institutions, including the Ministries of Defense, Economy, and Education, use the company’s products. According to Karp, Palantir’s software, which analyzes satellite imagery, open-source data, drone footage, and reports from the ground using artificial intelligence to present military options to commanders, is ‘responsible for most of the targeting in Ukraine.’ Ukrainian officials said they use the company’s data analysis for projects that go far beyond battlefield intelligence, including collecting evidence of war crimes, clearing landmines, resettling displaced refugees, and rooting out corruption.” More interestingly, Time notes that Palantir offered its services to Ukraine for free to use the bloody war as a testing ground, claiming, “Palantir was so eager to showcase its capabilities that it provided them to Ukraine for free.”

(2) The Germany-Palantir relationship requires separate examination. Mathias Döpfner, CEO and co-owner of the German media giant Axel Springer, which owns POLITICO, has very close ties with Palantir founder Peter Thiel. His son, Moritz Döpfner, previously served as managing director at the billionaire’s family office, Thiel Capital. According to the German press, the younger Döpfner had established a new venture capital fund with a $50 million investment from Thiel. From a podcast Mathias Döpfner did with Karp in 2019, we also learn that the Palantir executive was on Axel Springer’s supervisory board at the time. It was leaked to the media that Axel Springer requires its employees to sign a contract demanding commitment to the free market, support for the US-Europe alliance, and “support for Israel’s right to exist.” From a 2019 report in Business Insider, which is majority-owned by Axel Springer, we learn that Palantir had passed data to police forces in the country about Anis Amri, who carried out an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin in 2016.

(3) One of the secrets to Palantir’s commercial success is its creation of an “ecosystem.” The Pentagon’s Maven user base has doubled since the beginning of 2024, reaching 20,000 users across 35 vehicles. AInvest writes: “The global defense AI market is projected to reach $40 billion by 2030, with governments prioritizing ‘information dominance’ over traditional hardware. Palantir’s AI infrastructure is not just a tool, but an ecosystem platform. Its ability to integrate data from different domains (e.g., the all-domain command and control system of CJADC2) creates high switching costs and recurring revenue streams.”

(4) Let’s not forget the Middle East: The Pentagon, which uses Palantir’s Maven Smart System (MSS), increased the MSS contract by $795 million in 2024, bringing the total amount to $1.3 billion by 2029. This system, managed by Aberdeen Proving Ground, currently serves five major combatant commands, including Central Command (CENTCOM), the center of operations in the Middle East. MSS uses artificial intelligence to analyze surveillance data (satellite images, video streams) in real-time, enabling intelligence fusion, target identification, and battlefield decision-making. This capability is vital in scenarios such as tracking the movements of the Iranian military near the Strait of Hormuz or monitoring nuclear facilities. NATO’s adoption of the MSS-NATO variant in 2025 further underscores Palantir’s global role: the alliance is using generative AI and machine learning tools to enhance allied command operations, with integration completed in just six months.

America

US-Brazil rift widens over proposed sanctions and trade tariffs

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Diplomatic tensions between the two countries remain at a peak as the US government considers new sanctions targeting a judge on Brazil’s Supreme Court.

According to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to the Financial Times (FT), the Trump administration is evaluating new measures against Justice Alexandre de Moraes, whom it sanctioned last year on human rights grounds before subsequently rescinding that decision.

Washington’s renewed focus on the magistrate threatens to widen the rift between Brazil and the US across trade and political spheres, casting a shadow over upcoming elections in Latin America’s largest nation.

A little over a year ago, De Moraes was subjected to sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused him at the time of engaging in a “repressive censorship campaign, arbitrary detentions that violate human rights, and politicized prosecutions,” including measures directed at former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro, an ally of Donald Trump, was sentenced last year to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup.

However, sanctions targeting the judge, his wife, and a company owned by his family were lifted in December following a meeting and phone conversations between Trump and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

According to a source familiar with the matter who requested anonymity, US interest in De Moraes was revived partly due to a case that ignited a debate over press freedom in Brazil.

The judge authorized police raids against a journalist and two sources as part of an investigation into media coverage concerning a Supreme Court justice and his family.

De Moraes defended the action, arguing that the information in question had been illegally obtained and disclosed, thereby endangering the safety of the justice’s family.

The judge gained global prominence several years ago following a public conflict with Elon Musk, which briefly led to the billionaire’s X platform being blocked in Brazil.

Supporters say he “helped protect Brazilian democracy against a wave of misinformation.”

However, critics, including the Trump administration, view him as violating free speech rights.

“He went after the president’s supporters. Not just Elon Musk, but MAGA supporters in Brazil as well. Even if we want to build good relations with Brazil, it is clear that this man is an adversary,” said a person familiar with the US government’s thinking.

Another person stated that the reimposition of Magnitsky sanctions is “under evaluation,” noting that such sanctions entail the freezing of US-based assets and a prohibition on American companies and individuals conducting business with targeted parties.

While it remains unclear whether or when a decision will be reached, any such move would intensify an escalating retaliatory spiral between the two most populous countries in the Americas.

Tensions initially erupted more than a year ago when Trump imposed a 50% tariff on Brazil while demanding that prosecution proceedings against Bolsonaro be dropped.

That tariff was subsequently invalidated by the US Supreme Court.

A brief period of de-escalation since then has drawn to a close, with the US applying a 25% import tariff on numerous Brazilian products in July.

Last month, Brazil denied entry to two Trump envoys over concerns regarding potential interference in its upcoming October elections. Washington rejects those allegations.

Lula, who is seeking re-election for a fourth presidential term, suggested that the US might act to support his main opponent, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the jailed former leader’s son.

The 80-year-old president has also engaged in a sharp public exchange of words with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

On Sunday, thousands of supporters gathered to welcome Lula at a stadium in Sao Bernardo do Campo, an industrial suburb of Sao Paulo, for the official launch of his election campaign.

Lula originally achieved prominence in the area during the late 1970s as a union leader heading metalworkers’ strikes.

Speaking at the venue, Lula said, “I thank the working men and women of this country who believed that someone like themselves could achieve more than someone different from them. As long as I am alive, I will not stop fighting, and I will not allow the right [to prevail].”

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AIPAC super PAC pours millions into key Democratic primary races

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The United Democracy Project (UDP), the super PAC of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), has directed nearly $2.5 million into a special election for the California seat formerly held by Representative Eric Swalwell, marking one of the group’s final targeted contests ahead of November.

The UDP spent approximately $2.5 million to campaign against state Senator Aisha Wahab, the favourite in the race, and to promote Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board President Melissa Hernandez. The expenditure attracted significant attention, given that Wahab finished well ahead of Hernandez in the June special primary.

AIPAC links have also emerged as a central issue in two Democratic contests in Florida and New Hampshire, among the final states on the 2026 primary calendar. Intra-party friction over the role of money in politics and questions regarding the extent to which US support for Israel should continue remain heavyweight concerns ahead of the November elections.

“I wish that AIPAC would realise that, for better or worse, it has become a lightning rod, and that is helping less, unfortunately, not just themselves, but the cause they advocate for,” said a national Democratic strategist who has previously worked with the UDP.

An AIPAC spokesperson disputed this assessment, pointing out that more than 250 candidates backed by the group have won their primaries.

“Our community of 7 million Americans is focused on helping pro-Israel Democratic and Republican candidates win in November,” the spokesperson added.

UDP spends millions in California’s 14th District

AIPAC’s super PAC is making a multi-million-dollar expenditure in California’s 14th Congressional District, previously represented by Swalwell, who resigned following sexual assault allegations that he denied.

Wahab and Hernandez are facing off in two separate races this year. The first, taking place on Tuesday, will select a representative to complete the remainder of Swalwell’s term. The second race will be held in November for a full two-year term.

Wahab finished 26 percentage points ahead of Hernandez in the special primary. The margin in the primary for the full term was 21 percentage points in Wahab’s favour.

Despite these margins, the UDP has spent roughly $2.5 million to date to boost Hernandez and campaign against Wahab. A separate group called Bold America, which received funds from the UDP and was established by former members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, has also spent approximately $1.8 million.

Wahab opposes unconditional aid to Israel. Last year, she introduced a resolution in the California legislature calling for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.

Wahab has also described the war in Gaza as a “genocide”. Hernandez, speaking at a candidate forum this spring, declined to use the same term, though she condemned “the destruction in Gaza”.

Wahab asserted that she has been targeted due to racism and bias.

“Power brokers in Washington also have a need to control every voice on highly critical votes,” Wahab told The Hill. “I have been very clear about my stance on human rights and doing what is best for the American people.”

UDP spokesperson Patrick Dorton, in a statement to The Hill, described Wahab’s assertions as “100% absurd”. Dorton stated that the group supports members of both the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Bold America did not respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

Hernandez, in a statement to The Hill, pointed to her campaign’s “thousands of supporters” and said that “no single supporter dictates her agenda”.

“My opponent wants to turn this race into a national issue, whereas the race should actually be about how best to serve the voters in the East Bay and Tri-Valley,” Hernandez said.

The spending in the race attracted particular notice after the UDP spent tens of millions of dollars earlier this month in the Michigan Senate primary to support Representative Haley Stevens, who narrowly lost to progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

“In many cases, as a political operative, my advice was that we shouldn’t get into this specific race, because we would become the issue itself and… we would harm the candidate we were trying to help,” said Garry South, a veteran California strategist who has worked on independent expenditure campaigns in the real estate sector.

“Frankly, I think AIPAC has reached that point,” South added.

FEC complaints surface in California race

The race has intensified in recent days. A supporter of Hernandez filed a complaint against Wahab with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

According to the complaint, Wahab’s state Senate committee gave money to a county party organisation, which then used a portion of those funds to support Wahab’s congressional campaign. The complaint alleged that external activities supporting Wahab constituted an “illegal and unreported in-kind contribution”.

Wahab told The Hill that her campaign had not received any notice from the FEC. The Alameda County Democratic Central Committee said in a statement that it was aware of the complaint but maintained that its activities complied with “federal election laws”.

“Until the FEC actually takes action, this is nothing more than a political allegation floated by our opponents,” Wahab said.

According to a report by KQED, Wahab’s campaign also plans to file a complaint with the FEC regarding a series of social media posts targeting the candidate, which Wahab characterized as defamatory.

The report stated that the complaint will request an investigation into whether the online activity was conducted in a coordinated manner to influence the election outcome and whether the activity ought to have been officially reported.

AIPAC influence debated in Florida race

The California contest is not the only election on Tuesday where AIPAC’s influence has surfaced as an issue.

Oliver Larkin, an activist and democratic socialist who is an outspoken critic of AIPAC and unconditional US aid to Israel, is running against Representative Jared Moskowitz in Florida’s redrawn 25th Congressional District.

The district, which covers parts of Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Broward counties, is viewed as a swing territory that could be won by either party. AIPAC is supporting Moskowitz in the race.

In an interview with The Hill, Larkin pointed to the war in Gaza and AIPAC’s support for “this deeply disastrous foreign policy”. Larkin said the group had also “supported 109 Republican insurrectionists in the 2022 midterms”.

Larkin further noted that the Israel-Hamas war, particularly its disproportionate influence on the 2024 presidential race, sits “at the centre of many struggles within the Democratic Party over the influence of money in politics”.

Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, described AIPAC as an “easy target for the far left, especially since the targeting is mutual”.

In an interview with The Hill, Soifer said that some candidates have turned debates over military aid to Israel into “politically convenient talking points”, but added that these do not resonate “everywhere”.

Moskowitz declined an invitation from the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board to participate in a joint interview with Larkin.

“I do not believe it is appropriate to share a platform with a candidate who has repeatedly embraced the support of individuals and organisations that circulate antisemitic rhetoric and hostility toward the Jewish community,” Moskowitz wrote.

Larkin, who has engaged with figures including the controversial leftist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, acknowledged that such individuals “do not always use the most politically correct language”.

However, Larkin added: “Cherry-picking these statements to equate anti-Zionism with antisemitism does a disservice to the nuanced critique articulated by individuals like Hasan Piker.”

AIPAC backing creates new divide in New Hampshire

Next month’s Senate primary in New Hampshire has also highlighted differing stances within the Democratic Party regarding AIPAC and its allies.

Karishma Manzur, a Democratic scientist, criticized Representative Chris Pappas—the favourite running to replace Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen—for taking money from special interest groups, including AIPAC.

Pappas is listed among the supported candidates on AIPAC’s website.

Manzur, who opposes unconditional aid to Israel and has described the war in Gaza as a “genocide”, said: “Any candidate or lawmaker who takes even $1 from corporations or corporate PACs is no longer a public servant; they are merely a contractor for their client.”

Pappas’s campaign maintained that Manzur exaggerated the amount of support the candidate received from AIPAC’s PAC. The campaign also stated that Pappas does not accept donations from corporate PACs and noted that he introduced a bill aimed at limiting election spending by foreign nationals.

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Wealthy Americans drive surge in New Zealand golden visa demand

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More than 700 wealthy foreign nationals have applied for New Zealand residency under the country’s “golden visa” programme over the past 14 months, compared with just 115 applications during the previous three years.

Applicants are required to invest at least NZ$5 million in local funds, companies or charitable organisations within three years.

A further 127 people have applied under a separate programme that requires an investment of NZ$10 million in passive assets such as bonds for five years.

The surge followed a relaxation of rules governing property purchases, investment requirements and the amount of time applicants must spend in the country to qualify.

According to the Financial Times (FT), the increase in applications for the right to live, work and study indefinitely in New Zealand has coincided with a period of geopolitical uncertainty that has made the country’s security and remote location increasingly attractive.

Dozens of countries around the world, from Portugal to the US, offer preferential immigration treatment in exchange for investment or, in some cases, cash payments.

Many have had mixed experiences with such schemes. Ireland, Malta and Australia have scrapped their programmes because of insufficient demand or concerns over abuse.

In New Zealand’s case, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon hopes the visas will attract more foreign investment and help reverse a “brain drain” that threatens the country’s economic growth.

Although tourists often fall in love with New Zealand and dream of moving there, many young New Zealanders leave in search of better economic opportunities.

According to Luxon, New Zealand start-ups have already begun benefiting from the policy.

“While everyone else around the world is tightening restrictions, we’ve opened the doors and our start-ups have benefited enormously from the capital flowing in, as well as from the knowledge and technical expertise these investors have brought,” he said.

Since the programme was comprehensively overhauled in April 2025, applicants from North America, Europe and Asia have committed a combined NZ$4.8 billion, through investments of either NZ$5 million or NZ$10 million each.

That figure is comparable to the NZ$14.8 billion in foreign investment recorded during the first quarter of this year.

Lachlan Nixon, co-founder of venture capital firm Motion Capital, said the programme had become “a badge of honour in Silicon Valley”.

Data show that 277 applications have come from Americans, with Californians showing particularly strong interest in obtaining New Zealand residency.

“A massive influx of capital is coming, but what really matters is the quality of the people now investing in the New Zealand economy,” Nixon said. He added that 40% of a recent NZ$27 million fundraising round for high-growth New Zealand companies came from 30 holders of “golden visas”.

According to Luxon, companies benefiting from the programme include critical minerals firm Zethos, which appointed European steel industry veteran Francesc Rubiralta to its board.

Nixon said other companies backed under the programme include seed oil protein producer Miruku and magnesium mining company Aspiring Materials.

In the mountain town of Queenstown, a preferred destination for many applicants, locals refer to billionaires such as Peter Thiel and Anthony Malkin, whose foundation owns New York’s Empire State Building, as “the secret residents on the hills”.

Most prefer to keep their wealth and presence private. Thiel’s citizenship was inadvertently revealed during a parliamentary debate, while Malkin’s presence became public after fireworks he set off on New Year’s Eve sparked grass fires.

According to Cotality, their arrival has made Queenstown New Zealand’s most expensive property market, with a median home price of NZ$1.8 million, double the national average.

Under the visa programme’s rules, participants may purchase only residential properties worth more than NZ$5 million, a provision designed to prevent their presence from distorting the broader housing market.

“There are a lot of billionaires here. They just wear gumboots,” one property adviser said.

However, doubts remain about the programme’s benefits. Sam Stubbs, chief executive of pension fund Simplicity, said people should make “genuine investments” in the country rather than seek special treatment in exchange for “a small amount of money” invested in a venture capital fund.

“Heaven comes at a price. It’s a price we all pay,” Stubbs said.

Some applicants have also voiced concerns. Courtney Andelman, who runs a venture capital fund in Santa Barbara with her husband Jim, successfully obtained a visa last year and now visits New Zealand regularly.

“There’s something magical in the air and the water. It’s an incredibly healthy place,” Andelman said.

However, she said she wanted to settle in a smaller South Island city such as Nelson, where her investments could have a greater impact, but found very few properties worth more than NZ$5 million.

She also complained that under New Zealand’s tax rules, if her family spends more than 183 days a year in the country, their worldwide income becomes subject to New Zealand taxation.

Andelman said she loved New Zealand but expressed concern and issued an implicit warning.

“How to make every dollar achieve its highest and best use is a question we constantly ask ourselves. If New Zealand doesn’t offer the best value, we’ll go somewhere else. Every one of those dollars is mobile.”

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