The strange Congo psyop circulating online

Letters from O'Brien #78

As of late, various stories from the Congo have been increasingly circulating online. A lot of people have been talking about 70 Christians being killed by the ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) in the DRC, and the need for an apparent US response in the region. There are also reports of some ‘highly dangerous’ virus in the region, which may need an ‘international response’.

There’s only one problem; this appears to be artificially pushed by Israeli financiers in order to justify mining aims in the region through the organisation DGI.

Now I am by no means a third worldist, but I do extend sympathies to Africa, because what they often say is true; Africa never makes the news. There are countless genocides, costly wars, human rights violations and so forth— they never make the news. So… when all of a sudden discussion about the Congo is being mainstreamed, one should know that this is likely a geopolitical play by some intelligence agency, and that there is more to the story.

ATTEMPTED COUP BY MOSSAD?

The Congo situation initially caught my eye earlier in the week. Why? Because as it so happens, this time last year I remember reading about a coup attempt in the DRC by a group of ‘Americans’, which Forward later revealed to be dual citizen Israeli-Americans. It turns out, these individuals - who the Congo authorities had executed - were connected with Mossad and potentially with the interests of the powerful Israeli Diamond Exchange (IDE) and mining firms, but more on that later. Needless to say, I was suspicious.

Then a few days later, I saw a clip on Twitter of Nicholas Fuentes discussing the exact same issue; the weird situation in Congo being pushed. He noted the same thing, highlighting how the main reason for this may be this Israeli mining firm in the region, who use it for diamond and precious metal mining. This compelled me to finally look deeper into the situation.

FOREIGN SWAY OVER THE REGION

The situation here dates back decades, but it is all relevant. The Congo region has always been of interest due to its natural resources. Likewise, the region has always been contested on multiple fronts. During the Cold War the US and Soviets tried to sway the respective governments in the region. However, so was Israel.

Since its establishment, Israel has shown interest in the region for the same reasons as America, Russia, and now China; natural resources, and political outcomes. From the early days, Israel attempted to install leaders sympathetic to their causes in places like DRC, Uganda, Tanzania and so forth. Oftentimes this worked, but only for periods of time. For example, Idi Amin was installed initially as a pro-Israel leader, but later flipped, resulting in the Entebbe Jewish hostage crisis.

Apart from simple political sway, the Israelis were also motivated to use central Africa to put pressure on the North African countries, some of whom (like Sudan) were backing the enemies of Israel.

Finally - and perhaps most relevant today - is the role of mining, and the natural resources on offer. This has been yet another major reason for forging investment into the region, which I will discuss next.

DGI GROUP AND MINING

Today, one of the most crucial figures in the Congo is Israeli billionaire mining mogul Dan Gertler. Heading Dan Gertler International, his company is heavily invested in the region and relies on it for - as Wikipedia puts it - ‘diamonds, iron ore, gold, cobalt, copper, agriculture, and banking’.

Gertler successfully established DGI in the Congo in 2000. He did this by establishing a personal connection with DRC president Laurent Kabila. DGI then set up a concession company (IDI-Congo), gaining an absolute monopoly over the region, possessing the right to buy “all diamonds produced in territory under the control of the Congolese government”. IDI-Congo would receive 70% of the profit, and the government 30%.

As a side note, this was preceded by three years of unsuccessful attempts to officiate some sort of mining deal in Congo (beginning in 1997), and from the looks of it, the country suddenly (and rather conveniently) began experiencing political turbulence in 1998-2000. I haven’t looked too deep into this, but this stuff doesn’t just happen for no reason, anyways…

In 2001, Laurent Kabila was assassinated, and with leadership changing to his son, IDI-Congo was temporarily locked out of business. Eventually DGI would be allowed back into the country despite IMF attempts to ‘liberalise’ the mining sector, and by 2009 DGI was considered one of the most powerful diamond mining companies in the world. Gertler controlled much of this through his Gibraltar-based Fleurette Group.

DGI’s monopoly over the DRC became so tangible that - in December 2017 - the Trump administration placed sanctions on Gertler’s businesses, due to fears of him weaponizing his relationship with the president of the DRC. In 2020 these concerns grew, as it was believed that Gertler and co were using Afriland First Bank to funnel money for various projects. During his last week in office, Trump - while quietly granting TPS status to Haitian immigrants - ordered for a special license to be given to Gertler, allowing him to operate while still technically being on a sanctions list. Biden reversed this upon entering office. This was escalated once again in May 2024, when the Biden White House announced it would lift sanctions if Gertler left the Congo permanently. This seems to have been driven itself by a desire to block China from gaining a foothold in the region (like it has everywhere in Central and Southern Africa).

CONGO COUP ATTEMPT

Then, almost immediately after the DRC government reported that these requests had been forwarded to Gertler’s corporation, a series of strange events occur.

On May 17, 2024, it is reported that a group of 37 Americans had been arrested in Congo for attempting to organise a coup against the government. Shortly after, various outlets began reporting that some of the men were American-Israeli citizens. One of them - Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun - was claimed to have somehow been involved with Gertler and Israeli intelligence.

News out of Congo reported that these men had attempted to install Christian Malanga in a failed coup attempt, and that there was some level of espionage. The 37 men were put on trial and sentenced to death.

This would have been the second time in recent years that a coup was suspected. Reports circulated that in 2019, Mossad director Yossi Cohen was ‘kicked out’ of Congo following suspicions that he was attempting to formulate a coup to benefit Gertler. (If this sounds strange it shouldn’t.) In fact, it turns out that Israel has been directly responsible for the instalments and depositions of three successive leaders in neighbouring Uganda.

The first was Milton Obote and his right-hand man, Idi Amin. Obote had seized power in 1966 by overthrowing King Mutesa II. The Israeli government backed the Obote government, providing their military and police forces with training and arms. In exchange, the Israelis expected the government to support the Anyanya rebel movement (as the Israelis themselves were) in neighbouring Southern Sudan. This proxy force was admittedly being used to distract the Sudanese government from backing Palestine or Palestinian-aligned forces in the Middle East. In 1969 a coup occurred in Sudan, and Arab nationalist Jaafar Numeiry took power, essentially ending the civil war. Obote’s government thus naturally withdrew from funding the Anyanya.

In response to this, Israeli agents aided Idi Amin to orchestrate a coup and seize power himself. This worked, and many of Amin’s enemies fled to Tanzania (important to note, as they too were pro-Israel). As most are aware, Amin eventually fell into the Gaddafi sphere, renouncing Zionism, expelling Israeli advisors and politicians, and so on. This would culminate in the infamous Entebbe Jewish hostage crisis.

Predictably, another type of coup took place, this time to depose Amin from power. This is the sort of stuff that just never ends.

Today it is the same deal in Congo. In 2022 The Economist - in their article titled “Mossad, a mining magnate and a mystery in the Congo” - discussed the connection between Gertlers business and Israeli interests. Referring to reports done by Haaretz, they note that both Netanyahu and Yossi Cohen have lobbied on Gertlers behalf. In fact, before supposedly being ‘banned’ from the country, Cohen visited Congo three times in 2019 to broker a deal between the government and Gertler. This was supported by Israeli-US ambassador Ron Dermer.

Thus, Gertler is clearly a powerful individual. As I will discuss shortly, this is because the diamond trade is crucial for the Israeli economy, so it should come as no surprise that one of the primary geopolitical motivations for Israel is securing such mines.

CURRENT SITUATION - FACTIONS AND CONTROL

Now back to today; the current conflict is primarily being waged between a number of rebel groups, all essentially proxies of larger powers. It seems to me much like the Syrian civil war.

The two important groups are the March 23 Movement (M23) and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). These two factions are not allies; however they seem to be achieving the same goals of destabilising Congo.

The M23 movement was formed (according to a UN report) by Rwanda, who backed the group from its founding in 2012 through until its apparent defeat in 2013 by the Congolese government. It then reemerged, slowly taking land since 2017. Then, conveniently, in January 2025 the group began a strong offensive in the region. In practice they are destabilising the region by attacking DRC forces.

The Allied Democratic Forces on the other hand are an Islamic militia aligned with Islamic State. While they are hostile towards M23, they seem to be doing the exact same thing, attacking DRC forces in the Congo.

From what I can surmise, there doesn’t seem to be much conflict between M23 and ADF. Rather, both factions are primarily attacking government forces.

In response to the absolute chaos in the region, Congo is now considering offering the US and EU access to natural resources in exchange for peace. I find this particularly strange, because despite being reported in the NYT, there isn’t a clear explanation as to how peace would be achieved, unless these factions are artificially being pitted against one another. Hence my suspicion regarding this whole ordeal.

But to summarise this point; I do find it odd that the two disrupting forces happen to be tied to movements connected to Israel; the ADF with Islamic State (which infamously received Isareli/Western support against Assad), and the Rwandan backed M23 movement (Rwanda is another regional ally of Israel). I’m now hearing rhetoric calling for a western response to M23. This is an all too familiar pattern, in which some artificial situation is used to justify intervention in some way.

Perhaps this is all too much of a stretch, but where billions of dollars’ worth of precious metals and diamonds are concerned, anything is possible.

WHO IS DAN GERTLER?

Let’s pause for a second and look at who is Dan Gertler. He is an important figure, worth over $1.5 billion. He is also deeply connected with the diamond exchange in Israel.

His grandfather was Moshe Schnitzer, who in the 1960s helped establish the Israeli Diamond Exchange, or IDE. Needless to say, Moshe was very invested in the diamond industry. So too was his son (Gertler’s father) Shmuel Schnitzer, who also worked as head of the IDE for a time. The diamond industry - while rarely considered important in other countries - is actually a big deal in Israel. Hence institutions like the IDE are crucial. In fact, according to 2023 OEC data, 14.1% of Israel’s export economy is categorised as precious metals, stones, and so forth. Specifically, 13.2% is simply diamonds. It is the largest diamond exporter in the world, accounting for over 12% of global diamond trade. On the flip side, only 4.1% of Israels imports (at least according to OEC) are diamonds, and almost all of these are from India, Belgium, Hong Kong and the US. In fact, on the graph the African countries are barely even present. $4.54 billion is imported, $9.55 billion is exported.

Diamonds are not electronics, so on these import/export data sheets, this means that they have to either originate in the country (extracted from the Negev for example) or they have to flow into the country through specially funded foreign projects like DGI.

Now DGI is not an isolated case. Another similar group is Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR). This group is run by Israeli mining entrepreneur Beny Steinmetz and is directly linked with the Simandau mine in Guinea, among many other controversies.

BSGR work with Black Cube, a private intelligence agency founded and run by former IDF intelligence officers. Black Cube also works with the IDF itself. This itself is its own rabbit hole; in the early 2000s Israel began encouraging former IDF officers to move abroad and set up tech firms and other startups— essentially expanding into the private sector. Black Cube appears to be one such case.

WEIRD ILLNESS IN THE COUNTRY

The final oddity in the Congo are these recent reports of a deadly new virus in the countries northeast. I haven’t looked too deeply into this, but it seems to be yet another one of these circumstances which has just emerged in the news cycle out of nowhere.

Whether or not the virus is real is anyone’s guess, but if I had to place a bet, I would say that the reason this is in the news cycle is to direct small amounts of attention to Congo to prime people for some sort of intervention or deal in the region.

CONCLUSION

It should be obvious now to everyone that we must take the news cycle with a grain (OK, a tablespoon) of salt. As others have been highlighting on Twitter, it is very weird seeing these figures like James Lindsay come out posting about the crisis in Congo. It is artificial. There are many terrible conflicts in Africa which never make the news. The reason the M23 offensive is in the news (and being pushed by these influencers) is because there is a geopolitical strategy behind it.

Israel’s economy is very reliant on diamonds. They are also motivated to secure precious metals (as are most countries). Finally, African nations seem to oscillate between either being pro-Israel, or pro-Palestine, thus there is another motivation at play, preventing anti-Israel factions from gaining control.