98% of the money donated to Bibi Netanyahu for his 2007 Likud primary campaign came from abroad. Much of that from the U.S. Yediot has published (this is a Hebrew excerpt from a print-only investigative piece; English summary here) a prospect-list written in Bibi’s own hand which notes the potential donor names. What I don’t have (and would love an Israeli reader to provide) is an actual list of the donors and how much they gave, if such a thing exists.
The prospect list is eye-opening. It divides donors into four categories. The only ones that really concern us are 1 and 2 since few gifts came from any other group. Here are the names by group (I’ve only included names with which I’m familiar–if you see another name on the list which is significant and I should’ve included let me know, and why):
Group 1
Sheldon Adelson
Ronald Perelman
Steve Wynn
Ron Lauder
Ira Rennert
Arnon Milchan
Motti Ganz
Group 2
Rupert Murdoch
Thomas Lee
Sumner Redstone
Robert Kraft
Yediot cynically, but aptly calls this process Bibi’s “campaign fundraising industry” and the members of the list his “foreign legion.” This recalls the massive amounts of corporate and foreign money the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is funneling into U.S. Congressional races thanks to our craven corporatist Supreme Court.
Also interesting are the names of the moguls Bibi downgraded as unlikely to give, which include:
David Geffen
Sam Zell
Jimmy Tisch
Leonard Lauder
Ace Greenberg
Haim Saban
Henry Kravis
Les Wexner
Steve Ballmer
Lila Safra
Carl Icahn
Eli Broad
Micki Arison
Edgar Bronfman
Donald Trump
Mort Zuckerman
Zeev Wolfson
Can we say they exhibited a modicum of due and proper caution before investing with Bibi?
see here (hebrew): (sorry for all the confusing links, the state comptroller site is a piece of cr4p, but i am sure you will get the hang of it)
http://www.mevaker.gov.il/serve/showHtml.asp?bookid=507&id=2&frompage=18&contentid=9296&parentcid=9296&filename=4.htm&bctype=2&startpage=0&sw=1024&hw=530
BUT! late bibi ‘made’ 1/92 mil NIS:
http://www.mevaker.gov.il/serve/showHtml.asp?bookid=507&frompage=11&contentid=9294&parentcid=9292&direction=-2&frombutton=1&sw=1024&hw=530
http://www.mevaker.gov.il/serve/showHtml.asp?bookid=507&id=0&frompage=19&contentid=9296&parentcid=9296&direction=1&bctype=0&frombutton=0&startpage=0&sw=1024&hw=530
http://www.mevaker.gov.il/serve/showHtml.asp?bookid=507&id=0&frompage=20&contentid=9296&parentcid=9296&direction=1&bctype=0&frombutton=0&startpage=0&sw=1024&hw=530
btw, at the http://www.mevaker.gov.il you can find all the info you’d ever like about this, but! the asp links dont work for me, maybe they will for you.
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If Mr Murdoch paid over any money I would be:
A/ very surprised, as the dirty digger tends to expect politicians the world over to jump to his tune out of fear of his media empire and he might be insulted by the suggestion that he needs to bribe one.
B/ disgusted and very unlikely to read the Sun again.
None of the Reitmans are on the list: did Bibi think that he wasn’t extreme enough to enjoy their patronage?
This reminds me of how the US jiggered the mid-90s Russian elections so that Yeltsyn would win….when a person is that reliant on outsiders to pay the bills the question should be asked “is he his own man?”