Black Cube and the Israeli state

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Black Cube and the Israeli state

Type Relationship between a private intelligence firm and Israeli government bodies: contracts, grants, regulation and alleged targeting of officials
Date 2011 – present
Location Israel
Participants Black Cube; Israeli Ministry of Defence and IDF Military Intelligence (Aman); Economy Ministry (Office of the Chief Scientist); Diaspora Affairs Ministry
Outcome The Defence Ministry acknowledged hiring Black Cube in 2012–14, with staff placed full-time on an IDF intelligence base. In 2024 the Diaspora Affairs Minister discussed a possible operation against a US student group; it never got a green light

Black Cube and the Israeli state covers the documented links between the private intelligence firm Black Cube and Israeli government bodies. The Defence Ministry hired the firm in 2012–14 and placed its employees full-time on an IDF intelligence base. The firm applied for an Economy Ministry grant for dual-use military technology, and in 2024 a cabinet minister discussed using it against a pro-Palestinian US student group; that operation never got a green light. Black Cube describes itself as a purely private company. Some reporting also has it working against Israeli officials on behalf of private clients.

Black Cube markets itself as "a select group of veterans from Israeli elite intelligence units".[1] Its late honorary president was the former Mossad director Meir Dagan, and its advisory board has included another former Mossad head, Efraim Halevi, the former national security adviser Giora Eiland (described in 2024 as chairman of the advisory board and head of the ethics committee)[2] and the former police commissioner Yohanan Danino.[3][4] The firm says it is a private entity with no ties to the Israeli government. Responsible Statecraft, a critical outlet, argues that "the line is somewhat blurred".[5]

Documented links

Black Cube and Israeli state bodies
# Year(s) Body Relationship Ref
1 2011–13 Economy Ministry, Office of the Chief Scientist With Vincent Tchenguiz's support, Black Cube applied for a Magnet/Meimad grant, a programme for dual-use military and civilian technology aimed at export. Tchenguiz withdrew his support in 2013. The ministry would not say whether a grant was paid [6]
2 2012–14 Ministry of Defence; IDF Military Intelligence The IDF and Defence Ministry spokespeople acknowledged that the ministry hired Black Cube for intelligence projects. Haaretz reported that during that period Black Cube employees were placed full-time on an IDF intelligence base. The ministry called it "a short-term contract" and refused to say what the employees did, how much the firm was paid or whether it was hired through a tender [7][6]
3 2017 Ministry of Defence (export control) Asked by MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) whether Black Cube held a military export licence, an adviser to Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman replied that the ministry had asked the firm whether it exported military products or know-how. Black Cube said it did not, and the ministry concluded the law did not apply to it [6]
4 2017 Israel Police In November 2017 the Israeli Bureau of Private Investigators complained to police that Black Cube was conducting private investigations without a licence and gathering evidence in Israel by illegal means. Black Cube denied it. The police would neither confirm nor deny an investigation [6]
5 2024 Diaspora Affairs Ministry In late June 2024 Minister Amichai Chikli met chief executive Dan Zorella and Giora Eiland, chairman of Black Cube's advisory board, at a home in Herzliya, with the ministry's director general Avi Cohen-Scali, to discuss a possible investigation of Students for Justice in Palestine. The operation never got a green light. The ministry said it rejected Black Cube's proposal; three sources said the company rejected the ministry's idea, fearing US crosshairs [1][2]

The Defence Ministry contract

Haaretz reported in August 2019 that the Defence Ministry had hired Black Cube between 2012 and 2014, and that during that period Black Cube employees were placed full-time on an IDF intelligence base. The ministry called it "a short-term contract" and refused to say what the employees did, how much they were paid or whether there had been a tender. Around the same time, Haaretz reported, the firm was offering other clients to spy on former ministers and government officials.[7] The Times of Israel had noted in 2018 that weekly reports Black Cube prepared for Tchenguiz in 2012, filed in a lawsuit, suggested the ministry "may have even been a client".[6]

Students for Justice in Palestine (2024)

Haaretz reported that the operation never got a green light. Accounts of who rejected it conflict: the ministry said Black Cube had approached it and the ministry rejected the proposal; three sources said the idea came from the ministry and the company rejected it, concerned that it would put the firm in the crosshairs of the US administration.[1][2] Black Cube said it "does not and has never operated against students or any political protest group in the United States".[2]

Work against Israeli officials

Black Cube has also been reported working for private clients against Israeli officials, and offering services to a foreign government:

  • Ofer and Lapid (2014). In June 2019 Uvda alleged that the tycoon Idan Ofer hired Black Cube in 2014 to look for damaging material on the then finance minister Yair Lapid and other officials involved in natural-gas tax policy. Ofer's spokesman confirmed a brief contract but said the information was gathered from public sources and was not used.[8][9] Haaretz later named the client as ICL, controlled by Ofer, in a dispute over mining payments, and said Ofer acknowledged hiring the company; sources close to Black Cube said a proposal was "never carried out".[7]
  • Bezeq landline reform (Reported 2019). Uvda, as summarised by Haaretz, reported that Bezeq Telecommunications hired Black Cube to undermine the Communications Ministry's landline reform, led by the ministry's then director general, Avi Berger. An earlier Times of Israel summary of the same programme had framed the allegation as an attempt to discredit a consultancy hired for the wholesale market reform.[7][8] Haaretz gives no year for the Bezeq job beyond the 2019 reporting.
  • Argentina / Elliott (2014). TheMarker reported in 2014 that Black Cube had offered its services to the Argentine government to collect information on the US hedge fund Elliott Management, which had taken Argentina to court in New York over its restructured bonds.[7]
  • Black Cube's denial. The firm denied the Israeli-official allegations. In 2019 it said it "has never planned, followed, spied on, or even watched on TV any government officials in Israel".[7] It earlier said it "would never approach a minister or a person in an official position" and had never targeted politicians, judges or regulators.[8]

Criticism

  • Zandberg. In 2017 Tamar Zandberg wrote that "Black Cube is part of an entire Israeli industry that exports the weapons, security know-how and training of Israeli security forces", made possible "under the veil of extreme secretiveness justified by the prestigious halo of 'security'".[6]
  • Barnea. Dr Avner Barnea, chairman of the Israeli Forum of Competitive Intelligence, said impersonation is a crime in Israel punishable by up to five years in prison, "But many of these companies do this", and that "There is no law enforcement in Israel, so companies can do anything they want".[6]
  • Responsible Statecraft. Writing on the Slovenian affair, Responsible Statecraft pointed to the 2024 Chikli meeting as evidence of blurred lines between Black Cube and the state.[5]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 ToI Staff, Minister, Black Cube CEO discussed probing Students for Justice in Palestine – report, Times of Israel, 8 August 2024.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Gur Megiddo, Israeli Minister Held Talks With Black Cube About Spying on Pro-Palestinian U.S. Student Group, Haaretz, 7 August 2024 (subscription).
  3. ↑ Hadas Magen, Black Cube - a "Mossad-style" business intelligence co, Globes, 2 April 2017.
  4. ↑ Borut Mekina, Achiya Schatz, Filip Dobranić and Nika Kovač, How Israelis met with Janez Janša (English version of the 8 March Institute investigation report), Mladina, 16 March 2026.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Eldar Mamedov, 'Private Mossad' goes after pro-Palestinian leader in Slovenia, Responsible Statecraft (critical; analysis and opinion), 30 March 2026.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 ToI Staff, Cambridge Analytica-linked businessman helped start Black Cube, lawsuit claims, Times of Israel, 23 August 2018.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Gur Megiddo, Israel Hired Black Cube, Allowing Spy Firm to Operate Out of Military Intel Base, Haaretz, 22 August 2019 (subscription).
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 ToI Staff, Secretive Black Cube sues Israeli investigative journalist for $19 million, Times of Israel, 7 June 2019.
  9. ↑ Ora Coren, Israeli Tycoon Hired Spy Firm to Get Dirt on Finance Minister, Report Says, Haaretz, 4 June 2019 (subscription).
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