How Will Mercenary Companies Manage to Enter Gaza?

Behinds the stories about "Sheriff Kahane" we find attempts by the private security industry to break into the Gaza Strip market

By Maayan Galili

Editor Stav Gerstel

Translation using Google Translate with minor edits by Bernice Keshet  

Date of original publication: 10/11/2024

Original Hebrew text: https://www.rosamedia.org/episodes/articles/58

On October 19th 2024, Israeli journalist Itamar Eichner published an article the news site Ynet claiming that the logistics and humanitarian aid company GDC, led by Israeli-American businessman Moti Kahane, “is expected to provide security services for the distribution of aid into Gaza”. Eichner claimed in the article that "the cabinet is expected to approve a plan to distribute humanitarian aid through GDC." Two days later, Eichner also published an interview with Kahane, in which Kahane laid out his plan to create "humanitarian bubbles" in Gaza in which his company would be "the new sheriff in the neighborhood." On October 28th, journalist Gur Megiddo published in the economic magazine The Marker that the Ynet article was misleading, in fact downright false. Kahane and the Defense Ministry denied that the plan described by Ynet was about to be implemented. Kahane even told The Marker that he "doesn't think the politicians in Israel will do the right thing and choose us, especially since I haven't supported the prime minister since 2011."

So is that all that the story comes down to? The Israeli media has spread fake news, and there is no intention to privatize the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza? After a conversation we had at Rosa Media with Moti Kahane, as well as a closer look at the various stories published in the media, a slightly different picture emerges. It turns out, not surprisingly, that there is indeed a significant lobbying effort by companies interested in a share of the privatization of humanitarian aid and its security – even if no contract has yet been signed. On the other hand, the original story published on Ynet seems to contain even more errors than indicated on The Marker, raising questions about the motives behind its publication.

The relationship between Kahane and the government

Since April, Kahane's offers to take on the distribution of humanitarian aid have been reported on by journalists Roy Kiss and Yosef Israel. Kahane referred to these publications many times on his Twitter account (now known as X), accusing Prime Minister Netanyahu of not promoting his company’s access to Gaza, thus endangering IDF soldiers who have to distribute humanitarian aid themselves. In his conversation with us, Kahane elaborated on the proposals he conveyed to cabinet members. He said that on October 8, 2023, he approached officials with a military record, "a former defence minister and former COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories – BK) commander," who knew him from his past work with the Good Neighbour Administration, which dealt with humanitarian aid to victims of the civil war in Syria, and suggested that they integrate his company into the operation of distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza. According to Kahane, this initial proposal did not receive a response from the army or the government. According to him, in the following months he continued to convey his proposals to the Prime Minister's Office through the Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and the National Security Council Chief Tzachi Hanegbi, to the US State Department and the White House. In March, Kahane claims to have spoken with Benny Gantz, then a cabinet member, about promoting the plan. That same month, Israel Hayom (Israel Hayom is a free daily newspaper generally associated with the government – BK) reported that Israel was considering using private contractors to bring aid into Gaza, and had even approached several companies on this topic. COGAT officials came back to Kahane in early 2024 and began meetings in which the involvement of GDC, Kahane’s company, in Israel's operations in Gaza was planned in depth, "on maps and aerial photographs." According to Kahane, the joint work with COGAT on these plans continued over the next few months, and The Marker noted that they had information confirming ongoing contact between GDC and the defence establishment in recent months.

The day before Ynet's October 19th publication, which prematurely crowned GDC as the company that would lead the pilot in Gaza, Eichner published that the cabinet would bring forth the use of American contractors to distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza for the approval of the Knesset. In a conversation with us, Kahane said that he saw the article in the media, where he learned this information for the first time, and even responded to it on his Twitter account. According to Kahane, he asked Eichner which companies the Prime Minister intended to bring into Gaza – and it was Eichner who told him that he "understood" it to mean GDC, while Kahane himself did not receive confirmation on this. At the time, the media published various reports about similar plans without mentioning Kahane or GDC. Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar reported on a plan that "got the green light from the White House" and is in discussions with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. According to Eldar, an unnamed American security company was supposed to create "sterile security strips" in the al-Atatra neighbourhood of Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip. Israel Hayom’s senior diplomatic correspondent Ariel Kahana also tweeted about the possibility of using American companies to distribute aid in Gaza on October 18th, and in The Marker's podcast on October 14th, journalists Sami Peretz and Eitan Avriel mentioned a similar plan. Although Eichner's report on Kahane and GDC was eventually found to be wrong, a series of these reports in various media outlets indicate that it is likely that such plans were indeed discussed by the Israeli government and the White House, and it is very likely that contact has been made with companies such as Kahane's.

Kahane often describes his plans as serving diplomatic and humanitarian purposes. In the interview with Ynet, he took pride in GDC being "the ones who will prepare the day-after in Gaza," and in a conversation with us, he explained that his company's advantage over the IDF in distributing humanitarian aid would reduce harm to innocent civilians in Gaza, save money and manpower for the army, and improve Israel's standing in the world. "It's the Israel Defense Forces, not the humanitarian aid army – it's not its job to do that," Kahane told us. However, the relationship so far between Kahane and his company and the army, according to media reports and as he described it to us, appears to be a classic lobbying effort. It appears that GDC and Kahane have connections in the military establishment and a clear interest in privatizing humanitarian aid to Gaza – and are also working to create an economic opportunity for themselves. Lobbying strategies by U.S. companies often include donations to political candidates — indeed, Kahane told us that he contributed to Kamala Harris' campaign in the 2020 Democratic primary. Kahane also explained to us that in his opinion, the chances of him getting the job will be higher if Harris wins the US presidential election – "If she wins, Netanyahu will have no choice and will have to move forward with the plan." Kahane also claimed that it was the U.S. administration that got back in touch with him last March and took the lead on establishing contact with him.

What is really behind GDC?

The Ynet article published on October 19th claimed that GDC is a security company that would be given the role of "securing humanitarian aid to Gaza." It also claims that the company employs 14,000 people, including former fighters from various countries’ elite units. These claims did not come up in other media outlets that covered the story and Kahane’s other activities, and our conversation with Kahane made it clear that they are misleading at best. GDC is not a security company but a "logistics" company that hires subcontractors in various fields. The true size of the company in terms of the number of employees is unclear - the company's website lists 9 "staff members", but Kahane clarified that they are not currently employed by the company but may be employed in its projects. In an article published in The Marker, it was revealed that Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, who is listed on the company's website as a director, does not have any financial ties to the company and has reservations about the way he is represented on the site.

Where did Ynet's false claim about the tens of thousands of skilled mercenaries employed by GDC come from? In a conversation with us, Kahane mentioned that he works with a set group of contractor companies in the field of security, who are active all over the world, and whose names he preferred not to mention, which would have provided security for GDC's activity in Gaza if it had materialised. Past reports on GDC's humanitarian aid activities in Ukraine state that the company works with the Constellis Group, which is also mentioned on the GDC's website as its partner. Constellis does fit Kahane's description as a "group of companies" operating in the field of security all over the world. It is a security company – a group of mercenaries in fact - which is the current incarnation of the company Blackwater.

Blackwater is notorious for its role in the Iraq War as a U.S. subcontractor, particularly for the 2007 massacre at Baghdad's Nisur Square, in which Blackwater security guards shot at Iraqi civilians, killing 17 and wounding 20 others. Following the damage to its reputation, the company changed its name and parted ways with Eric Prince, its controversial founder. Blackwater merged with another security company, and together they became Constellis, which is now owned by the American investment management company Apollo. So, it is reasonable to assume that the mercenaries of Constellis – formerly Blackwater – are the military force that would have taken responsibility for the "humanitarian bubbles" if Kahane's plan had come true. Since the plan Kahane is promoting is not limited to an innovative way of delivering humanitarian aid, and he explicitly talks about the use of "security contractors," his lobbying efforts to implement his plan can largely be seen as efforts to bring Constellis into the Gaza Strip.

Kahane also noted that the same group of mercenaries he hires as a subcontractor also works with another company, a competitor of his, which is also in contact with the Israeli government. "I understood that they were talking to the Israelis now, that Smotrich had brought them." If it is indeed Constellis, it seems that in this way, the company has got all sides covered. It works with logistics companies that are connected to various stakeholders in the political system, and in fact lobby for it – Kahane, who identifies himself with the Israeli and American center-left, as well as the competing company that is in contact with Smotrich. In this way, Constellis maintains its business opportunities and political connections independently of the vicissitudes of the political system.

The kernel of truth in the erroneous article published by Ynet is that there is indeed an attempt, on the part of Kahane and others, to open up business opportunities in the fields of "logistics and security" built on the death and terrible humanitarian crisis that Israel is creating and maintaining in Gaza, with no end in sight. It also turns out that the government and military are cooperating with this attempt, at least to some extent. There is repeated engagement with the lobbying efforts of the security companies, and various parties pass information to the media about them, perhaps as trial balloons to examine the public reaction. The role that such companies play is a risky one – they profit from multiple wars and humanitarian crises and are subject to much looser oversight than armies – and the connection between them and government officials, which Kahane and GDC present several examples of, is particularly frightening. "If Harris loses the election," Kahane concluded, "I will work in the next war or natural disaster."