Oracle executive pushed to ‘embed love for Israel’ in US culture as TikTok sale advances

As Israel intensifies its efforts to dominate online narratives amid global outrage over its genocide in Gaza, newly surfaced communications suggest that senior figures behind the $14 billion purchase of TikTok are motivated not only by concerns over Chinese influence, but by a desire to embed pro-Israel messaging into US culture.

A previously unreported 2015 email from Oracle CEO Safra Catz, uncovered by Responsible Statecraft, reveals an explicit commitment to shaping US public opinion in favour of Israel. Writing to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Catz stressed the importance of reaching young Americans before they arrive at university, where support for Palestine has grown dramatically.

“We have all been horrified by the growth of the BDS movement on college campuses and have concluded that we have to fight this battle before the kids even get to college,” Catz wrote mentioning the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement. “We believe that we have to embed the love and respect for Israel in the American culture. That means getting the message to the American people in a way they can consume it.”

The email was obtained via a hack of Barak’s account and has not been denied by Catz, though Oracle sources told Responsible Statecraft that “Safra will be nowhere near the algorithm of TikTok.”

Read: ‘PR Commando Unit’ unleashed by Israel to manipulate US discourse

Yet the timeline suggests otherwise. Until 22 September 2024, Catz served as Oracle CEO for more than a decade, during which she reportedly played a central role in negotiations surrounding the social media platform’s forced sale by Chinese parent company ByteDance. The $14 billion acquisition has been cast as a national security measure to block Chinese state influence, but critics warn the deal may simply shift foreign influence over US public discourse from Beijing to Tel Aviv.

Catz’s motivations align closely with those of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, now the world’s second wealthiest man and the single largest private donor to the Israeli military. In 2014, Ellison told Israeli media: “We love our country of Israel and we’ll do everything we can to support the country of Israel.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in remarks last week to a group of social media influencers, made clear what’s at stake. “The most important purchase going on right now is TikTok,” he said. “And I hope it goes through because it can be consequential.”

He added: “We have to fight the fight, to give direction to the Jewish people and give direction to our non-Jewish friends.”

Oracle and its key investors are joined by Republican megadonor Jeff Yass, whose foundation, according to Responsible Statecraft report contributed over $16 million to anti-Muslim and pro-Israel organisations between 2011 and 2019. One such recipient, the Jerusalem Online University, has pushed aggressively pro-Israel messaging to American students, in language critics say undermines academic neutrality.

This push to “embed” Israeli perspectives into digital platforms comes amid broader efforts by the Israeli state to assert control over the information space. Israel is paying paid social media influencers up to $7,000 per post to promote pro-Israel content, while also contracting US firms to shape how artificial intelligence tools—such as ChatGPT—respond to questions about Gaza and Palestine.

The $6 million contract with Clock Tower X LLC, led by former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale, includes plans to seed the internet with favourable content and manipulate search engine results using predictive SEO tools. These efforts aim to influence the online environment that trains AI models, effectively rewriting how machines and users alike understand the Gaza genocide.

As younger Americans continue to break with the US political establishment’s support for Israel—only 9 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds approve of its assault on Gaza, according to Gallup—TikTok has become a key battleground for shaping perception. According to Pew Research, 43 per cent of Americans under 30 get their news from TikTok.