The story of Ari Ben-Menashe, the so-called merchant of secrets, has received widespread attention on social media. He’s back in the spotlight with the Epstein case, but he was already a protagonist in Seymour Hersh’s 1991 book, The Samson Option.
Ari Ben-Menashe supports the theory that Epstein had ties to intelligence agencies, specifically the Mossad. Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli intelligence officer, stated in a 2020 interview with Russia’s RT International that both Epstein and Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine Maxwell’s father, were Mossad agents. According to Ben-Menashe, Epstein ran an intelligence-gathering and blackmail operation, using his homes, which were full of hidden cameras, to compromise powerful figures. On August 8, 2025, former Israeli intelligence officer Ari Ben-Menashe said live on television: “Epstein was used to frame several US presidents.” Speaking to Going Underground, Ben-Menashe claimed that Jeffrey Epstein worked for Israeli intelligence, conducting operations to frame and blackmail several US presidents.
Ari, whose name translates from Farsi as “Persian, Aryan,” navigated the interests of influential figures in security and politics. He worked for Israeli military intelligence, AMAN, but was willing to leak sensitive information on Israeli politics if necessary. He worked for the Americans, but even there, he was willing to talk about the scandalous arms sale to Iran. Ari had no doubt that sooner or later they would try to eliminate him, so he has always been skilled at leaking sensitive information to the public to save his life. Although many still consider him an “impostor.”
Ari Ben-Menashe was born in 1951 in Tehran, Iran, to Iranian-Jewish parents. As a child, his family moved to Israel, where he later served in the army. According to his own statements, from 1977 to 1987, he worked for the Israeli military intelligence agency AMAN, covering issues related to the Middle East and Iran. In the late 1980s, Ben-Menashe found himself at the center of a high-profile international scandal. He alleged that he participated in covert Israeli and US operations to supply weapons to Iran in exchange for political concessions and the release of hostages, incidents that later became known as the Iran-Contra affair.
In 1989, he was arrested in the United States on charges of illegally selling fighter jets to Iran, but a court acquitted him a year later. Ben-Menashe later emigrated to Canada, where he obtained citizenship and founded the consulting firm Dickens & Madson (Canada) Inc. Since the 1990s, Ben-Menashe has focused on lobbying and political consulting, specializing in countries with unstable regimes. He claims to have advised or represented the leaders of Zimbabwe, Congo, Sudan, Venezuela, and several other Middle Eastern and African politicians.
In 2020, his firm was commissioned by Sadyr Japarov, then acting president of Kyrgyzstan, to lobby in Washington. In 2021, Ben-Menashe signed a contract worth approximately $2 million with the Myanmar military, which came to power after the coup.
The merchant of secrets is particularly known for his direct involvement in the high-profile Iran-Contra affair, but numerous stamps in his passport indicate he has also conducted deals in other countries. He has not ignored Africa either. Ari has been spotted in Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, and Sudan. Ari currently resides in Canada, where he has already been questioned extensively by local intelligence agencies. He is 73 years old, but has not yet retired from the business world. In the last five years alone, he has already offered his services as a “political consultant” in Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Botswana, Kenya, and Palestine.
On September 10, 2025, it was learned from the social media sphere linked to the Palestinian Resistance that: “In recent months, a process has been taking place behind the scenes to install a new governor of Gaza, a prominent Palestinian businessman named Samir Hilila (Samir Huleileh). According to the parties involved, as well as documents submitted to the US Department of Justice, this is an attempt to bring into the sector someone who operates under the auspices of the Arab League, is acceptable to Israel and the United States, and makes it possible to deal with the ‘day after’ the war. Hilila is run, among others, by a controversial lobbyist, a former Israeli named Ari Ben Menashe, who operates from Canada. According to him, the initiative has gained momentum in recent weeks, in part thanks to meetings held on this issue in the United States and contacts made by Hilila in Egypt.”
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
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