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Seven Social Media Influencers Sharing Anti-Israel Hatred Online
People gather as smoke rises from a mobile shop in Sidon, Lebanon as Hezbollah communication devices explode across the country on Sept. 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hassan Hankir
Last week, thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah terrorists across Lebanon appeared to combust spontaneously, injuring thousands of Hezbollah terrorists. The targeted Israeli operation also caused a wave of fake news and misinformation being promoted by anti-Israel influencers across social media.
Seven of the influencers peddling these lies appear below.
1. Bassem Youssef is a comedian and former Egyptian TV host. In a recent post on X, he claimed that Israel is capable of detonating phones and tablets whenever and wherever they wish. This claim is entirely false, as Israel possesses no such technology. He’s also spread countless anti-Israel propaganda before and after the operation targeting Hezbollah.
And suddenly my phone , our security system , my kids tablets are time bombs that detonate at the whims of one country . You win Israel . Not a single politician or late night show talks about this ? None of that worth the news ? Nothing “funny” can come out of it ? The whole…
— Bassem Youssef (@Byoussef) September 18, 2024
2. Jackson Hinkle, an influencer who’s been removed from every social media platform except for X for promoting misinformation, posted to his 2.7 million followers the false claim that “Israel killed mostly civilians in their pager attack, and ZERO members of Hezbollah’s senior command.”.
Both Iranian state media and Hezbollah themselves have confirmed that several Hezbollah terrorists have died.
Israel killed mostly civilians in their pager attack, and ZERO members of Hezbollah’s senior command.
ISRAEL IS A TERRORIST STATE!
— Jackson Hinkle (@jacksonhinklle) September 17, 2024
3. Influencer Syrian Girl (@Partisangirl) posted on X that Israel “didn’t target Hezbollah members. They targeted everyone with a pager…”. This is fake news; only the pagers belonging to Hezbollah operatives were reported to have been affected. Her post has since appeared to be deleted.
The Zionist terrorist didn’t target Hezbollah members. They targeted everyone with a pager including doctors and nurses, killing a child. This is a nation wide terrorist attack. pic.twitter.com/9ojtlDMuHg
— Syrian Girl (@Partisangirl) September 17, 2024
4. Sarah (@sahouraxo), an influencer on X and a self-described Independent Lebanese geopolitical commentator with over 622k followers, claims, “This is an Israeli terrorist attack against Lebanon and its citizens.” A false claim: only Hezbollah operatives were targeted, not Lebanese civilians.
This is an Israeli terrorist attack against Lebanon and its citizens.
Devices exploded among ordinary civilians in streets, homes, institutions, and shops, killing 8 people, including a child, and injuring over 3,000 across the country.
This is pure, unadulterated terrorism.
— sarah (@sahouraxo) September 17, 2024
5. Daniel Haqiqatjou, founder of the antisemitic website MuslimSkeptic.com, made several false claims in a series of posts on X, where he claimed the attack targeted innocent Lebanese civilians and went on a rant accusing Israel of “flooding all the Muslim countries it trades with with “ticking time bomb products,” such as drinks, beauty products, pharmaceuticals, and appliances.
All the Zionist news outlets are spamming that the pagers belonged to “terrorists,” so that confirms that these were innocent Lebanese civilians that the Jewish state has targeted.
— Daniel Haqiqatjou (@Haqiqatjou) September 17, 2024
He also made the false claim that “No Muslim has ever committed terrorism via mass-distributed consumer goods.” Users on X were quick to fact-check this, adding the context that in 1978, Palestinian extremists claimed responsibility for distributing Israeli oranges, lemons, and grapefruit that had been tainted with mercury.
No Muslim has ever committed terrorism via mass distributed consumer goods.
This is a new type of terrorism invented and executed for the first time by the only Jewish state.
— Daniel Haqiqatjou (@Haqiqatjou) September 18, 2024
6. Nicholas Fuentes, a far-right American political commentator and live streamer known for promoting white supremacist and antisemitic views, shared this antisemitic conspiracy post to X (it, too, has since been deleted).
If you buy anything from Jews there is a small chance that they have hidden remote controlled explosives inside of it that they can detonate from Israel at any time to blow up your face, hands, or legs.
— Nicholas J. Fuentes (@NickJFuentes) September 18, 2024
7. Owen Jones, a writer and YouTuber with over 1.1 million followers on X, did not say anything overtly false but made several comments referring to this precise and targeted operation as “an obscene terrorist attack.”
Leave aside that these pagers are used by doctors and nurses.
If Hezbollah blew up the phones or pagers of IDF soldiers, whether or not on duty, inevitably killing and maiming children and bystanders – he’d denounce this as an obscene terrorist attack.pic.twitter.com/Io1fQFsOKB https://t.co/3cen505orm
— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) September 17, 2024
Of course, Israel’s attack was the opposite of the terrorism directed at civilians by Hezbollah and Hamas. Unlike those two groups, Israel only targeted terrorist operatives. But these seven biased influencers will never tell you that.
HonestReporting is a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Seven Social Media Influencers Sharing Anti-Israel Hatred Online first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Signals Willingness to Scale Back Uranium Enrichment to Ease Tensions
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iran may be prepared to significantly reduce its uranium enrichment levels in a bid to stave off renewed UN sanctions and limit the risk of further strikes by Israel and the United States, according to a report published Sunday in The Telegraph.
Citing Iranian sources, the paper said Tehran is considering lowering enrichment from 60% to 20%.
The move is reportedly being championed by Ali Larijani, the newly appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, who is holding talks with regime leaders.
“Larijani is trying to convince the system to reduce the level of enrichment in order to avoid further war,” a senior Iranian official told the paper.
The proposal, however, faces stiff resistance from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has long opposed concessions on the nuclear program. Still, the report suggests Iran’s leadership may be open to greater flexibility, including the possibility of reviving engagement with Western powers.
Last month, i24NEWS reported exclusively that a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is expected to travel to Iran. The team of technical experts would seek to resume monitoring of nuclear sites, inspections that have been heavily restricted in recent years.
The development comes amid mounting regional tensions and could represent a critical turning point in the long-running nuclear standoff.
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Major Brush Fire Erupts Near Jerusalem, Evacuations Underway
A view of the new Tel Aviv-Jerusalem fast train seen over the HaArazim Valley (“Valley of Cedars”) just outside of Jerusalem, Sept. 25, 2018. Photo: Yossi Zamir/Flash90.
i24 News – A large brush fire broke out Sunday in the Cedars Valley area, near Route 1 and the Motza interchange, prompting an emergency response from Jerusalem district fire services. Several water-bombing planes were dispatched, and authorities have declared a “fire emergency.”
As a precaution, residents of Mevaseret Zion are being evacuated. Access to the town from Route 1 has already been blocked, and officials are weighing a full closure of the major highway.
Fire crews from the Ha’uma station are on site working to contain the flames, while motorists in the area are urged to heed traffic updates and follow instructions from emergency services.
Eight firefighting aircraft are currently operating above the blaze in support of ground teams. The fire comes amid one of the hottest, driest summers on record, with conditions fueling a series of destructive wildfires across the country.
Officials warn the situation remains critical, as the blaze threatens a vital transportation corridor leading into Jerusalem.
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Egyptian Army Reinforces Its Eastern Border Ahead of Israel’s Gaza City Takeover
A man sits against a wall with a graffiti of a heart with the word “Gaza”, near the Rafah border crossing, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt, Feb. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
i24 News – The Egyptian army has reinforced its presence on the eastern border, fearing the humanitarian and military repercussions of the IDF’s takeover of Gaza City as authorities remain on high alert, Qatari media outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported Sunday.
According to the report, Egyptian authorities estimate that Israeli military operations will force roughly one million Gazans to flee Gaza City toward the southern part of the Strip, creating the opportunity for Israel to attempt to deliberately push these refugees toward the Egyptian border.
Cairo fears that Israel will force Gazans south — only as a temporary stop — before taking advantage of the chaos of the operation to push them further towards the Rafah crossing, bordering Egypt’s North Sinai.
According to the report, Egypt intends to send two messages with its reinforced military presence on the border: the first a stand against an attempted crossing breach, and the second against the idea of a humanitarian solution at the expense of its territory.