The acquisition of CBS News...

Editor's Note: ...by the son of Oracle Corporation founder Larry Ellison (this is interesting: Larry Ellison & the Elders of Zion) reflects a dangerous concentration of power, where tech billionaires extend their reach from data and infrastructure into the news Americans rely on.  The option then is don't rely on CBS for your news. When a handful of oligarchs control both the platforms and the press, genuine journalistic independence becomes increasingly difficult to sustain. As if it ever existed in the first place? The answer to this is of course do not contract with CBS for your "news" (likely to start using AI-generated news). Also, Oracle is not typically the public face of digital ID programs, but it is often the backend infrastructure provider supplying the cloud computing, databases, and identity-management software that many digital identity systems run on. Enterprise software and cloud infrastructure from Oracle Corporation is widely used across Israeli government agencies and defense-related industries that support the Israel Defense Forces, providing databases, identity management, and backend IT systems that help run logistics, administration, and secure data operations. Furthermore, Palantir Technologies which has partnered with Israel's defense ministry also runs its AI and data-analysis platforms on cloud infrastructure from Oracle Corporation as part of a joint cloud and AI partnership for government and defense clients.

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Israel's biggest US donor now owns CBS

By Alan Macleod | March 7, 2026

After reaching an agreement with President Trump, David Ellison — the son of the second-richest man in the world, Larry Ellison — has acquired Paramount Global, the media giant that owns CBS News.

Larry Ellison, the largest private funder of the Israel Defense Forces, is deeply tied to the Israeli national security state and counts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu among his closest friends.

David has already announced significant changes at CBS, promising "unbiased" news coverage and "varied ideological perspectives," which are widely understood to signal a shift toward right-wing, pro-Trump coverage. Worse still, Bari Weiss, a journalist with a long history of zealous pro-Israel advocacy, is being considered as the network's new ombudsman, shaping its political direction, precisely because of her "pro-Israel stance."

MintPress News examines Ellison's close ties to both Trump and Israel, Weiss's extensive career as Israel's most vocal supporter in the U.S., and what this means for the future of free and diverse speech in America.

Israel's Man In Silicon Valley

Although Skydance, Ellison's media empire, is officially headed by David, it is well understood that father Larry holds both the purse strings and the reins of power. With a net worth of $301 billion, placing him second on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires Rankings, Larry made his fortune by founding tech giant Oracle.

Oracle started as a project for the Central Intelligence Agency. Indeed, it is named after Project Oracle, a 1970s CIA operation on which Ellison worked. For some time, the CIA was Oracle's only customer, until it began to win contracts with other agencies of the U.S. national security state. Today, although Oracle's customer base is much wider, it maintains its role as the privatized face of the CIA.

Yet if Oracle is close to Washington and Langley, it is perhaps even more intimately tied to the State of Israel. An avowed Zionist, Ellison has worked tirelessly to advance Israel's political project. Among his closest personal friends is Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he vacationed on his private island in Hawaii. Ellison was so impressed and confident in the Israeli prime minister that he offered him a seat on his company's board, replete with a salary of $450,000.

While Oracle has signed multiple lucrative contracts with the Israeli national security state, Ellison himself has personally bankrolled the Israeli Defense Forces, giving tens of millions of dollars to the Friends of the IDF, an organization that purchases equipment for the Israeli military. This included a $16.6 million pledge (the largest single donation the group has received) to build a new training facility for soldiers defending what he called "our home." As Ellison explained:

"In my mind, there is no greater honor than supporting some of the bravest people in the world, and I thank Friends of the IDF for allowing us to celebrate and support these soldiers year after year. We should do all we can to show these heroic soldiers that they are not alone."

Oracle sees itself as an activist organization, one whose goal is the advancement of the Israeli colonization project. Safra Catz, the company's Israeli-American CEO, bluntly explained that any employees uncomfortable with supporting a genocide should simply quit. "We are not flexible regarding our mission, and our commitment to Israel is second to none," she said, adding:

"This is a free world and I love my employees, and if they don't agree with our mission to support the State of Israel, then maybe we aren't the right company for them. Larry and I are publicly committed to Israel and devote personal time to the country, and no one should be surprised by that." 

CBS's New Censor

Thus, the news that the son of the world's second-richest man - one with such close connections to U.S. and Israeli state power - is purchasing one of America's most influential news outlets should already worry anyone who cares about a free and independent press.

However, the news that the Ellisons are planning to buy out Bari Weiss' publication, The Free Press, and give her control over the newsroom at CBS is even more startling. As part of the package to rubber-stamp the deal, Skydance had promised to hire Weiss as an ombudsman to address political bias and stamp out diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices.

Weiss is a highly controversial figure in the media world, known primarily for her stridently pro-Israel views and for attempts to popularize reactionary, anti-woke thinkers and opinions into the American mainstream. Her positions on the Middle East appear to have landed her the job. As The Financial Times noted, "Weiss has won over Ellison partly by taking a pro-Israel stance, according to people familiar with the matter."

Read more...

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Under new owner David Ellison, CBS News is expected to incorporate more AI and data-driven technology into its media operations, though there is no confirmed plan to replace human journalists with AI-generated reporting. So understand when you contract with CBS for your news you may be subjected to AI-driven news in the future:

David Ellison Is Shaking Up CBS News; CNN Looks to Be Next

There is some reporting that AI systems linked to Palantir have been used in military targeting related to Iran, but the situation is nuanced. Evidence shows AI systems used by the U.S. and Israel for targeting analysis, and Palantir software is part of that ecosystem. However, reports generally say AI assists analysts and commanders, rather than automatically selecting or executing strikes:

US-Iran Conflict: AI's Increasingly Central Role in Warfare

And don't forget Ellison's ownership of Paramount:

David Ellison won Warner Bros. Now he has to prove Paramount can beat Netflix at its own game.