Mr. Luft was arraigned last Friday on charges of illegal arms trafficking but swiftly cast the claim as retaliation by President Biden for his cooperating with an investigation pertaining to his son, the artist Hunter Biden. It is probably outlandish to think that the impetus for the arrest of a fairly innocuous-looking Israeli citizen could have come from a vengeful White House — or is it? The case, which was first reported by the Israeli news website Ynet and has since rippled across Greek and Cypriot press outlets, is by turns mysterious and portentous, particularly in light of the growing congressional scrutiny of Hunter Biden’s questionable business dealings with both Communist China and Ukraine. . . .
Ynet reported that Mr. Luft’s attorney, Mordechai Tzivin, claimed that his client’s arrest “was politically motivated and an attempt to silence him for providing incriminating information in a corruption case allegedly involving Biden’s son, Hunter.” Mr. Tzivin said that “the arrest came four years after Luft cooperated with FBI and Department of Justice investigators to help them with information about the case.” He added that the meeting took place in 2019.
Hunter Biden announced in December 2020 that he was under federal investigation for alleged tax crimes. Jim Biden is the president’s brother. Yet who is Mr. Luft, and how did he get so tangled up in an international web of intrigue that risks throwing Washington, Jerusalem, and Nicosia into an awkward triangle?
Neither Mr. Tzivin nor the Israeli embassy at Nicosia have yet responded to requests for comment. However, Israeli press reports describe Mr. Luft as a defense and energy expert and co-director of the Washington-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security. He has penned opinion pieces for the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post and appeared as a commentator on CNBC, where he spoke about the phenomenon of “de-dollarization” that has arguably accelerated under the Biden administration.
Sounds like a shadowy criminal all right. I mean, he’s a professor, and appears on cable news. Those guys are capable of anything.