In an interview with Channel 2 on Friday, Jewish-American billionaire S. Daniel Abraham projected honesty and candor when he forwent the usual pomp and gave a simple, down-to-earth interview. It was almost as though he were speaking to the studio on Skype. Ostensibly homey, cozy and so credible. When he is presented that way, how can anyone not believe he just wants what's best for Israel? Abraham, 90, whose estimated net worth is approximately $2 billion, claimed during the interview that he had no idea how much money he has donated to the Victory 2015 campaign (which seeks to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming elections). He remarked further that Labor Chairman Isaac Herzog, Netanyahu's chief rival, was a "great Israeli patriot" but that he should be "a little stronger in what he says." Abraham also mentioned that Herzog's father, President Chaim Herzog, was his "best friend for many years." He emphasized however that he was not financing Herzog's bid for leadership and that there was absolutely no link between the Zionist Camp, which Herzog heads, and the V15 campaign, which Abraham has funded. "I have been supporting Israel and the causes of Israel all my life. I always do it with legal support. If the lawyer tells me it is a kosher organization and it does things in the proper way, I will support them," he said, emphasizing the legality and morality of all his donations. He also insisted that he and Netanyahu were great friends, even though they are "on different sides of a lot of arguments, a lot of issues." He remarked that he thought Netanyahu should cancel his address before the U.S. Congress because the "U.S. president and the Israeli prime minister should never be on opposite sides of any argument." So who are you, S. Daniel Abraham, the chief supporter of the V15 campaign, who claims from his home in Florida that he is "helping Israel obtain the best prime minister that Israel can have-" Peres, Olmert and Barak If the name S. Daniel Abraham sounds familiar to some of you, it may be because the American billionaire is deeply involved in Israeli politics. Having made his fortune from the Slim-Fast diet shake, he has been channeling millions of dollars to left-wing politicians and organizations in Israel and around the world for years. Here and there he made a few efforts to launch business endeavors in Israel as well. Googling the name Abraham yields dozens of results, some of them controversial. Over the years, Abraham has managed to donate to a long list of Israeli politicians -- to Shimon Peres (be it to his campaign, or by giving him a ride on his jet during a U.S. visit or by donating to the Peres Center for Peace), to Ehud Barak, to Isaac Herzog, to Ami Ayalon and to Ehud Olmert (Abraham helped Olmert win the race for Jerusalem mayor and then bought a home from him, allowing him to continue living in it at a very considerate and comfortable rental rate. He also paid Olmert a $1.2 million fee for consultation, funded the defense of Olmert's office manager Shula Zaken in the Holyland trial, and more.) In addition, Abraham donated to former minister Ophir Pines-Paz, to the 2011 social justice movement demonstrations, to OneVoice, to the New Israel Fund, to the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Strategic Dialogue within the Netanya Academic College, to the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Peace in the Middle East Peace in Washington, D.C. and even to Netanyahu, at a time when he thought he could influence him to adopt the Saudi peace initiative in efforts to strike an agreement with the Palestinians. Abraham's representative in Israel, former Ambassador Avi Gil (who currently works at Abraham's research center in Israel) is among Peres' close associates and was also among the founders of the Peres Peace Center. Gil, who served as the director of the Foreign Ministry when Peres was foreign minister, volunteered as Peres' adviser when the latter was appointed president and accompanied him on his travels many times. Recently, when we asked Gil if Abraham was supporting and helping a relatively new group named "Commanders for the Security of Israel" and whether Gil himself was advising the group, he replied that he had "relayed the questions to the office of Mr. Daniel Abraham in the U.S." Ultimately, Gil revealed that the questions had in fact been relayed to a PR firm hired by Commanders for the Security of Israel. This PR firm issued a response to Israel Hayom's inquiry, saying that the group did not wish to reveal the names of its donors at this stage and that the group was operating entirely on a volunteer basis. Until recently, one of the owners of the PR firm was Nissim Douek, formerly Herzog's chief political adviser. Douek, who resigned from Herzog's service several months ago, agreed to stay on in Herzog's "smallest adviser group." Douek's partner, Ran Aharon, serves as a media adviser for Meretz. When we asked V15's PR firm whether Abraham was among the group's donors, they refused to confirm or deny. However, when the matter began making headlines, somehow the organization miraculously volunteered a full disclosure and admitted that Abraham was among their biggest donors. So why were they so reluctant to confirm it just days prior? It is also interesting to note this pairing: OneVoice, which has received funding from the U.S. government and which also has a branch in Ramallah, announced to various media outlets that its activities would be integrated into the "not political" V15 organization. Why would an established organization want to integrate into a new, small and unknown group whose only purpose is to replace the existing government in 2015? And what will this merged group do on the day after the elections? Evaporate? Is it really plausible that a billionaire with a clear political agenda, which he views as his life's work, not know how his money is being used in this matter-
