Benjamin Netanyahu friend ‘tightening grip’ of Oxford

Oxford city councillors elected to approve Larry Ellison’s further plans for the science park off Grenoble Road in Littlemore.

The Ellison Institute Oxford is building the Ellison Institute of Technology, a science and technology campus on the same site.

But the Grenoble Road site isn’t the only Ellison project in Oxford or indeed Oxfordshire, though.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Abir Sultan/Pool/AP)

The billionaire is also putting his stamp on the city at the former Littlemore Hospital site, transforming the 19th-century chapel in Armstrong Road into a high-end restaurant.

The institute has teamed up with Oxford University in a major strategic alliance worth hundreds of millions of pounds for various projects.

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What’s more, there’s the lengthy opening of the Eagle and Child in St Giles’, bought in October 2023 by Ellison for about £8m and expected to open in 2027.

And he’s bought a lot of land near Kingston Bagpuize with the aim of creating his own luxury compound – to the annoyance of some neighbours, as previously reported in national press.

Alfie Davis, a Green city councillor, said: “Billionaires tightening their grip on Oxford, controlling more of our lives is of concern to all of us as our city is increasingly bought up by an elite few.”

Larry Ellison (Image: Steve Walker/wiki)

The Eagle and Child (Image: Oxford Mail)

Mr Ellison, who has reportedly holidayed with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his private Hawaiian island, is the single largest donor of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.

It’s not clear whether the pair remain friends today.

In 2017, he donated the equivalent of $21.8m and said: “Since Israel’s founding, we have called on the brave men and women of the IDF to defend our home.”

He has previously said that his fondness for Israel is not connected to religious sentiments but rather due to “Israelis’ innovative spirit” in the technology sector.

Mr Ellison is also close to Donald Trump, with the US president appointing him to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology earlier this year.

But Mr Davis described the multi-million pound donations to the Friends of the IDF as “reprehensible”.

“The IOF/IDF is recognised as a terrorist organisation by the Green Party, and is well documented as having indiscriminately murdered, raped and tortured Palestinian civilians and deliberately targeted children, doctors and aid workers,” the Holywell councillor said.

“The fact that profits from his ventures in Oxford with the university could be used to fund the murder of Palestinians abroad should concern us all.”

Indeed, various United Nations organs and officials have repeatedly raised concerns about the conduct of the Israel Defense Forces, especially in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territory, and have warned of possible war crimes and even atrocity crimes.

The Ellison Institute did not respond to our request for comment.