[GUEST ACCESS MODE: Data is scrambled or limited to provide examples. Make requests using your API key to unlock full data. Check https://lunarcrush.ai/auth for authentication information.]  Niels Groeneveld [@nigroeneveld](/creator/twitter/nigroeneveld) on x 12.8K followers Created: 2025-07-23 17:31:12 UTC Operation Useful Monster: Ehud Barak and the Geopolitical Utility of a Predator Ehud Barak was not just any visitor to Jeffrey Epstein’s door. He was a former Israeli Prime Minister, former Defense Minister, and former IDF Chief of Staff. And yet, there he stood in photos outside Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse in 2016 — years after Epstein’s conviction. Mask pulled halfway over his face. Anonymous in theory, unmistakable in reality. Barak’s explanations were as swift as they were incomplete. He met Epstein for “financial matters.” He stayed overnight “only once.” He was there “long before any revelations about his crimes.” Except the crimes were revealed in 2008. And Barak was there eight years later. And not just once. In a just world, this would have triggered outrage, investigation, perhaps even diplomatic strain. But what followed was the opposite. Silence in the Israeli media. Dismissal in international coverage. And a peculiar refusal — on both sides of the Atlantic — to connect Barak’s continued association with Epstein to anything other than “bad optics.” But optics were never the real issue. Access was. Because Epstein, for all his grotesque personal crimes, was a geopolitical asset — or at the very least, a tool. He connected the wealthy with the powerful, the powerful with the compromised, and the compromised with handlers who always knew how to turn guilt into leverage. What Barak saw in Epstein wasn’t just money. It was infrastructure. An established web of global financiers, intelligence-adjacent figures, and political outliers. A place where plausible deniability came as standard. Barak’s own ties to Epstein’s financial world were anything but minor. In 2015, he received some $XXX million from the Wexner Foundation — via Epstein-linked channels — for “consulting” purposes. When the payments were questioned, Barak said Epstein “introduced him to people” for investments. Introduced? Or embedded? Because by that point, Epstein’s role as an intermediary for intelligence-adjacent dealings had become whispered canon. Not proven, but protected. The New York Times called it "murky." Intelligence officials called it “unhelpful to speculate.” But in every hall of power from Tel Aviv to D.C., the suggestion lingered: Epstein wasn’t operating alone. And that’s where Barak’s case shifts from questionable to strategic. He wasn’t useful despite Epstein’s depravity. He may have been useful because of it. The predator who traps the elite isn’t just a threat — he’s leverage. And in the geopolitical world of deep alliances and covert dependencies, leverage is power. Barak didn’t just benefit from Epstein’s network. He may have knowingly relied on its opacity. To this day, no Israeli or U.S. authority has subpoenaed Barak’s Epstein dealings. No national commission has asked why a former head of state was associating with a known trafficker. No financial institution has raised red flags about the transactions. Because in the international game of silence, states do not embarrass each other unless they have to. This is not a story of moral failure. It’s a story of operational tolerance. The predator is tolerated — even protected — because he’s useful. And Barak, a master of the national security playbook, knew exactly how to navigate that terrain. He didn’t flee from Epstein. He landed on the balcony.  XXX engagements  **Related Topics** [idf](/topic/idf) [stocks defense](/topic/stocks-defense) [prime minister](/topic/prime-minister) [jeffrey epsteins](/topic/jeffrey-epsteins) [Post Link](https://x.com/nigroeneveld/status/1948073422648381686)
[GUEST ACCESS MODE: Data is scrambled or limited to provide examples. Make requests using your API key to unlock full data. Check https://lunarcrush.ai/auth for authentication information.]
Niels Groeneveld @nigroeneveld on x 12.8K followers
Created: 2025-07-23 17:31:12 UTC
Operation Useful Monster: Ehud Barak and the Geopolitical Utility of a Predator
Ehud Barak was not just any visitor to Jeffrey Epstein’s door. He was a former Israeli Prime Minister, former Defense Minister, and former IDF Chief of Staff. And yet, there he stood in photos outside Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse in 2016 — years after Epstein’s conviction. Mask pulled halfway over his face. Anonymous in theory, unmistakable in reality.
Barak’s explanations were as swift as they were incomplete. He met Epstein for “financial matters.” He stayed overnight “only once.” He was there “long before any revelations about his crimes.” Except the crimes were revealed in 2008. And Barak was there eight years later. And not just once.
In a just world, this would have triggered outrage, investigation, perhaps even diplomatic strain. But what followed was the opposite. Silence in the Israeli media. Dismissal in international coverage. And a peculiar refusal — on both sides of the Atlantic — to connect Barak’s continued association with Epstein to anything other than “bad optics.”
But optics were never the real issue. Access was.
Because Epstein, for all his grotesque personal crimes, was a geopolitical asset — or at the very least, a tool. He connected the wealthy with the powerful, the powerful with the compromised, and the compromised with handlers who always knew how to turn guilt into leverage. What Barak saw in Epstein wasn’t just money. It was infrastructure. An established web of global financiers, intelligence-adjacent figures, and political outliers. A place where plausible deniability came as standard.
Barak’s own ties to Epstein’s financial world were anything but minor. In 2015, he received some $XXX million from the Wexner Foundation — via Epstein-linked channels — for “consulting” purposes. When the payments were questioned, Barak said Epstein “introduced him to people” for investments. Introduced? Or embedded?
Because by that point, Epstein’s role as an intermediary for intelligence-adjacent dealings had become whispered canon. Not proven, but protected. The New York Times called it "murky." Intelligence officials called it “unhelpful to speculate.” But in every hall of power from Tel Aviv to D.C., the suggestion lingered: Epstein wasn’t operating alone.
And that’s where Barak’s case shifts from questionable to strategic. He wasn’t useful despite Epstein’s depravity. He may have been useful because of it. The predator who traps the elite isn’t just a threat — he’s leverage. And in the geopolitical world of deep alliances and covert dependencies, leverage is power. Barak didn’t just benefit from Epstein’s network. He may have knowingly relied on its opacity.
To this day, no Israeli or U.S. authority has subpoenaed Barak’s Epstein dealings. No national commission has asked why a former head of state was associating with a known trafficker. No financial institution has raised red flags about the transactions. Because in the international game of silence, states do not embarrass each other unless they have to.
This is not a story of moral failure. It’s a story of operational tolerance. The predator is tolerated — even protected — because he’s useful. And Barak, a master of the national security playbook, knew exactly how to navigate that terrain.
He didn’t flee from Epstein. He landed on the balcony.
XXX engagements
Related Topics idf stocks defense prime minister jeffrey epsteins