Arnon Milchan

Arnon Milchan   (spook, billionaire)
Born	6 December 1944
Nationality	Israeli, American
Alma mater	London School of Economics
Israeli/American billionaire spook businessman and film producer.

Arnon Milchan is an Israeli/American billionaire businessman and film producer living in Tel Aviv. He has been involved in over 130 full-length motion pictures and founded the production company Regency Enterprises.

In the mid-1960s, Arnon Milchan was recruited to Lekem, a secret Israeli intelligence agency which sought to obtain technology and material for developing Israel's nuclear weapons program.

According to a 2011 biography of Arnon Milchan (page 126):

Shortly before the fall of apartheid, South Africa transferred almost all of its nuclear ma­terial to Israel, including the tritium and its six existing bombs. The South African government then reported to international agencies that it had “dismantled” all of its nuclear weapons.

Intelligence operative

Speculation about Arnon Milchan's involvement in arms dealing and intelligence activities was sparked after the indictment in 1985 of Dr Richard Kelly Smyth, an aerospace executive in the defense contractor MILCO and scientist who had made illegal shipments of Krytrons, which could be used as nuclear weapon triggers, through one of Milchan's companies, Heli Trading.

Milchan personally recruited Smyth as an agent before turning him over to another Heli Trading employee Benjamin Netanyahu for handling. Smyth was eventually arrested in 1985 and cooperated in his interrogation by the FBI before being sentenced to prison, which means that the federal government knew all about both Milchan and Netanyahu.

'Confidential' biography

This remained largely in the category of rumour until biographers Meir Doron and Joseph Gelman wrote a controversial unauthorised biography of Milchan that was published in July 2011. The biography "Confidential: The Life of Secret Agent turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan" revealed in detail how Milchan involved himself in espionage, big-ticket arms-dealing, and obtaining sensitive technology and materials for Israel's nuclear weapons program. The biography established that "at least through the mid-1980s [Milchan] was a full-fledged operative for Israel's top-secret intelligence agency, Lekem. His activities included "buying components to build and maintain Israel's nuclear arsenal" and supervising "government-backed accounts and front companies that financed the special needs of the entirety of Israel's intelligence operations outside the country".

Recruited by Peres

Interviewed regarding Milchan's intelligence activities, former Israeli President Shimon Peres, the architect of Israel's secret nuclear weapons program in the 1960s, stated that he recruited Milchan to work for the Israeli Bureau of Scientific Relations:

"Arnon Milchan is a special man. It was I who recruited him.... When I was at the Ministry of Defence, Arnon was involved in numerous defence-related procurement activities and intelligence operations. His strength is in making connections at the highest levels.... His activities gave us a huge advantage, strategically, diplomatically and technologically."

Uranium from Rössing

Two years later, on 25 November 2013, on Israel's Channel 2 documentary program Uvda, Milchan confirmed on camera the central claims in the "Confidential" biography and claimed to have used his connections to promote the apartheid regime in South Africa in exchange for Israel's acquiring Uranium from Namibia for its nuclear program.

Bribery

Israeli Prime Minister

In February 2018, Israeli Police recommended that Arnon Milchan, alongside Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, be charged with bribery. The prosecution, nicknamed "Case 1000", relates to alleged bribes Milchan provided to Netanyahu in exchange for special tax exemption legislation believed to benefit Milchan in his homeland of Israel. The bribe in question was $100,000 in gifts such as cigars and champagne, from Milchan . In early 2021, the case was postponed due to corona-restrictions. A similar case concerned gifts from Australian magnate James Packer, who was very interested in obtaining Israeli citizenship or permanent-resident status that could allow him to take advantage of major tax benefits.

Evidence obtained by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz describes a very close relationship between Netanyahu and Milchan. This was reflected in what one source described as a “more than direct line” to the prime minister. “He would pull him out from anywhere, at any time, on any occasion.”

Mossad Chief

In 2017, Israeli Police concluded their investigation into bribes from Milchan to Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen. Over a 15-year period, Cohen met Arnon Milchan dozens of times, both in Israel and abroad. Milchan was granted a place in Cohen's inner circle when he was still head of Israel's National Security Council under Netanyahu. In 2015, the prime minister appointed Cohen to head the Mossad.

Cohen's appointment as Mossad director by Netanyahu in December 2015 over two other candidates, including the deputy Mossad director, came as something of a surprise and was announced after an hour's delay, during which speculation was rife that Netanyahu was being pressured by external sources.

In 2000, after being passed over for a promotion, Cohen took a two-year unpaid leave of absence from the Mossad. During that time he moved to the U.S. and took a job working for a high-tech company, ImageID. The company’s owner was Israeli entrepreneur Moti Shneiberg. His partner in the business was Yariv Milchan, Arnon’s son.

In 2008, Milchan, along with James Packer, recruited Cohen as partner in a cyber security firm they planned to set up, Blue Sky International (BSI). In the end, Cohen was appointed Mossad chief and never joined the company.

Cohen also used Packer’s penthouse apartment in Tel Aviv’s Royal Beach Hotel for “intimate encounters ”with women other than his wife.

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References

This page imported content from Wikipedia on 25 January 2021.
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