John Kerry tried to influence Israeli policy for financial gain, Israeli media alleges

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 26 June 2015

While former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has received significant scrutiny over allegations that she unethically used her position for personal financial gain, current Secretary of State John Kerry is now being hit with similar charges. If you haven't heard about it, that's because it's happening abroad.

As The Times of Israel reports, Kerry allegedly pressured the Israeli government to make energy policy decisions which would be favorable to Noble Energy, a Texas oil company in which he holds as much as $1 million in stocks. The Israeli government has considered forcing Noble to break into smaller companies on antitrust grounds, as the corporation (in partnership with Delek Energy) effectively monopolizes the Israeli natural gas market.

Kerry reportedly encouraged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "forgive" Noble and Delek, and his State Department also helped negotiate export deals between Noble and several countries near Israel. In December, a State Department representative said the agency would continue to support Noble's natural gas deals in the Middle East, because it "strongly believe[s] that these deals would enhance energy security in the region."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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