Power & Pushback: Paramount-Warner Bros. merger moves forward

The multinational mass media company Paramount has settled an antitrust lawsuit, effectively paving the way for its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros.

The acquisition has faced widespread criticism over its anticipated impact on journalism and democracy. These concerns include Israel.

Paramount is run by David Ellison, whose father is Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. He’s donated $26 million to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces and has hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his island.

David Ellison has condemned the BDS movement, and Paramount denounced a 2025 open letter calling for solidarity with Palestinians. Oracle has provided Israel’s military with software throughout the Gaza genocide.

“Supporting Israel is in our DNA – even if it costs us clients. That’s our agenda,” declared Shmulik Hauser, head of Oracle’s sales division, last year.

In August, the actor Mark Ruffalo expressed concerns over the merger and highlighted Oracle’s role in Israel.

“From one of the biggest tech companies in the world. Powering some of the most destructive and inhuman forces in the world. Why has Trump pushed this illegal merger through?” he wrote. “Mergers like this are almost always bad for workers, consumers, and the industry they tend to dominate.”

Pro-Israel groups and pundits smeared the actor as an antisemite over the post, as did Paramount itself.

“Words like ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid,’ applied to a corporate transaction, aren’t just wrong – they’re a bridge too far, and they cheapen the very real suffering those words are meant to describe,” said the company in a statement. “This doesn’t deserve a response in kind – and to be clear, we don’t tolerate prejudice of any kind, against anyone.”

“The accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest. Criticizing the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract, or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticizing Jewish people,” wrote Ruffalo on Twitter.

“This merger has real consequences for real people, and for the entire country,” he added. “Scrutinizing the Ellisons, including Oracle’s business built on data, surveillance technology and government contracts, and the serious threat to editorial freedom and the loss of a livelihood for thousands of families, is fair and necessary. The $111 billion deal would hand one family control over CNN, HBO and Warner Bros., backed in part by foreign money whose influence on editorial decisions has never been fully explained to the public.”

Palestinian-American attorney arrested

Last week, Palestinian-American attorney and author Noura Erakat was arrested during a budget hearing in Palm Beach County, Florida and charged with trespass and obstruction.

Erakat and dozens of other activists had shown up at the meeting to testify against the county investing over $1 billion in Israeli Bonds.

The county’s mayor, Sara Baxter, reportedly told the attendees that they could only speak for one minute and that they’d be forcibly removed if they clapped at any time. According to Erakat, they were also told they couldn’t address the bond questions because it was a “policy issue” and not a budget issue.

“They are evicting people for applauding,” she explained in a video prior to her arrest. They are insulting their own constituents. They have shut down what people can talk about. This is a very clear and obvious overturn of any kind of democratic order, even the semblance of democratic order. They want us to leave. This sheriff is now telling us to leave. We are staying. We are staying. You are witnessing an absolute – an absolute assault on democracy in Palm Beach County in defense of Israel, against all of their constituents standing in the room who oppose genocide and against the slaughter of children.”

“No other foreign country can get investment of local taxpayer dollars, but Israel can,” she told Zeteo’s Mehdi Hasan later. “Florida is in many ways an experiment, a lab for Zionist influence, and uses Florida as a test case to see what policies, what they can push, due to the relationships they’ve been able to form with local politicians.”

In July, a Palm Beach County judge dismissed a taxpayer lawsuit challenging the investment.

Charges against pro-Palestine Stanford students

Charges against five pro-Palestine activists have been dropped over their involvement in a 2024 protest at Stanford University. Four of the individuals are current students at the school, and one is a former student.

Police arrested 13 people during the protest and said the building where the protest took place sustained “extensive” damage. Twelve students were originally charged in connection, but six agreed to enter mental health diversion programs or pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

In February, a judge declared a mistrial because the jurors could not reach a verdict in the case. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen had planned to retry the individuals but, their defense attorneys successfully argued that he should be taken off the case after he promoted the trial as part of his reelection campaign and claimed it was part of an effort to fight antisemitism.

“Today’s a good day,” said defense attorney Tony Brass.