[Salon] Vision 2030's Secret Partner: how Saudi Arabia is quietly funding Israel's tech and military

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

Vision 2030's Secret Partner: how Saudi Arabia is quietly funding Israel's tech and military

Summary: Saudi Arabia, through its Public Investment Fund (PIF), has been deepening its relationship with Israel by investing in Israeli firms and companies that support the occupation and genocide in Palestine. These financial dealings, facilitated by figures like Jared Kushner, are part of a broader plan to normalise relations and advance Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030.

When Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched his ambitious Vision 2030 in 2016, he knew it would require significant technology, funding, and political influence. Fortunately for him, Israel appeared to offer a solution. As the Jerusalem Post explained in February 2025:  

‘Recent reports indicate that Neom is facing significant financial challenges, with rising costs and delays leading to concerns about the project’s feasibility. This is one obvious area where Israeli hi-tech could help the development... Israel is a global leader in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, while Saudi Arabia aims to be an active AI player by 2030.... A formal Saudi-Israel relationship could open the door to increased Western and Israeli investment in Saudi Arabia, particularly in sectors such as technology, cybersecurity, and renewable energy... Saudi-Israeli normalisation could undoubtedly help Vision 2030 reach its objectives by attracting investment, fostering technological growth, and expanding tourism.’

While official normalisation remains a subject of discussion, behind-the-scenes, Israel and Saudi Arabia have been collaborating for years. In 2020, Israelis were first legally permitted to travel to Saudi Arabia for conferences and sporting events. Saudi national security officials appeared publicly with their Israeli counterparts. That same year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a secret meeting in Neom with Mohammed bin Salman, as well as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Mossad Director Yossi Cohen. In 2022, after Netanyahu was interviewed by Al Arabiya and Saudi airspace was opened to Israeli aircraft, dozens of Israeli tech entrepreneurs and businesspeople flew to Saudi Arabia, resulting in signed agreements in both the civilian and defence sectors.

This growing relationship was part of a broader plan to prepare the Saudi people and the wider Arab and Muslim world for impending official normalisation. Yasser Al Rumayyan, head of Saudi Arabia's $620 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF), has been instrumental in this process, using financial maneuvers to foster normalisation. While Saudi money has flowed into Israeli firms, Israeli firms have also increased their investments in the kingdom.

The foundation for this two-way investment was laid in 2021 when Jared Kushner persuaded the Saudi Public Investment Fund to pay him $2 billion for his fledgling company, Affinity Partners. This was despite concerns from the fund’s advisers about “the inexperience of the Affinity Fund management”; the possibility that the kingdom would be responsible for “the bulk of the investment and risk”; due diligence on the fledgling firm’s operations which found them to be “unsatisfactory in all aspects”; a proposed asset management fee that “seems excessive”; and “public relations risks” from Mr. Kushner’s prior role as a senior adviser to his father-in-law.

Kushner went on to purchase stakes in two Israeli companies: Shlomo Group and Phoenix Financial. As Arab Digest has previously reported, the Shlomo Group manages transportation and supplies for the Israeli occupation forces. Phoenix Financial is one of Israel’s top financial services companies, offering insurance and asset management services, and holding shares in other Israeli companies. In March, an investigation by Middle East Eye found that Phoenix’s subsidiaries include 11 public companies and one private company with links to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. The UN Human Rights Office compiled a database of these businesses.

Images from the home of the pederast and suspected Israeli spy Jeffrey Epstein show photos of him with the Saudi dictator Mohammed bin Salman

Through Jared Kushner’s investment firm, Saudi Arabia has been indirectly facilitating and profiting from the Israeli Occupation, along with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. This has occurred even as Palestinians in the West Bank face an escalating military assault and a surge in settler attacks.

Phoenix Financial also owns 3.88% of Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer. Elbit provides 80% of the weapons and equipment for Israel’s land forces and 85% of the combat drones used by the airforce.

In 2024, Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative Foundation organised the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Priority Miami Summit, sponsored by the Public Investment Fund (PIF). Among the 1,000 delegates was Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies Inc., who delivered the opening address. Palantir provides automatic predictive policing technology to the Israeli military, and it was criticised by the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in her report on the economy of the Gaza genocide. Its AI-powered weapons include the "Habsora" ("the Gospel") system, which automatically determines targets for the Israeli Air Force, "generating" recommendations so fast that former Israeli intelligence officers call it a “mass assassination factory”.

In January 2024, Palantir announced a new strategic partnership with Israel and held a board meeting in Tel Aviv “in solidarity". In April 2025, Karp responded to accusations that Palantir had killed Palestinians in Gaza by saying, “mostly terrorists, that’s true”. 

The PIF has significant ties with Palantir through the Al-Turki Holding Company, a leading Saudi firm with a "strategic partnership" with Palantir. One of Al-Turki Holding’s flagship businesses, Nesma & Partners, is one of four Saudi construction companies chosen by PIF as part of a $1.3 billion investment.

Through its venture arm, Sanabil Investments, the PIF is also invested in the Silicon-valley venture capital firm the Founders Fund, run by billionaire Peter Thiel. Thiel is the co-founder of Palantir and a known associate of the deceased sex offender and suspected Israeli spy Jeffrey Epstein.

The PIF also has a $20 billion investment in the US investment giant Blackstone, which has investments in numerous Israeli technology companies, including Pentera, Mitiga, Waze, and Cloudinary. In 2021, Blackstone set up an office in Tel Aviv and, after the October 7th Hamas attack, gave $7 million in aid to Israel. Three months after Blackstone established its Israel office, Softbank, the world’s biggest venture capital firm, did the same, with ex-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen as its head. In 2017 the PIF made a $45 billion five year investment in the Soft Bank Vision Fund but in 2019-2020 the fund lost $17.7 billion.

Another Israeli tech firm Saudi Arabia is known to have invested heavily in is the augmented reality company Magic Leap. In 2022, Saudi Arabia bought a controlling stake in Magic Leap for $450 million. Magic Leap has substantial operations in Israel, having acquired the Israeli cybersecurity company NorthBit in April 2016.

Other Israeli companies with branches in the kingdom include the Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation, a US-Israeli initiative that funds technologies developed by US and Israeli companies; the US-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development (BARD) Fund, which provides grants for US participants in Saudi Arabia; Eco Wave power, a company specialising in renewable energy; and CyberArk, an Israeli technology company partnered with Spire Solutions in Saudi Arabia. This partnership also includes XM Cyber, which was co-founded by another former head of Mossad.

In conclusion, the actions of Mohammed bin Salman and Yasser Al Rumayyan through the PIF over the past five years go beyond normalisation. They have used their oil money to deepen their relationship with Israel, funding the occupation and genocide with complete disregard for the values of ordinary Saudis and Muslims.

The question now is not when will Saudi Arabia normalise, but what other deals have already been done which the Saudi people do not even know about and how many settlements have been built and Palestinians killed with Saudi money? 

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