Larry Ellison has been at Donald Trump’s side since he took office last month. The man Trump referred to as “one of the most serious players in the world” was front row at the inauguration, and then watched as the president signed an executive order on artificial intelligence — a major business interest for tech giant Oracle.

And Ellison, Oracle’s billionaire co-founder, was sitting next to Rupert Murdoch in early February when Trump created a fund to facilitate the purchase of TikTok. His presence was no accident.

Last month, after the Supreme Court upheld a law banning TikTok, Oracle emerged as a leader in the race to take control of the Chinese-owned short-form video platform.

While the campaign against TikTok was led by China hawks in Washington, it was the ire of pro-Israel activists that perhaps best explains why Oracle is such a natural choice to take over the social media app.

The campaign to ban the app kicked into high gear after Hamas’s October 7 attack against Israel. The timing spurred talk that the push for a ban wasn’t just about American national security, but Israel’s too. Politicians even tied their campaigns against TikTok to alleged Hamas propaganda being hosted on the platform.

Oracle, which had already taken control of some of TikTok’s day-to-day operations, had taken a firm pro-Israel stance and, according to an Intercept investigation, clamped down on pro-Palestine activism inside the company.

Last November, Israeli American Oracle CEO Safra Catz told an Israeli business news outlet, “For employees, it’s clear: if you’re not for America or Israel, don’t work here—this is a free country.”

Collaborations between the company and Israeli government agencies have been wide-ranging, encompassing everything from direct technology work with the military to software intended to help Israel with public relations — including, according to internal company messages, on social media platforms like TikTok.

Critics of Israel’s war on Gaza exist within Oracle’s 160,000 global staff, though they have faced repression and punishment related to their stances. The dissent and the backlash, half a dozen Oracle employees told The Intercept, was part of an internal crisis for pro-Palestinian staffers at the tech giant over its unwavering support of Israel.

Oracle employees who spoke with The Intercept described an environment of fear, and half a dozen said they were seeking to leave the company.

“The environment is horrible, people are terrified to even mention Palestine,” one employee, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, told The........

© The Intercept