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[00:00:00] Alan, you did an investigation looking [00:00:02] into Oracle, which has extremely close [00:00:06] links to both US and Israeli [00:00:09] intelligence. And of course, we have to [00:00:11] remember that Tik Tok is the number one [00:00:13] app for young people right now. So, tell [00:00:16] us more about this and what you found. [00:00:19] >> Yeah, well, a lot of people don't know [00:00:21] anything about Oracle or about its [00:00:23] founder and CEO, Larry Ellison. Oracle [00:00:26] is the fourth biggest tech company in [00:00:27] the world, but it doesn't really sell to [00:00:29] consumers. It sells to businesses. It [00:00:31] sells gigantic databases and other [00:00:34] software to businesses. And they don't [00:00:36] know about Larry Ellison despite the [00:00:38] fact he's the world's second richest [00:00:40] person. And his uh son is just about to [00:00:43] buy CBS news as well. Uh Ellison got his [00:00:47] career started by working for the CIA. [00:00:50] And in fact, Oracle is named after [00:00:52] project Oracle, which was a CIA project [00:00:55] that uh Ellison worked uh on back in the [00:00:58] 1970s. And for years, Oracle didn't have [00:01:00] a single customer except the CIA until [00:01:03] it started bidding on other contracts [00:01:06] for the US military and other [00:01:07] three-letter agencies. So ultimately, [00:01:11] Oracle and Ellison made their billions [00:01:14] being the private face of the CIA. The [00:01:17] CIA doesn't want to do things inhouse [00:01:19] anymore. would much rather uh outsource [00:01:21] these things to private companies who [00:01:23] are not under the discretion of the [00:01:25] Freedom of Information Act. And you [00:01:27] know, journalists don't snoop into uh [00:01:30] private companies uh dealings as much as [00:01:32] they would if it was the uh CIA. But [00:01:35] Ellison is an extraordinarily [00:01:38] uh powerful man within Silicon Valley [00:01:40] and he is also a pro-Israel zealot. In [00:01:43] fact, I would say he's probably Israel's [00:01:45] most powerful supporter in Washington, [00:01:48] who is not actually a politician. Uh [00:01:51] Ellison is the IDF's largest donor. He [00:01:55] uh he in 2017 gave $16.6 million in one [00:02:00] check alone to the Friends of the IDF, [00:02:04] which if people don't know is a quote [00:02:06] unquote charity in the United States, [00:02:08] which buys equipment and supplies for [00:02:10] IDF soldiers. Um they hold these big [00:02:14] gallas in Hollywood and get people like [00:02:16] Farel Williams and Jera Butler to get on [00:02:19] stage and say wonderful things about how [00:02:21] uh you know wonderful [00:02:24] um the IDF and Israel is but Ellison [00:02:28] apart from making billions his real [00:02:30] passion in life is supporting Israel and [00:02:32] the Israeli project. Here's a quote from [00:02:34] uh one of these gallas he was attending. [00:02:37] He got up on stage and said this quote, [00:02:39] "In my mind, there is no greater honor [00:02:41] than supporting the bravest people in [00:02:43] the world. And I thank the friends of [00:02:45] the IDF for allowing us to celebrate and [00:02:48] support these soldiers year after year. [00:02:50] We should all do what we can to show [00:02:52] these heroic soldiers that they are not [00:02:54] alone." So that's really Ellison's uh [00:02:57] mindset. He actually offered Benjamin [00:02:59] Netanyahu a place on Oracle's board [00:03:01] recently when it looked just before the [00:03:04] Gaza uh genocide. looked like Net [00:03:06] Netanyahu might be getting forced out in [00:03:09] Israel. That salary was replete, sorry, [00:03:12] that position was replete with a salary [00:03:13] of reportedly about half a million [00:03:15] dollars. Ellison used to fly Netanyahu [00:03:18] out to his private island um to so they [00:03:22] could holiday together. The CEO of [00:03:24] Oracle is also an Israeli. Her name is [00:03:26] Saffric Catz. when Oracle employees [00:03:29] started um protesting uh the company's [00:03:33] very close relationship with Israel, she [00:03:35] told them the whole purpose of Oracle [00:03:37] from the start was to support Israel. [00:03:39] This is a quote from Saffric Catz, the [00:03:41] CEO of Oracle. [00:03:43] We are not flexible regarding our [00:03:45] mission and our commitment to Israel is [00:03:47] second to none. Larry Ellison and I are [00:03:50] publicly committed to Israel and devote [00:03:52] personal time to the country. And that's [00:03:54] the end of the quote. and she said those [00:03:56] who don't accept that should just leave [00:03:58] and uh go somewhere else. So ultimately [00:04:01] Oracle is [00:04:03] a an organization that should be nowhere [00:04:06] near um owning or uh having any say [00:04:10] within uh our means of communication or [00:04:13] our media outlets. So you know we're [00:04:15] seeing this company take over CBS. Looks [00:04:18] like they're going to be taking over Tik [00:04:19] Tok as well. that bodess very very badly [00:04:22] for freedom of speech online and also um [00:04:25] a diversity of opinion in US corporate [00:04:27] media as well. [00:04:30] >> Well, that's quite the bromance you [00:04:32] broke down between Larry Ellison and uh [00:04:34] BB Netanyahu, but it really just goes to [00:04:37] show just the the way in which the [00:04:41] Israeli intelligence tentacles are [00:04:43] really taking over uh the US tech [00:04:46] industry. Um, and I know we have a lot [00:04:49] of British viewers um, tuned in right [00:04:51] now. So, I we have a special question [00:04:53] for them or not for them, but for you [00:04:55] about um, the UK. Um, for our British [00:04:59] viewers, people should know about just [00:05:01] how ingratiated this company is with the [00:05:04] UK state, with the British state. This [00:05:07] company, which you have outlined, [00:05:09] Oracle, is basically a front group for [00:05:12] US intelligence, has access to much of [00:05:15] the UK's most sensitive information and [00:05:18] data, including health and military [00:05:21] records, and I think every British [00:05:23] citizen should be raising um hell about [00:05:27] this. Talk to us more about this [00:05:29] connection, Alan. [00:05:32] >> Oh, yeah. I mean, Oracle now has access [00:05:34] and is pretty much in charge of a wide [00:05:37] swath of public and military data, [00:05:39] including some of the most um important [00:05:42] personal data that we have in the United [00:05:44] Kingdom. An example of this is for is in [00:05:48] 2020 uh Oracle won a gigantic contract [00:05:51] with the UK Ministry of Defense to [00:05:53] provide it with cloud infrastructure, [00:05:55] digital assistance, data visualization [00:05:58] software, development tools, the whole [00:06:01] shebang really. The British military uh [00:06:04] at least the Ministry of Defense [00:06:05] basically runs on Oracle software now. [00:06:08] And you know, the army is not the only [00:06:11] British institution that's entrusting [00:06:13] its most important and critical data to [00:06:16] this US-based firm. The Home Office, for [00:06:19] example, the Office of National [00:06:20] Statistics, and very importantly, the [00:06:23] NHS, the National Health Service, also [00:06:25] rely on Oracle databases to function. [00:06:28] So, you know, what does that mean? That [00:06:30] means that uh this Larry Ellison guy [00:06:33] presumably has access to all of our [00:06:36] medical records and given his um given [00:06:39] his uh closeness with both the CIA and [00:06:42] with the Israeli National Security [00:06:44] State, that should really be raising [00:06:46] enormous alarm bells. Um even years [00:06:49] before uh signing this Ministry of [00:06:51] Defense agreement that I was talking [00:06:52] about just earlier, Oracle uh and Larry [00:06:56] Helison had really been um pushing [00:06:58] themselves into the British [00:07:00] establishment, employing all manner of [00:07:02] really well-connected individuals at [00:07:05] their foundation. I mean, just an [00:07:07] example, uh Larry Ellison and the Oracle [00:07:10] Foundation um employed the father-in-law [00:07:14] of Boris Johnson while Boris Johnson was [00:07:16] prime minister. Uh his name is Matthew [00:07:18] Simons and he reportedly earned around [00:07:21] $600,000 a year for being the executive [00:07:24] director of the Larry Ellison [00:07:26] Foundation. Richard Meredith again uh [00:07:29] the longtime director of the UK foreign [00:07:31] and Commonwealth uh office was also [00:07:33] snapped up on a similar salary uh to [00:07:36] become executive director. And suddenly [00:07:38] when uh you know Oracle got all of these [00:07:41] uh contracts, the Larry Ellison [00:07:43] Foundation was closed down which you [00:07:45] know does raise some questions about uh [00:07:47] potential corruption issues there. Larry [00:07:50] Ellison of course or at least his [00:07:51] foundation bankrolled the Tony Blair [00:07:53] Institute for Global Change as well. So [00:07:56] you know Ellison likes to support former [00:07:59] Conservative prime ministers but also [00:08:01] former Labor prime ministers as well. So [00:08:03] he's he's like an equal opportunity [00:08:05] oligarch in that sense. But for sure, [00:08:07] for the rest of us, this is a very [00:08:09] worrying and very concerning development [00:08:12] because we really shouldn't want people [00:08:14] with this much power and this much [00:08:16] connections to have the sort of [00:08:18] influence they do over the military, [00:08:20] over the health service and the home [00:08:22] office as well. That spells disaster for [00:08:25] democracy. [00:08:28] >> Absolutely. And if I was somebody who is [00:08:30] in Britain, I would definitely be [00:08:32] concerned with this information. and [00:08:35] Allan, we really appreciate you joining [00:08:37] us. I know you right now you're in [00:08:38] Singapore. It's like 400 a.m. and you [00:08:40] just laid out all of these facts so [00:08:42] eloquently. Um, so thank you so much for [00:08:45] being here. And as everybody has heard, [00:08:47] this is the kind of coverage and [00:08:49] investigations that we provide at Mit [00:08:51] Press News. And right now we are [00:08:55] actually um in a in a place where we [00:08:57] might have to shut down because one of [00:08:59] our lines of funding has been cut. So, [00:09:01] we launched a fundraiser on Indiegogo [00:09:03] and we hope that you will join our [00:09:06] campaign to support the incredible work [00:09:08] that we provide at Mit Press News. As [00:09:10] you just heard from the very mouth of [00:09:12] one of our leading investigative [00:09:14] journalists, senior staff writer Alan [00:09:17] Mloud.