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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Openly Pro-Israel Tech Group Now Has Control Over UK’s Most Sensitive National Security Data</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Alan MacLeod - March 5, 2023<br></div>
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<p><img src="https://orinocotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Untitled-design7_edited.webp" alt="Artwork of leading Zionists in the international imperialist system. Photo: MintPress News." class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="392" height="220"> </p>
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Artwork of leading Zionists in the
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<p>This is the story of how a multibillionaire who has
dedicated his life to advancing the cause of the Israeli national
security state is now in control of Great Britain’s most sensitive
public and military data.</p>
<p>In 2020, software giant Oracle <a href="https://chiefit.me/the-uk-ministry-of-defence-selects-oracle-cloud-infrastructure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">won</a> a
gigantic contract with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MoD)
to provide it with cloud infrastructure, digital assistance, data
visualization software, mobile hub and development tools. The military
is far from the only British institution entrusting its most sensitive
data to the Texas-based firm, however. The Home Office, Office of
National Statistics and National Health Service, among others, also rely
on Oracle databases to function.</p>
<p>For years before signing the MoD agreement, Oracle founder Larry
Ellison had been ingratiating himself with the British establishment,
employing all manner of well-connected individuals at his foundation.
Among these included media executive and father-in-law of former Prime
Minister Boris Johnson, Matthew Symonds, who <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/943269827/202013219349100626/full" target="_blank" rel="noopener">earned</a> over
$600,000 per year as the executive director of the Larry Ellison
Foundation. Richard Meredith, a longtime director of the U.K.’s Foreign
and Commonwealth Office, was also snapped up at a similar salary to
become deputy executive director.</p>
<p>Many other well-connected British government officials, including Vel
Gnanendran, went straight from the Larry Ellison Foundation into the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office and worked there at the time that the
body signed off on the lucrative Oracle contracts. For years, the Larry
Ellison Foundation also <a href="https://institute.global/sites/default/files/2022-09/Tony%20Blair%20Insitute%20for%20Global%20Change%20Annual%20Accounts%20Year%20Ended%2031%20December%202021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bankrolled</a> the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, the former U.K. prime minister’s new political project.</p>
<p>Yet, just after as the partnership with the Ministry of Defence was
secured, Ellison abruptly shut down his foundation, prompting
speculation that it had fulfilled its purpose.</p>
<p><strong>“OUR MISSION TO SUPPORT ISRAEL”<br>
</strong>Why this should be of concern is that both Ellison and key
Oracle figures have made clear that their business model is less about
making money, and more focused on furthering the interests of the
Israeli national security state.</p>
<p>Furthermore, few people realize how important Oracle is to the
functioning of the modern world. It is the third-largest software
company globally. Yet because it sells its products to businesses and
governments rather than consumers, it is far less known than competitors
such as Microsoft or Amazon. Nevertheless, it is as important to the
modern hi-tech economy as its rivals, its software and databases
powering the likes of Netflix, Zoom, financial corporations such as
JPMorgan Chase, as well as a myriad of educational institutions.</p>
<p>While opening a new data center in Jerusalem in 2021, the company’s
Israeli-American CEO, Safra Catz, laid out Oracle’s purpose, <a href="https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3912017,00.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stating</a>,</p>
<blockquote><p>We are not flexible regarding our mission, and our
commitment to Israel is second to none. This is a free world and I love
my employees, and if they don’t agree with our mission to support the
State of Israel, then maybe we aren’t the right company for them. Larry
[Ellison] and I are publicly committed to Israel and devote personal
time to the country, and no one should be surprised by that.</p></blockquote>
<p>Catz made the comments in response to a question about Israel’s poor human rights record and the <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/recruits-refuse-work-google-amazon-involvement-israel-war-crimes/281611/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rebellion</a> of Silicon Valley employees refusing to facilitate the country’s war crimes. In 2017, Catz was <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-12/trump-team-talked-to-oracle-s-safra-catz-about-an-administration-post" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offered</a> the position of U.S. Director of National Intelligence.</p>
<img src="https://www.mintpressnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Oracle.jpg" alt="Safra Catz, Oracle’s CEO, poses with Alon Ben (left), CEO of Tel-Aviv-based Oracle data partner, Bynet" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="392" height="261">Safra Catz, Oracle’s CEO, poses with Alon Ben (left), CEO of Tel-Aviv-based Oracle data partner, Bynet
<p>Ellison, if anything, is even more forthright in his support for the
Israeli government and its agenda. The billionaire – currently the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#282656e03d78" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fourth-richest</a> individual
in the world – has bankrolled the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) for
years, giving tens of millions of dollars to the Friends of the IDF,
including the largest single donation the organization has ever
received. In 2017 alone, he pledged $16.6 million to build a new
training facility for IDF soldiers defending, in his<a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/record-53-8-million-raised-for-idf-soldiers-at-beverly-hills-gala/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> words</a>, “our home”. As Ellison explained:</p>
<blockquote><p>Through all of the perilous times since Israel’s
founding, we have called on the brave men and women of the IDF to defend
our home. In my mind, there is no greater honor than supporting some of
the bravest people in the world, and I thank Friends of the IDF for
allowing us to celebrate and support these soldiers year after year. We
should do all we can to show these heroic soldiers that they are not
alone.”</p></blockquote>
<p>This was far from his first donation to the organization. Three years previously, he <a href="https://variety.com/2014/scene/news/haim-sabans-friends-of-the-israel-defense-forces-gala-raises-record-33-million-1201350950/amp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gave</a> $9 million at a star-studded gala – the largest donation on a record-breaking night for the FIDF.</p>
<p>The big tech mogul also has a direct hand in furthering the Israeli
settlement project. In 2007, he met with then-Foreign Minister Tzipi
Livni to <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/2007-08-10/ty-article/oracles-larry-ellison-visits-israel/0000017f-e68e-df5f-a17f-ffdefdf00000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pledge</a> half a million dollars in support to the Israeli border town of Sderot.</p>
<p>But if Ellison can count Livni as a friend, then Benjamin Netanyahu
is virtually family. The pair have been close for many years; Ellison
even flew Netanyahu out to his private Hawaiian island to vacation
together. There, he <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2021-09-16/ty-article/.highlight/larry-ellison-netanyahu-trial-witness-offers-ex-pm-seat-on-oracle-board/0000017f-dbd9-d3a5-af7f-fbff9ae80000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offered</a> the embattled prime minister a seat on Oracle’s board, replete with a salary of $450,000.</p>
<p>Netanyahu had previously gone to Ellison, <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2021-08-30/ty-article/.premium/netanyahu-met-with-key-trial-witness-while-vacationing-on-his-private-island/0000017f-f6df-d5bd-a17f-f6ffdcfb0000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">encouraging</a> him to buy out the struggling <i>Yedioth Ahronoth</i> newspaper in an attempt to change the outlet from an adversary of his political project into a mouthpiece for his Likud Party.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, Oracle has signed numerous deals with the Israeli national security state.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Egyptian engineer Dr. Mahmoud Sobhy quit his job
with the software company Oracle this week in solidarity with the
Palestinian struggle. </p>
<p>He quit after learning that Oracle Founder Larry Ellison annually
donates millions of dollars to support Israel's occupation forces. <a href="https://t.co/XOSvrssNSD">pic.twitter.com/XOSvrssNSD</a></p>
<p>— MintPress News (@MintPressNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/MintPressNews/status/1617895990840942592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><strong>“THE ISRAELIS THINK THEY CONTROL THE FOREIGN OFFICE. AND THEY DO!”<br>
</strong>In recent years, Israel and pro-Israel groups have managed to
amass considerable influence over U.K. government policy. A measure of
this is the fact that, by 2021, one-third of the cabinet – including
then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson – were <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-05-22-revealed-third-of-british-cabinet-including-boris-johnson-has-been-funded-by-israel-or-pro-israel-lobby-groups/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directly funded</a> by
the Israeli government or pro-Israel organizations. Chief amongst these
groups is the Conservative Friends of Israel, who have <a href="https://www.jpost.com/jerusalem-report/the-conservative-friends-of-israel-620702" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> that 80% of Tory members of parliament belong to their organization.</p>
<p>The Israel lobby has been able to shape government policy, to the
point where they blocked Boris Johnson’s appointment of Alan Duncan to
the post of Middle East Minister. Johnson, according to Duncan, was
“indignant”. “They shouldn’t behave like this”, the prime minister <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-06-04-former-british-minister-the-israelis-think-they-control-the-foreign-office-and-they-do/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly said</a> about
the Israelis, but acquiesced to their demands. “The Israelis think they
control the Foreign Office. And they do”, Duncan later <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-06-04-former-british-minister-the-israelis-think-they-control-the-foreign-office-and-they-do/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>.
Home Secretary Priti Patel (a longtime champion of the apartheid state)
also secretly flew to Israel for “off the radar” talks with Netanyahu –
a huge breach of ministerial codes, for which she later resigned.</p>
<p>The Israeli Embassy also played a key role in the coordinated smear
campaign demonizing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, an operation that
helped to ensure Johnson’s electoral victory in 2019.</p>
<p>In addition to this, there have also been national security questions
raised about the extent to which Israeli businessmen have bought up key
British industries. Last year, for example, Patrick Drahi’s attempt to
purchase 18% of BT, the formerly state-owned telecoms giant that owns
and controls much of the country’s telecommunications infrastructure,
was put <a href="https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-11137023/UK-approves-Drahis-18-stake-BT-national-security-probe.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on hold</a> due to concerns over national security.</p>
<p>That a company like Oracle that defines itself so explicitly as
pro-Israel raises serious concerns over the nature of the work they do
for the United Kingdom or any other nation. How can the Ministry of
Defence or the Home Office’s data be considered uncompromised in these
hands?</p>
<p>[insert</p>
<p><strong>THE CIA IN ALL BUT NAME<br>
</strong>“The Oracle database is used to keep track of basically everything,” Ellison once <a href="https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2020/08/tiktoks-latest-suitor-is-oracle-a-company-with-close-ties-to-cia-and-nsa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, adding,</p>
<blockquote><p>The information about your banks, your checking balance,
your savings balance, is stored in an Oracle database. Your airline
reservation is stored in an Oracle database. What books you bought on
Amazon is stored in an Oracle database. Your profile on Yahoo! is stored
in an Oracle database.”</p></blockquote>
<p>This should be of concern to everyone, as Oracle itself started off
as a project for the Central Intelligence Agency. Indeed, Ellison named
his company after Project Oracle, a 1970s CIA operation he worked on.</p>
<p>“Our very first customer was the Central Intelligence Agency,” Ellison <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-cia-made-larry-ellison-a-billionaire-2014-9?r=US&IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">boasted</a>,
telling the story of how, in 1977, the CIA commissioned his firm to
build them a database. From there, Ellison immediately began pitching to
other wings of the national security state, and within months had <a href="https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2020/08/tiktoks-latest-suitor-is-oracle-a-company-with-close-ties-to-cia-and-nsa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secured</a> contracts
with Navy Intelligence, Air Force Intelligence and the NSA. The
bottomless pit of money available for the military has helped turn
Oracle from a tiny operation to a <a href="https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/ORCL/oracle/revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$46 billion dollar</a> per year behemoth.</p>
<p>One of Oracle’s largest deals came in 2020, when it was part of a consortium that <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/cia-big-tech-cloud-computuing-procurement-drive-brings-war-economy/273269/">won</a> a 15-year contract with the CIA and the other 16 U.S. intelligence agencies said to be with tens of billions of dollars.</p>
<p>Part of the reason the CIA trusts Oracle is that the company’s upper
echelons are filled with ex-CIA executives. A case in point is former
CIA Director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who was appointed to
the company’s <a href="https://www.oracle.com/corporate/executives/board-of-directors/leon-panetta/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">board</a> in 2015. David Carney, who spent 32 years at the agency, rising to become its third-in-command, also <a href="https://gizmodo.com/larry-ellisons-oracle-started-as-a-cia-project-1636592238" target="_blank" rel="noopener">joined</a> Oracle, heading up its information assurance center.</p>
<p>Indeed, on its own website, Oracle aggressively recruits CIA agents, <a href="https://blogs.oracle.com/jobsatoracle/post/growing-with-intelligence-from-cia-to-oracle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sharing stories</a> of
former spooks who have gone on to succeed in its ranks. One of those is
Senior Technical Program Manager Andrew C. “As an Intelligence Officer
in the US Navy, as well as in the CIA, Andrew has had to lead, build
teams, and work on fast-breaking projects, all things Oracle requires on
a regular basis,” Oracle <a href="https://blogs.oracle.com/jobsatoracle/post/growing-with-intelligence-from-cia-to-oracle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, before actively encouraging other agents to apply,</p>
<blockquote><p>Now that you’ve heard about Andrew’s experience, are you
ready to join Oracle National Security Region team? If you hold a U.S.
Government Top Secret SCI or higher clearance, click here to check out
our latest opportunities. Once you’ve found an opening that fits your
talent, passion, skills, and background, apply for us to consider you.
Create the future with us.</p></blockquote>
<img src="https://www.mintpressnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Screenshot-2023-02-07-at-09-20-10-Growing-with-intelligence-from-CIA-to-Oracle.png" alt="Oracle, a firm that stores reams of your sensitive data, openly boasts of its cozy ties to the CIA." class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="392" height="369">Oracle, a firm that stores reams of your sensitive data, openly boasts of its cozy ties to the CIA.
<p>The revolving door between Oracle and the CIA also swings the other way, with Oracle staff <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chantel-c-68765a8b/details/experience/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">finding employment</a> in Langley, VA.</p>
<p>The Silicon Valley giant also works closely with the U.S. military.
“Oracle Cloud is advancing Department of Defense mission success,” it <a href="https://www.oracle.com/industries/government/us-defense/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">boasts</a>
on its website. Oracle notes that it is “delivering real-time intel to
warfighters,” thereby “securing command and control at the tactical
edge.” Thus, by the company’s own telling, it is a centerpiece of both
the military-industrial-complex and the national security state. Big
media outlets agree: “Larry Ellison is a billionaire today thanks to the
CIA” <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-cia-made-larry-ellison-a-billionaire-2014-9?r=US&IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concluded</a> Business Insider.</p>
<p><strong>SURVEILLANCE STATE </strong><br>
If Ellison had his way, however, Oracle would be an even more crucial
part of a greatly expanded national security state. In the immediate
wake of the September 11 attacks, he flew in for a series of meetings
with top Bush-era officials, including NSA chief Michael Hayden and
Attorney General John Ashcroft. There, he likely pitched an idea he had
been promoting for some time: a single, comprehensive national security
database that collected every piece of information possible to identify
someone, from thumbprints and iris scans to medical history and social
security details. “The single greatest step we Americans could take to
make life tougher for terrorists would be to ensure that all the
information in myriad government databases was copied into a single,
comprehensive national security database,” he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/31/opinion/IHT-a-single-national-security-database.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">insisted</a>.</p>
<p>In the end, even the Bush administration balked at such a sweeping
project. Nevertheless, Oracle has deeply ingratiated itself into the
world of policing and surveillance. In 2012, at the height of an
anti-NATO demonstration, U.S. law enforcement <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/05/25/oracle-social-media-surveillance-protests-endeca/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">used</a> Oracle’s
Endeca software to match protestors’ tweets with data about their
criminal records, 911 calls and other information to pre-arrest
demonstration leaders before the action took off.</p>
<img alt="Larry Ellison gestures during a keynote address at the Oracle Open World Conference in 2005. Photo: Sakuma/AP." src="https://www.mintpressnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/AP050921010026_edited.jpg" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="392" height="316">Larry Ellison gestures during a keynote address at the Oracle Open World Conference in 2005. Photo: Sakuma/AP.
<p>Since then, Oracle has sold the same or similar software to
authorities in Europe, South America, the Middle East and China. Job
listings for developers at Guantánamo Bay also <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/05/25/oracle-social-media-surveillance-protests-endeca/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">note</a> that familiarity with Endeca and Oracle software is a desired trait.</p>
<p>Oracle is far from the only Silicon Valley giant with questionable
ties to intelligence. Here at MintPress, we have exposed how Facebook’s
top ranks are filled with former <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/national-security-search-engine-google-ranks-cia-agents/281490/">FBI and CIA</a> agents, how ex-Israeli spies have <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/revealed-former-israeli-spies-working-top-jobs-google-facebook-amazon/282413/">found roles</a> working for Microsoft and Google, and uncovered what we <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/nato-tiktok-pipeline-why-tiktok-employing-national-security-agents/280336/">termed</a> a “NATO to TikTok pipeline.”</p>
<p>Yet the openness with which Oracle and Ellison work with the Israeli
state to further its interests should be highly concerning to those
working in national security. Israel already has a <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/revealed-former-israeli-spies-working-top-jobs-google-facebook-amazon/282413/">long history</a> of using its tech industry to surveil and eavesdrop on foreign governments.</p>
<p>Can it really be a wise idea for the United Kingdom to entrust its
most sensitive government, health and defense data to a company with
such close ties to the Israeli government?</p>
<p>So far, Great Britain has overlooked the potential grave national
security threat this poses. Surely this cannot continue indefinitely.</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/pro-israel-oracle-larry-ellison-control-uk-sensitive-national-security-data/283555/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MintPress</a>)</p>
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