What Do Steve Mnuchin, Benjamin Netanyahu and Mariah Carey Have in Common?
Image by Getty Images
By Nathan Guttman November 30, 2016
An Australian billionaire could be the unlikely missing link connecting Israel’s prime minister, Donald Trump’s new pick for Treasury Secretary, and pop superstar Mariah Carey.
James Packer, the Sydney-based media mogul, now embroiled in an alleged scandal case involving Prime Minister Netanyahu and his son Yair, was also a business partner of Steven Mnuchin, who was tapped Wednesday to serve on Trump’s cabinet.
Packer and Mnuchin had merged their entertainment businesses three years ago and the joint company produced some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters including “Gravity,” “Mad Max” and “Batman v Superman.”
At the same time, Packer also became close to Israel’s Netanyahu. He purchased a house next to the Netanyahu family’s private residency in Caesarea and began spending time with the prime minister, his wife and children. According to press reports from the past week, Israeli police had recently looked into allegations that Packer showered gifts on Netanyahu and his family, including hosting the prime minister’s son Yair on his private jet and in luxury hotel suites.
Adding some more stardust to this power-triangle is Mariah Carey, Packer’s ex-girlfriend. One of the gifts Packer generously gave Netanyahu and his wife Sarah were a set of tickets to Carey’s show in Israel. Just in case the Israeli prime minister couldn’t put his hands on a couple of tickets without help.
Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
