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category: "Intelligence & Government"
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created: 2024-04-25
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updated: 2026-05-01
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tags:
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- Person
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- AriBenMenashe
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- Israel
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- Mossad
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- Military
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- PROMIS
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- INSLAW
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- October Surprise
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summary: "Ari Ben-Menashe is a self-proclaimed Israeli military intelligence officer who submitted affidavits to the House Judiciary Committee alleging Earl Brian sold PROMIS to Israeli intelligence and Singapore, then recanted to the Bua Report, admitting he had allowed investigators to assume he was referring to INSLAW's PROMIS to promote his book."
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- OctoberSurprise
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- IranContra
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- RobertMaxwell
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- JeffreyEpstein
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alias:
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- Ari Ben-Menashe
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- Ari Ben Menashe
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summary: "Ari Ben-Menashe is an Iranian-born Israeli-Canadian who describes himself as a former military-intelligence official and became a recurring source for claims about U.S.-Israeli arms dealing, the October Surprise, PROMIS, Robert Maxwell, and Jeffrey Epstein, claims repeatedly found uncorroborated and, by a congressional task force, not credible."
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born: 1951-12-04
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location: "Tehran, Iran"
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location: "Tehran, Iran; Montreal, Canada"
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created: 2024-04-25
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updated: 2026-06-20
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---
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[[Ari Ben-Menashe]] is a self-proclaimed [[Israel|Israeli]] military intelligence officer, born in Tehran, [[Iran]] in 1951 to affluent Iraqi Jewish parents. He is multilingual, speaking Arabic, English, French, Farsi, Hebrew, and Spanish. His father, Gourdji, was involved with [[LEHI]] (Stern Gang) and knew [[Yitzhak Shamir]].[^3]
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Ben-Menashe moved to Israel in 1966 at age 14. In 1969, while on Kibbutz Mishmar Hasharon, he was involved in the [[Michael Dennis Rohan]]/[[El Aqsa Mosque]] arson incident. He was recruited by [[SHABAK]] in 1972 but declined a spying role. He was drafted into military service in 1974, assigned to [[Unit 8200]] (Signals Intelligence) on the Iranian desk, where he claims to have broken the Iranian diplomatic code. In 1976, he claims involvement in uncovering a [[Lockheed Aircraft Company|Lockheed]] bribe scandal involving [[Shimon Peres]]. After refusing an assignment to the Rome listening station in 1977, he was court-martialed and released from military service.[^3]
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Ari Ben-Menashe is an Iranian-born Israeli-Canadian businessman, author, and lobbyist who describes himself as a former official of Israel's military intelligence, and who became a recurring source for claims about covert United States and Israeli arms dealing, the [[October Surprise]] theory, [[PROMIS]] software, [[Robert Maxwell]], and, in later years, [[Jeffrey Epstein]].[^1] He was born on December 4, 1951, in Tehran, [[Iran]], to an affluent Iraqi Jewish family; his father Gourdji was involved with [[LEHI]] (the Stern Gang) and knew [[Yitzhak Shamir]].[^3][^5] His allegations have been influential in conspiracy literature while being repeatedly assessed as unreliable by courts, congressional investigators, and journalists.[^2]
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### Intelligence Career
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### Claimed Intelligence Background
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The claims in this section are drawn from Ben-Menashe's own account in *Profits of War* and have not been independently verified. Multiple congressional investigations found Ben-Menashe's testimony "totally lacking in credibility" and "demonstrably false from beginning to end."[^2]
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By his own account, Ben-Menashe moved to Israel in 1966 at age 14, and in 1969, while on Kibbutz Mishmar Hasharon, was involved in the [[Michael Dennis Rohan]] [[El Aqsa Mosque]] arson incident. He says he was recruited by [[SHABAK]] in 1972 but declined a spying role, was drafted in 1974 and assigned to [[Unit 8200]] (signals intelligence) on the Iranian desk where he claims to have broken the Iranian diplomatic code, and that in 1976 he was involved in uncovering a [[Lockheed Aircraft Company|Lockheed]] bribe scandal involving [[Shimon Peres]]. After refusing an assignment to the Rome listening station in 1977, he says he was court-martialed and released from military service.[^5] He states that he then worked from 1977 to 1987 as a civilian in the External Relations Department of the Israeli [[Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel)|Military Intelligence Directorate]] (Aman), a role he has portrayed as giving him access to high-level arms-transfer and covert-operations decisions.[^1]
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In August 1977, he joined the External Relations Department of Israeli Military Intelligence (IDF/MI/ERD) as a civilian, serving as a liaison with Iranian intelligence ([[SAVAK]]) and exchanging technical information including details on [[Chobham armor]]. He claims to have met [[Mahmoud Amirian]] (Tudeh Party) and [[Sayeed Mehdi Kashani]] (Shi'ite opposition) at Tehran University in 1977 and to have warned Israeli intelligence of an impending Iranian Revolution in 1978. In March 1978, he claims to have undertaken a mission to [[Nicaragua]] to establish communication with the [[Sandinistas]], where he met [[Marie Fernanda]] (Freddie), who later became pregnant with their daughter, Herut. The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] dismissed his warnings about Iran in April 1978.[^3]
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Critics dispute the seniority he claims. Israel has generally characterized him as a low-level translator rather than a policy insider, and the journalist [[Steven Emerson]], writing in 1991, argued that Ben-Menashe had inflated a minor translating job into a record of "key positions."[^3] The Israeli government acknowledged that he had worked for military intelligence in a translation capacity but denied that he had held the senior operational role he described.[^7] The disagreement over his rank has shaped the reception of all his later claims, because his accounts of arms deals, the October Surprise, and Israeli operations rest on his asserted firsthand access rather than on corroborating documents or witnesses.[^2][^3]
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In December 1978, he claims involvement in a plan to assassinate [[Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]] alongside [[Rafael Eitan|Rafi]] and Col. Assaf Heftez. [[Ruth Ben-David]] acted as an emissary between [[Menachem Begin]] and Khomeini in December 1978. The Shah left Iran in January 1979, and F-14 jets were flown out by Israeli aircrews. He attended an Israel-U.S. intelligence exchange conference in September 1979 at which he criticized the U.S. attitude, including that of [[Jack Varona]], [[Robert Gates]], and [[Stansfield Turner]]. Following the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in November 1979, he observed [[Jimmy Carter]]'s handling of the situation and the involvement of the Hashemi brothers in arms-for-hostages contacts.[^3]
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### Arms Case and Acquittal
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### October Surprise Allegations
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Ben-Menashe first drew wide public attention when he was arrested in the United States in November 1989 and charged under the Arms Export Control Act with attempting to broker the sale of three Israeli-owned Lockheed [[C-130 Hercules]] transport aircraft to Iran, a deal valued at about 36 million dollars, using false end-user certificates.[^4] The prosecution was brought in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, where the related rulings carried the caption United States v. Menashe.[^14] He spent nearly a year in custody before a jury acquitted him and a co-defendant on November 28, 1990, after his defense argued, and the jury accepted, that he had been acting under the authority of the Israeli government in a transaction tied to Israel's arms dealings with Iran.[^4]
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The claims in this section are Ben-Menashe's own account from *Profits of War* and are presented as he recorded them. The House October Surprise Task Force found no evidence to substantiate his specific allegations.[^2]
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Israel denied that he had been authorized to act for it in the transaction, repeating the position that he had been only a translator.[^4] The acquittal nonetheless rested on the jury's willingness to credit his Israeli-agent defense, and he afterward cited the verdict as vindication of his broader account, even though the bodies that later examined his substantive claims rejected them.[^2][^6] The acquittal gave him a platform from which he expanded a series of claims about secret United States and Israeli arms networks, set out in his 1992 book [[Profits of War]].[^5]
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[[Miles Copeland]]'s group of CIA-connected officers, along with [[William J. Casey]], [[Robert McFarlane]], and [[Earl Brian]], became involved in secret negotiations with the Iranians. [[David Kimche]] (Mossad Tevel) initiated a secret arms supply to Iran via [[South Africa]] in September 1979. [[Rafael Eitan|Rafi]] established a network with Senator [[John Tower]], McFarlane, and Brian.[^3]
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### October Surprise and Iran-Contra Claims
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The first Madrid meeting (March 1980) involved [[Mehdi Karrubi]], Kashani, [[Ahmed Omshei]], Casey, McFarlane, and [[Donald Gregg]]. [[Shimon Peres]] also secretly met with Karrubi. The sale of tires to Iran in April 1980 led to [[Jimmy Carter]]'s anger. The [[Operation Eagle Claw]] rescue mission failed in April 1980. A second Madrid meeting in May 1980 included Karrubi, Kashani, Omshei, [[Khosro Fakhrieh]], Casey, Gates, McFarlane, and Brian, where Republicans were observed delaying hostage release for political gain. The [[KGB]] made inquiries about Israeli intelligence in 1980. The Israeli Cabinet issued a directive in August 1980 to cooperate with the Republican camp.[^3]
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In Profits of War and in congressional testimony, Ben-Menashe alleged that Israeli officials, working with figures around the 1980 [[Ronald Reagan]] presidential campaign, arranged arms sales to Iran in exchange for delaying the release of American hostages until after the November 1980 election, the scenario known as the October Surprise.[^5] He claimed to have witnessed a Paris meeting in October 1980 attended by [[George H.W. Bush]], the campaign manager [[William J. Casey|William Casey]], and Iranian representatives.[^6]
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An Amsterdam meeting in August 1980 involved Kashani, Iranian officials, and [[Cyrus Husseinzadeh]] (SAVAMA), where an Iranian arms shopping list was presented. The Iraqi invasion of Iran occurred in September 1980. A fourth Madrid/Barcelona meeting involved [[George H.W. Bush]] and Karrubi.[^3]
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His detailed account named a sequence of secret meetings. He described [[Miles Copeland]]'s group of CIA-connected officers, Casey, [[Robert McFarlane]], and [[Earl Brian]] entering negotiations with the Iranians, and [[David Kimche]] of Mossad initiating an arms supply to Iran via [[South Africa]] in 1979. He placed first and second Madrid meetings in March and May 1980 involving [[Mehdi Karrubi]], Casey, McFarlane, [[Donald Gregg]], [[Robert Gates]], and Brian; an Amsterdam meeting in August 1980; and the October 1980 Paris meeting at which he says the hostage-release deal was sealed and after which he received 56 million dollars in [[Guatemala]] in December 1980, with 4 million for Brian and 52 million for the Iranian intermediary Kashani. The hostages were released on Reagan's inauguration day, January 20, 1981.[^5] He further alleged a 1980 to 1981 [[Iran-Israel Joint Committee]] arms pipeline, a role in the June 7, 1981 [[Israel Air Force]] strike on Iraq's Tammuz nuclear reactor, the recruitment of Daily Mirror foreign editor [[Nicholas Davies]] by Mossad, and the use of a slush fund (the [[Ora Group]]) to finance the [[Likud Party]] and "black" operations including, in his telling, the 1985 [[Achille Lauro]] hijacking.[^5]
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A Paris meeting in October 1980 included Bush, Casey, Karrubi, Gates, [[George Cave]], Gregg, Kimche, [[Shmuel Morieh]], [[Uri Simchoni]], Rafi, Ben-Menashe, and [[Simon Gabbay]], where the hostage release deal was sealed. Ben-Menashe received $56 million in [[Guatemala]] in December 1980 from a Saudi ambassador ([[Faissal Ghows]]), with $4 million designated for Brian and $52 million for Kashani. He met Gates at Miami airport for the money transfer. Profits from tire and wheelbase sales ($956,000) were used to initiate a slush fund. The hostages were released on [[Ronald Reagan]]'s inauguration day, January 20, 1981.[^3]
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In the fall of 1980, the [[Iran-Israel Joint Committee]] was formed to supply arms to Iran, with initial members including Kimche, Morieh, Simchoni, [[Moshe Hebroni]], Rafi, and Ben-Menashe. In February 1981, at a Vienna arms supply conference, a $1 billion deal was struck for F-4 parts, artillery shells, mortars, AK-47s, air-to-surface missiles, Chieftain tank engines, and C-130s. Ben-Menashe made his first trip to post-revolutionary Tehran in February 1981 under the alias "William Grace," meeting Iranian Defense Ministry officials and the Air Force commander. Concerns about the Iraqi nuclear reactor ([[Tammuz 17]]) led to a Mossad operation to plant a homing device.[^3]
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A meeting in southern France in March 1981 between [[Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr]] and [[Moshe Arens]] fixed June 7 for the reactor attack. The [[Israel Air Force]] attacked Tammuz 17 on June 7, 1981, with pilots including Col. [[Yoram Eitan]] and [[Yair Shamir]]. Weapons flights from Ben-Gurion Airport to Tehran via Argentinean charters began in March 1981. A [[KGB]] inquiry about the flights led to a Soviet shootdown of a cargo plane in July 1981.[^3]
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The [[Ora Group]] was formed as a flagship for the slush fund. A New York operation on John Street was established for electronic equipment but was compromised when a Swiss woman leaked information to [[Leslie M. Gelb]] of the New York Times. Rafi used South African intelligence to deal with the Swiss woman.[^3]
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A strategic U.S.-Israeli agreement involving [[Ariel Sharon]], Gates, and McFarlane allowed the resale of older U.S. arms. Money from arms sales was routed through U.S. banks including Chicago-Tokyo Bank, Chemical Bank, Bank One, and Valley National Bank of Arizona. Smokescreen operations involved private arms brokers including [[John Hortrich]] (alias John de Laroque) and [[Bernard Velliot]]. [[Nicholas Davies]], foreign editor of the London Daily Mirror, was recruited by Mossad.[^3]
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A [[TOW missile]] deal in 1983 involved [[Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani]] and Kashani, with a deception campaign involving [[Arieh Jacobson]] and [[Abraham Bar David]]. A T-80 tank was acquired from Iran in 1985. The slush fund financed the [[Likud Party]] (under [[Yitzhak Shamir]] and [[Ehud Olmert]]) and "black" operations.[^3]
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[[Mohammed Radi Abdullah]], a former Jordanian Army Colonel, was involved in "black" operations selling arms to Palestinian groups including [[Abu Nidal]] for intelligence purposes. The [[Achille Lauro]] hijacking in 1985 is described by Ben-Menashe as an Israeli "black" propaganda operation. Contributions were made to [[AIPAC]] and the Jewish Reform Movement. The Mossad European headquarters moved to London in 1982.[^3]
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During the [[Falklands War]], Israel froze arms sales to [[Argentina]], and the [[United Kingdom]] reimbursed Israel. [[Australia]] was used for "parking purposes" for C-130s from [[Vietnam]], artillery shells from [[North Korea]], TOW missiles, and [[Silkworm missile]]s from [[China]].[^3]
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A contribution was made to the West Australian Labor Party in February 1987, involving [[Richard Babayan]], Brian, [[Hadron]], [[Yosef Goldberg]], [[Alan Bond]], [[John Curtin Foundation]], [[Robert Maxwell]], and the Pergamon Press Trust Fund.[^3]
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No official body endorsed this account. The [[House October Surprise Task Force]], chaired by Representative [[Lee Hamilton]], published its joint report on January 3, 1993, and rejected it, saying it had conclusive evidence from travel and passport records that Ben-Menashe was not in Paris when he claimed to have witnessed the meeting, and describing his testimony as "totally lacking in credibility," "demonstrably false from beginning to end," and "a total fabrication."[^6] A separate review of the Iran-Contra-related allegations conducted under Attorney General [[William Barr]] likewise found no credible basis for his key claims, and an earlier Senate examination reached similar conclusions.[^6][^7]
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### PROMIS Affidavits and INSLAW
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After [[Danny Casolaro]]'s death in August 1991, Ben-Menashe called [[Bill Hamilton]], president of [[INSLAW]], and claimed that two FBI agents from Lexington, Kentucky - including one named E.B. Cartinhour - had been en route to Martinsburg to give Casolaro evidence that the FBI was illegally using PROMIS software. He stated one agent was disaffected because his superiors had refused to indict senior Reagan officials for their October Surprise role.[^1]
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After the journalist [[Danny Casolaro]]'s death in August 1991, Ben-Menashe called [[Bill Hamilton]], president of [[INSLAW|Inslaw]], and claimed that two FBI agents from Lexington, Kentucky, had been en route to Martinsburg to give Casolaro evidence that the FBI was illegally using PROMIS software, one of them disaffected because his superiors had refused to indict senior Reagan officials over the October Surprise.[^19] In affidavits submitted to the bankruptcy court in February and March 1991, he claimed personal knowledge of Earl Brian's involvement in international PROMIS distribution, alleging that Brian made a 1987 presentation to Israeli Military Intelligence claiming ownership of PROMIS rights, that [[Rafael Eitan]] received PROMIS from Brian and McFarlane in 1982 for Israeli signals intelligence, and that enhanced PROMIS was sold to the Israeli intelligence community, the Singapore Armed Forces, the Soviet Union, and Canada.[^20] These PROMIS-distribution claims were later amplified by [[Seymour Hersh]] in [[The Samson Option]] and [[Gordon Thomas]] in [[Gideon's Spies]].[^8][^9]
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In two affidavits dated February 17 and March 21, 1991, submitted to the Bankruptcy Court, Ben-Menashe claimed personal knowledge of Brian's involvement in international PROMIS distribution. He alleged Brian made a 1987 presentation to Israeli Military Intelligence's External Relations Department claiming ownership of PROMIS rights and stating that the CIA, NSA, DOJ, and Israeli intelligence had been using the software since 1982. He further alleged a 1982 meeting at which [[Rafael Eitan]] received PROMIS from Brian and McFarlane for the Israeli Defense Force Signals Intelligence unit. He claimed knowledge of the 1987 sale of Enhanced PROMIS to the Israeli intelligence community and the Singapore Armed Forces, a public-domain version sold by the Israeli government to the Soviet Union, and an enhanced version sold to Canada.[^2]
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The special counsel [[Nicholas Bua]], in his 1993 report on the Inslaw affair, rejected these claims. When interviewed, Ben-Menashe gave a substantially different account, stating that he had no knowledge of the transfer of Inslaw's proprietary software, and that the "PROMIS" in his affidavits referred not to Inslaw's product but to an NSA program he called "Milon," a dictionary-compilation tool developed independently before Inslaw existed; he admitted he had allowed the Hamiltons and others to assume he meant Inslaw's PROMIS "to promote his book."[^20] The NSA confirmed that its own internal Product Related On-line Management Information System, also called PROMIS, was written in M204 rather than COBOL and was wholly unrelated to Inslaw's software. The House October Surprise Task Force, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and the special counsel all found his testimony fabricated and unsupported.[^10][^20]
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### Credibility Assessment
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### Claims about Robert Maxwell
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Special Counsel [[Nicholas J. Bua]]'s investigation found Ben-Menashe's claims unsupported by credible evidence. When interviewed, Ben-Menashe provided a substantially different account: he stated he had no knowledge of the transfer of INSLAW's proprietary software by Brian or DOJ. He claimed the "PROMIS" in his affidavits referred not to INSLAW's PROMIS but to an NSA program called "Milon" (phonetic), a dictionary-compilation tool developed independently of INSLAW before the company existed. He admitted he allowed the Hamiltons and others to assume he meant INSLAW's PROMIS "to promote his book." The NSA confirmed its internal Product Related On-line Management Information System, also called PROMIS, was written in M204 rather than COBOL, served entirely different functions, and was wholly unrelated to INSLAW's software.[^2]
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Ben-Menashe alleged that the publisher Robert Maxwell and Nicholas Davies were long-time assets of Israeli intelligence and that Maxwell had close ties to the prime minister's office.[^5] One specific claim concerned the 1986 case of the nuclear technician [[Mordechai Vanunu]], whose account of [[Dimona]] reached the Maxwell-owned [[Sunday Mirror]]; Ben-Menashe said Davies alerted Israeli intelligence to the approach and introduced him to Vanunu's intermediary [[Oscar Guerrero]], and that a Vanunu photograph published by the Sunday Mirror had been flown in from Israel, although the photograph in question had in fact been taken by the [[Sunday Times]] journalist [[Peter Hounam]], undercutting that detail.[^15] Hersh's 1991 book and the parliamentary statements that followed brought the Maxwell allegations into the open shortly before Maxwell's death, and Maxwell sued Hersh for libel before the action lapsed.[^8] No declassified material has confirmed the allegations.[^2]
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The House October Surprise Task Force, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Special Counsel all found Ben-Menashe's testimony "totally lacking in credibility," "fabricated," and "demonstrably false from beginning to end." The October Surprise Task Force found no evidence for his specific allegations regarding a Casey-Brian trip to Iran. The Special Counsel concluded that Ben-Menashe's account offered no evidentiary support for the allegation that DOJ and Brian conspired to steal and distribute INSLAW's software.[^2]
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### Epstein and Maxwell Allegations
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Beginning in 2019, Ben-Menashe gave interviews, including to the journalist [[Whitney Webb]] of MintPress News and to the outlet Narativ, in which he claimed that he had met Jeffrey Epstein and [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] in the 1980s, that he had seen Epstein in Robert Maxwell's offices, and that Maxwell had recruited Epstein for Israeli intelligence and introduced him as pre-approved by figures in Aman.[^11] He characterized the later Epstein operation as a "honeytrap" that gathered sexual blackmail material on powerful figures for Israeli intelligence.[^11]
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No corroborating witness, document, or official admission has been produced to support these specific claims, and reviewers have noted that they rest solely on his own assertions against a documented record of unreliability.[^2][^12] His account also conflicts with the established chronology of Epstein's career, since Epstein's documented entry into Ghislaine Maxwell's circle is generally dated to the period after Robert Maxwell's 1991 death rather than to the 1980s meetings Ben-Menashe described.[^12] He has continued to make related claims, including a 2025 assertion that [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] held Epstein-related files, that likewise remain unverified.[^12]
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### Lobbying and Consulting
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After his intelligence-related notoriety, Ben-Menashe built a lobbying and consulting practice through the [[Montreal]]-based firm [[Dickens & Madson]], representing controversial governments and figures.[^13] His involvement with the government of [[Robert Mugabe]] in [[Zimbabwe]] featured in the treason prosecution of the opposition leader [[Morgan Tsvangirai]], built on a videotape in which prosecutors said Tsvangirai discussed the "elimination" of Mugabe with Ben-Menashe; Tsvangirai was acquitted of high treason on October 14, 2004, by Judge [[Paddington Garwe]] of the Harare High Court, who found no proof of the alleged request, ruled that Ben-Menashe's testimony had to be treated with caution, and called some of it clearly false.[^16]
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He later registered a 2 million dollar contract in March 2021 to lobby for the [[Myanmar]] military junta after its coup, agreeing to advise on evading United States sanctions, and took on engagements connected to [[Sudan]] and its militia leader [[Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo]], a roughly 12 million dollar Zimbabwe land transaction funded by the criminal financier [[Paul Le Roux]] in 2007 and 2008 in which the promised farmland was never delivered, a reported 1 million dollar arrangement with [[Kyrgyzstan]], and work tied to [[Libya]], the [[Republic of the Congo]], [[Venezuela]], and the [[Tigray]] conflict in [[Ethiopia]].[^13][^17] Washington figures quoted in profiles of his career described his reputation as "poisonous."[^13]
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### The McFarlane Libel Suit
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The former national security adviser Robert McFarlane sued Ben-Menashe and the publisher of Profits of War, Sheridan Square Press, for libel over passages that linked McFarlane to the covert dealings Ben-Menashe described.[^18] The case, McFarlane v. Sheridan Square Press, reached the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which ruled in 1996. Applying the [[actual malice]] standard required for a public figure, the court held that McFarlane could not show the publisher had acted with reckless disregard for the truth merely because Ben-Menashe was a doubtful source, and it affirmed dismissal of the suit. The outcome turned on the high bar a public-figure plaintiff must clear rather than on any finding that Ben-Menashe's account was true.[^18]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010.
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[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993.
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[^3]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* TrineDay, 1992.
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[^1]: "Ari Ben-Menashe - Biography," *JewAge.* https://www.jewage.org/wiki/en/Article:Ari_Ben-Menashe_-_Biography
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[^2]: "Who is Ari Ben-Menashe, what is his track record as a source," *Factually,* 2025. https://factually.co/fact-checks/media/ari-ben-menashe-track-record-israeli-intelligence-source-epstein-claims-evaluation-ec9ba6
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[^3]: Emerson, Steven. "The Samson Option, by Seymour M. Hersh," *Commentary,* 1991. https://www.commentary.org/articles/steven-emerson/the-samson-option-by-seymour-m-hersh/
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[^4]: "2 Acquitted of Trying to Sell Military Cargo Planes to Iran," *The Washington Post,* 1990. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/11/29/2-acquitted-of-trying-to-sell-military-cargo-planes-to-iran/2918bfd6-89a7-441a-a124-3b1916e90321/
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[^5]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* Sheridan Square Press, 1992.
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[^6]: "Probe by House finds no 'October surprise,'" *The Baltimore Sun,* 1993. https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1993-01-13-1993013111-story.html
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[^7]: "Espionage: Con Man or Key to a Mystery?," *Time,* 1991. https://time.com/archive/6718038/espionage-con-man-or-key-to-a-mystery/
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[^8]: "Fact or fiction? The claims of Ari Ben-Menashe," *Green Left,* 1992. https://www.greenleft.org.au/1992/42/fact-or-fiction-claims-ari-ben-menashe
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[^9]: Pipes, Daniel. "Gideon's Spies by Gordon Thomas," *Commentary,* 1999. https://www.commentary.org/articles/daniel-pipes/gideons-spies-by-gordon-thomas/
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[^10]: "No wrong-doing in Inslaw affair, report says," *UPI,* 1993. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/06/17/No-wrong-doing-in-Inslaw-affair-report-says/5482740289600/
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[^11]: "Former Israeli Spy Ari Ben-Menashe on Israel's Relationship with Epstein," *MintPress News,* 2019. https://www.mintpressnews.com/ari-ben-menashe-israel-relationship-jeffrey-epstein/263465/
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[^12]: "What did Ari Ben-Menashe claim about Jeffrey Epstein," *Factually,* 2025. https://factually.co/fact-checks/media/ari-ben-menashe-claims-jeffrey-epstein-mossad-d56c30
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[^13]: "The Man of Mystery Hustling Myanmar," *Washington Monthly,* 2021. https://washingtonmonthly.com/2021/03/13/the-man-of-mystery-hustling-myanmar/
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[^14]: United States v. Menashe, 741 F. Supp. 1135 (S.D.N.Y. 1990).
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[^15]: "The Vanunu affair and the Sunday Mirror photograph," contemporaneous press reporting noting the photograph was taken by Sunday Times journalist Peter Hounam, undercutting Ben-Menashe's account.
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[^16]: "Tsvangirai acquitted of treason in Zimbabwe," *The Globe and Mail,* 2004. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/tsvangirai-acquitted-of-treason-in-zimbabwe/article18275151/
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[^17]: "The Curious Case of Bishkek's $1 Million Deal With Ex-Israeli Intelligence Worker," *Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,* 2021. https://www.rferl.org/a/the-curious-case-of-bishkek-s-1-million-deal-with-ex-israeli-intelligence-worker-/31033365.html
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[^18]: McFarlane v. Sheridan Square Press, Inc., 91 F.3d 1501 (D.C. Cir. 1996).
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[^19]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010, on Ben-Menashe's call to Bill Hamilton after Casolaro's death.
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[^20]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993, on the PROMIS affidavits, the "Milon" recantation, and the finding that Ben-Menashe's account offered no evidentiary support for the Inslaw allegations.
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