A Florida-based contractor previously responsible for constructing a migrant detention facility nicknamed ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ had been positioned to oversee a massive $1.7 billion aid distribution operation in Gaza, according to investigative reporting. Gotham LLC, the company behind the controversial Everglades detention center, held an advantageous position in the bidding process to become the ‘Master Contractor’ for humanitarian and commercial shipments into the Palestinian territory.
The proposal, orchestrated by political appointees within an initiative led by Jared Kushner and his Gaza liaison Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, envisioned supplying 600 truckloads of aid daily. The contractor would have charged substantial fees—$2,000 per humanitarian load and $12,000 for commercial shipments—though the funding source remained unspecified in project documents.
Gotham’s owner, Matt Michelsen, who has extensively profited from government contracts including COVID-19 lockdown initiatives, abruptly withdrew from the bidding process following media inquiries. The company’s detention facility in Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve, constructed in just eight days amidst python and alligator-inhabited marshlands, featured rows of bunk beds enclosed by chain-link fencing before being ordered shut by a federal judge in August.
The aid management plan notably excluded career diplomats and humanitarian experts, instead relying on former members of Elon Musk’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ (Doge) team. These officials, including a 25-year-old Princeton graduate and conservative Jewish-American activist, operated from luxury beachfront hotels in Tel Aviv while developing plans for Gaza housing compounds termed ‘Alternative Safe Communities.’
This approach echoes previous US intervention models in Iraq and Afghanistan, relying on private contractors funded by taxpayer dollars to execute large-scale international initiatives.