Conspiracy theories have swirled around Jeffrey Epstein for years — that he worked for the Mossad, that he was “Israel’s greatest ally,” that his crimes were inspired by the Talmud.

The latest tranche of files from Epstein’s case does not confirm the allegations, but has still fueled antisemitic and anti-Israel hostility from the left and from the right.

“They might as well call it the Israel files,” said the popular far-left streamer Hasan Piker.

“Blood libel hits a lot different after reading the Epstein files. The goyim know,” said the far-right internet personality and former MMA star Jake Shields.

The Epstein files are documents compiled by investigators on the late sexual predator and financier since he was arrested in 2005 for abusing girls. The documents shed light on Epstein’s sprawling, global network of powerful acquaintances.

There are millions of documents in the files, many unrelated to sex trafficking, and parsing the material is tedious and time-consuming. The documents are shorn of context, names are redacted, there are duplicates, and due to formatting, some documents do not respond to search terms. Investigators record tips they receive, whether they are accurate or not, and the veracity of many claims in the files is impossible to verify.

The overwhelming volume of material means that, while it is difficult to process the documents into coherent and accurate narratives, there is plenty to cherry-pick and blast out on social media. That, coupled with the difficulty of disproving a negative, makes the files fertile ground for conspiracies.

Take the widespread allegation that Epstein was an Israeli intelligence agent from figures like Tucker Carlson, who said at a summit last year that Epstein was working for a “foreign government.”

“No one’s........

© The Times of Israel