Gal Luft (; born May 26, 1966) is an

Israeli-American Israeli Americans () are Americans who are of full or partial Israeli descent. The Israeli-American community, while predominantly Jewish, also includes various ethnic and religious minorities reflective of Israel's diverse demographics. This c ...

think-tank director, author and alleged

foreign agent A foreign agent is any person or entity actively carrying out the interests of a foreign principal while located in another host country, generally outside the Diplomatic immunity, protections offered to those working in their official capacity fo ...

. Luft was a lieutenant colonel in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

and is the executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and cofounder of the Set America Free Coalition. Luft was arrested in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

on February 17, 2023, on a warrant issued by

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

on U.S. charges of weapons trafficking. After being released on bail, he went missing on March 28; he subsequently fled and went into hiding. On July 10, 2023, the US

Justice Department A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

unsealed the indictment for this arrest, dated November 2022, accusing Luft of eight charges including acting as an unregistered

of Chinese entities under the US

Foreign Agents Registration Act The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) ( ''et seq.'') is a United States law that imposes Public disclosure of private facts, public disclosure obligations on Foreign agent, persons representing foreign interests.

and violating trade sanctions against Iran. Among the indictment's allegations is that Luft, at the behest of Chinese entities, recruited and paid an unnamed adviser to then-president-elect

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

to adopt pro-Chinese positions. In July 2023, Luft said he had made allegations of corruption by US president

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

's son,

Hunter Biden Robert Hunter Biden (born February4, 1970) is an American attorney and businessman. He is the second son of former president Joe Biden and his first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden was a founding board member of BHR Partners, a Chine ...

to the FBI and US Justice Department. These allegations were made in March 2019 involving improper financial arrangements with the Chinese energy company CEFC. He further said the criminal charges against him were politically motivated reprisals for his allegations. In September 2024, federal prosecutors stated that Luft was re-arrested and will be extradited to the United States.

Published works

Books

*''Energy Security Challenges for the 21st Century'' (2009) *''Turning Oil into Salt: Energy Independence Through Fuel Choice'' (2009) *''Beer, Bacon and Bullets: Culture in Coalition Warfare from Gallipoli to Iraq'' (2010) *''Petropoly: The Collapse of America's Energy Security Paradigm'' (2012) *''Silk Road 2.0: US Strategy toward China's Belt and Road Initiative'' (2017) *''De-Dollarization: The Revolt Against The Dollar And The Rise Of A New Financial World Order'' (2019)

Selected publications

*Luft, G. (2002). "The Palestinian H-bomb: Terror's winning strategy." ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...

'', 2–7. *Luft, G. (2003). "The logic of Israel's targeted killing." ''

Middle East Quarterly The Middle East Forum (MEF) is an American conservative 501(c)(3) think tank founded in 1990 by Daniel Pipes, who now serves as its chairman. Gregg Roman serves as director of the forum. MEF became an independent non-profit organization in 19 ...

''. *Luft, G. (2009).
Dependence on Middle East energy and its impact on global security
. ''Energy and environmental challenges to security'' (pp. 197–210). Springer Netherlands. *Luft, G. (2016). "China's infrastructure play: why Washington should accept the new Silk Road". ''

'', 95(5), 68–75.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luft, Gal 1966 births 21st-century American writers Fugitives wanted by the United States Living people Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies alumni Naturalized citizens of the United States Bar-Ilan University alumni Tel Aviv University alumni Israeli academics 21st-century American academics Writers from Haifa 21st-century Israeli male writers 21st-century American male writers American people of Israeli descent