Key Takeaways:
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The release of Jeffrey Epstein–related files has fueled a surge in online antisemitism, with old conspiracies repackaged as claims that Epstein was a Mossad asset.
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That fringe smear was irresponsibly mainstreamed by The Times of London, relying on an anonymous, discredited source exposed by other journalists as unreliable.
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When challenged, the paper’s Israel correspondent doubled down by sharing an obvious AI-manipulated image falsely linking Israel’s president to Epstein – before issuing a hollow apology after being caught.
The release of millions of documents from the U.S. State Department’s Jeffrey Epstein files has resulted in scandals and fallout in multiple capitals as the great and the good of politics and high society struggle to justify their relationships with the notorious pedophile. Unfortunately, it has also triggered a massive surge in online antisemitism. At its most extreme, we’ve seen recycled classic antisemitic tropes involving child abuse conspiracies peddled by individuals like Candace Owens.
But antisemitism adapts to changing times, and today, the trope of Jewish domination of global media, banking and governments is thinly disguised as attributed to Zionists or Israel. Its latest iteration is the claim that Epstein was working for the Mossad intelligence agency for nefarious purposes. While Epstein’s relationship with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is no secret, the unverified claim of a Mossad link had been confined to antisemites and Israel haters.
Until The Times of London put it into the mainstream.
Hey, @thetimes. There’s a reason why the Epstein-Mossad claim has gathered traction in the US. It’s because those spreading it are antisemitic conspiracy theorists.
How incredibly disappointing that you’re mainstreaming this garbage.
And if you’re looking for the answer, you… https://t.co/AY4yg1o1VX pic.twitter.com/ydOV0ZCXOM
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 9, 2026
Bad enough that The Times decided to publish this blatant clickbait, which was speculative at best. But the morning after, and the supposedly respectable media outlet should be feeling mortified.
Ben Smith of the Semafor global news site called out the story for relying on a highly dubious source.
The source offers no evidence, and their name is redacted in the document. But you can find the same case number (the redactions are incredibly sloppy!) in a related document, and it reveals that the source is Charles C. Johnson, a famous troll and occasional Holocaust denier recently found liable in a fraud scheme that involved impersonating an intelligence agent. Johnson was recently released from jail on unrelated contempt charges and said in a statement he doesn’t have access to email or a phone; an inquiry sent to an email he identified as his father’s email account also bounced.
Just to give you an idea of who Charles C. Johnson is, he wrote about Holocaust victims on Twitter in 2017: “I do not and never have believed the six million figure. I think the Red Cross numbers of 250,000 dead in the camps from typhus are more realistic. I think the Allied bombing of Germany was a ware [sic] crime. I agree… about Auschwitz and the gas chambers not being real.”
Holocaust deniers aren’t credible sources. Period.
Gabrielle Weiniger Exposed
The journalist behind the Epstein-Mossad piece is Gabrielle Weiniger, The Times’ Israel correspondent, who drew considerable attention for her role in a 2024 story that questioned the validity of rape accusations during the October 7 atrocities.
Claiming to be a “report on eight months of claim & counter-claim” about the sexual violence against Israelis on Oct 7, @thetimes foreign correspondent @scribblercat & @gabrielle_siviais’ story is nothing more than a muddle of victim-blaming & bias. 🧵https://t.co/hDoKgnyjc0
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) June 9, 2024
Having had her Epstein story exposed as journalistic garbage, Weiniger probably should have exercised some self-reflection. Instead, she doubled down, posting a photo on X supposedly showing Israeli President Isaac Herzog in a photo with Epstein and, among others, Epstein’s convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Weiniger stated, “I know there’s more to investigate here. I have been following this closely since 2017. More to come…”
Gabrielle Weiniger is a disgrace to journalism. The Times should be embarrassed to employ her. https://t.co/hLnv9jYIkN
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 9, 2026
A child with experience of playing with online AI tools should be able to tell that the photo is fake. Just to confirm this, we traced an original photo to a party at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, taken by Getty Images in 1995. Unsurprisingly, President Herzog was nowhere to be seen. Judging by his glasses, Herzog’s image, clearly manipulated and superimposed on Weiniger’s fake, appears to have been taken around 2021. In any case, we contacted the President’s Office, which confirmed what we already knew.
Take an image of Isaac Herzog from circa 2021 and manipulate a photo taken at Mar-a-Largo in 1995 and voila – you get an image that only Gabrielle Weiniger (and a bunch of antisemitic conspiracy theorists) would believe. pic.twitter.com/KE4j2Q96QI
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 9, 2026
Weiniger’s “Apology”
Gabrielle Weiniger has not acknowledged the serious shortcomings in her Epstein story. Having been outed online for her photo fraud, however, she was forced into a public “apology” of sorts.
Just to clarify: the photograph was an AI fake. I can only apologise for the grave error in judgement for reposting the photo, and to the president for any harm this has caused.
— Gabrielle Sivia Weiniger (@gabrielle_sivia) February 10, 2026
She’s “sorry for not checking the source” and apologizes for a “grave error in judgement.” What kind of credible journalist doesn’t bother checking sources and falls for a blatantly fake image? Weiniger has the phone number of the President’s Office and could have asked.
But it’s not only her judgment that should be called into question. This episode, when added to the rape story from 2024, demonstrates how deeply Weiniger loathes Israel. Times readers should be asking how they can trust a journalist whose judgment is so impaired by her hatred towards the country she is reporting from.
Ultimately, the Epstein-Mossad story remains on The Times website, held up by antisemites and conspiracy theorists as “proof” of their potty and hateful claims. Meanwhile, Gabrielle Weiniger is free to continue reporting from Israel.
It’s simply not good enough. HonestReporting will be submitting a formal complaint to The Times, both about the Epstein-Mossad story and their reporter’s unacceptable conduct. You can send your complaints by emailing: [email protected].
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