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The Meteoric Rise of Jackson Hinkle on X: How Hateful Influencer Became Internet’s Biggest Hamas Fanboy
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X/Twitter, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
On the morning of the brutal October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, social media influencer Jackson Hinkle had 417,000 followers on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
Describing himself as an “American Conservative Marxist-Leninist” — in perhaps the clearest indicator of his muddled and inconsistent political views — Hinkle initially rose to prominence online as a peddler of pro-Russia disinformation.
Just two months after the Hamas attack, the number of people following Hinkle’s conspiratorial and, more often than not, incoherent ramblings on X has mushroomed to 2.3 million.
It’s a staggering jump that is not only earning Hinkle a tidy amount of money in advertising as a content creator on the Elon Musk-owned platform, but is largely thanks to Hamas and supporters of the terrorist organization.
Perhaps sensing a money-making opportunity in the days that followed the horrifying attack, Hinkle went into conspiracy overdrive and began pumping out anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda on an almost industrial scale.
His sudden pro-Palestinian pivot bears all the hallmarks of rank opportunism, particularly the zeal with which Hinkle has latched himself onto a cause that appears to have little to no personal effect — and that before October 7, you could count the number of times on one hand that Hinkle had posted about Israel or the Palestinians.
By now, @muhammadshehad2, @jacksonhinklle and @PalestineNW know this is a lie.
Videos have been released showing him leaving the prison with 2 healthy arms.
But the truth is not on their side so they hide behind the lies and hope you believe them. Don’t be their useful idiot. https://t.co/2EZNOTkGm7
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 29, 2023
Yet Hinkle’s shallow concern for the Palestinians has not prevented his meteoric social media rise, which has seen him push ever more dangerous conspiracies and lies as the Israel-Hamas war continues.
While there are almost too many flagrant instances of him sharing disinformation about Israel’s battle against Hamas to count, Hinkle appears to “specialize” in sharing outright fake pieces of information, including doctored and computer-generated imagery.
For example, he recently posted an image of suspected Hamas terrorists who had been rounded up and arrested by Israel alongside an image of ISIS terrorists about to execute several jumpsuit-clad hostages, with the obvious inference that Israel is summarily executing suspected terrorists.
On another occasion, Hinkle shared what he claimed was footage of Israel bombing Gaza’s Al-Sadaqa Hospital, which BBC fact-checker Olga Robinson later showed was CCTV from a hospital in Syria, and was at least seven years old.
This is not a hospital in Gaza being bombed.
This is old footage from Syria and completely unrelated to the current conflict. pic.twitter.com/GCCtyyy3sz
— Olga Robinson (@O_Rob1nson) November 1, 2023
Hinkle also seems to care very little about being exposed as a liar, having posted content that can be disproved with a mere click.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz took him to task after an October 28 post by Hinkle “attempted a wholesale appropriation of Haaretz’s name and coverage to support a range of baseless conspiracy theories.”
“He opened with a breathless claim: ‘Haaretz investigation EXPOSES all the ISRAELI LIES from October 7th (just like I predicated).’,” Haaretz noted. “There was just one problem: there is no such Haaretz investigation. Indeed, Hinkle didn’t even try to corroborate his hyperbolic headline with any hyperlinks to Haaretz at all.”
This post contains blatant lies about the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7. It has absolutely no basis in Haaretz’s reporting, then or sincehttps://t.co/ukDnVVyihm https://t.co/GX8cRIpX81
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) October 28, 2023
Hinkle has also been outspoken in his support for Hamas, which he has refused to admit is a terrorist organization, and for the Assad regime in Syria.
During October, Hinkle posted his support for Bashar al-Assad on numerous occasions, including describing the Syrian dictator as a “hero” and denying the fact chemical weapons were used by the Syrian army on civilians.
In another bizarre post that encouraged his supporters to donate for him to “expose Zionist lies,” Hinkle uploaded a photoshopped image of himself with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and claimed they both “stand with Palestine.”
The so-called “community notes” feature on X, which allows readers to add context to posts, has prevented Hinkle’s most outrageous examples of fake news from going unchallenged.
They include him calling on his millions of followers to boycott the newest Grand Theft Auto video game on the grounds it is “Haram Zionist propaganda” — a conclusion Hinkle seemingly arrived at after coloring the logo of the company behind GTA, Rockstar Games, blue so he could suggest that it bears a resemblance to the Star of David on the Israeli flag.
While Hinkle is far from alone in profiting off the Israel-Hamas war as he builds a career for himself as an influencer, the fact that he is profiting off pumping out fake news is simply staggering.
Elon Musk has promised to help tackle the proliferation of fake news and propaganda on X by demonetizing content creators who are responsible.
One such tool, he announced in October, would be preventing any posts that are fact-checked with the “community notes” feature from earning revenue — something that has apparently already prompted Hinkle to delete numerous posts.
However, such measures do not go nearly far enough.
A study released last month by the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) showed that X remains a digital sink of hate speech, with the study examining posts made following the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Its findings indicated that 96 percent of all posts that were reported for hate speech remained on the website for a week after being flagged.
And it is this abject failure of supine social media magnates like Elon Musk that have allowed Hinkle and his ilk to build careers peddling falsehoods.
In eight weeks of war that has seen horrifying bloodshed and led to countless lost lives, the Jackson Hinkles of the world are profiting without any concern for the real-world implications of their lies.
This has to stop now.
The post The Meteoric Rise of Jackson Hinkle on X: How Hateful Influencer Became Internet’s Biggest Hamas Fanboy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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United Nations ‘Condemns’ Israel for Responding to Houthi Attacks, Decries ‘Escalation’ of Violence
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks to members of the Security Council during a meeting to address the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, at UN headquarters in New York City, New York, US, April 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
In its latest salvo against the Jewish state, the United Nations (UN) condemned Israel for executing retaliatory strikes against the Houthi terror group in Yemen.
“The Secretary-General condemns escalation between Yemen and Israel,” Stéphanie Tremblay, a UN spokesperson, said in Thursday statements on behalf of UN Secretary General António Guterres.
“The Secretary-General is gravely concerned about intensified escalation in Yemen and Israel. Israeli airstrikes today on Sana’a International Airport, the Red Sea ports and power stations in Yemen are especially alarming. The airstrikes reportedly resulted in numerous casualties including at least three killed and dozens more injured” Tremblay added.
On Thursday, Israel launched a barrage of missile attacks on Houthi bases in Yemen, provoking international outrage. Israel targeted a major airport in Sanaa and ports in Hodeida, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib, and power stations, locations the Jewish state claims were used by the terror group to sneak in both Iranian weapons and high-ranking Iranian officials.
On Friday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for an airstrike aimed at Ben Gurion airport, claiming that the attacks were carried out in retaliation against Israel’s targeting of Sana’a International airport.
The Israeli strikes followed days of Houthi missile and drone launches towards the Jewish state’s airspace. The Houthis have repeatedly attacked the Jewish state in the year following the Oct. 7 slaughters in Israel. Officials associated with terrorist organization claims that it will continue to attack Israel until the so-called “genocide” in Gaza ceases.
In reference to the strikes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others learned.”
Israeli officials have long accused the UN of having a bias against the Jewish state. Last year, the UN General Assembly condemned Israel twice as often as it did all other countries. Meanwhile, of all the country-specific resolutions passed by the UNHRC, nearly half have condemned Israel, a seemingly disproportionate focus on the lone democracy in the Middle East.
Weeks following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, the UN adopted a resolution calling for a “ceasefire” between Israel and the terrorist group. The UN failed to pass a measure condemning the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.
In June, the UN put Israel on its so-called “list of shame” of countries that kill children in armed conflict. Israel is considered to be the only democracy on the list.
The post United Nations ‘Condemns’ Israel for Responding to Houthi Attacks, Decries ‘Escalation’ of Violence first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Jets Attack Syria-Lebanon Border Crossings to Stop Arms Amuggling
Smoke billows after an Israeli Air Force air strike in southern Lebanon village, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from northern Israel, Oct. 3, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jim Urquhar
Israeli jets struck seven crossing points along the Syria-Lebanon border on Friday, aiming to cut the flow of weapons to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in southern Lebanon.
Israeli troops also seized a truck mounted with a 40-barrel rocket launcher in southern Lebanon, part of a haul from various areas that included explosives, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and AK-47 automatic rifles, the military said.
The commander of the Israeli Air Force, Major General Tomer Bar, said Hezbollah was trying to smuggle weapons into Lebanon to test Israel’s ability to stop them.
“This must not be tolerated,” he said in a statement.
Under the terms of a Nov. 27 ceasefire agreement, Israel is supposed to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon in phases while unauthorised Hezbollah military facilities south of the Litani River are to be dismantled.
However, each side has accused the other of violating the agreement, intended to end more than a year of fighting that began with Hezbollah missile strikes on Israel in the aftermath of the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, from Gaza.
On Thursday, the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon called for Israeli forces to withdraw, citing what it said were repeated violations of the deal.
Israel, which destroyed large parts of Hezbollah’s missile stocks during weeks of operations in southern Lebanon, has said it will not permit weapons to be smuggled to Hezbollah through Syria.
Israel has also conducted attacks against the Iranian-backed Houthi movement in Yemen in recent days and pledged to continue its campaign against Iranian-backed militant groups across the region.
The post Israeli Jets Attack Syria-Lebanon Border Crossings to Stop Arms Amuggling first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Mila Kunis Says Husband Ashton Kutcher And Their Children Helped Her Embrace Judaism: ‘I Fell in Love With My Religion’
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis at the 9th Annual Breakthrough Prize Ceremony at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, California, on April 16, 2023. Photo: Cover Media via Reuters Connect
Actress Mila Kunis began embracing and feeling proud of her Jewish heritage when she met her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, and even more so after having children, she told Israeli activist and author Noa Tishby this week.
“For me, it happened when I met my husband,” the “Goodrich” star, 41, said of her former “That ’70s Show” costar, 46, who she has been married to since 2015.
Although Kutcher is not Jewish, he was a follower of Kabbalah and was frequently photographed visiting the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles when he was married to actress Demi Moore from 2005-2013. Their wedding was also reportedly officiated by a Kabbalah Centre teacher. It remains unclear if he continues to follow Kabbalah. Nevertheless, Kunis joked that Kutcher is Jewish “by choice,” not by lineage, and that his interest in Judaism sparked Kunis to reconnect with her Jewish roots.
“I fell in love with my religion because he explained it to me,” said Kunis, who voices Meg Griffin on the Fox animated series “Family Guy.”
Kunis made the comments while joining Tishby to light candles on Thursday for the second night of Hanukkah. The two joined forces as part of Tishby’s “#BringOnTheLight campaign,” which is an eight-part video series on YouTube dedicated to spreading the message of Jewish resilience, pride and unity throughout the Jewish holiday.
Kunis and Kutcher together have two children — daughter Wyatt, 10, and son Dimitri, 8. The actress was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, and moved to the United States at the age of eight. She told Tishby that she did not adhere to any Jewish traditions while growing up. “I always knew I was Jewish but I was told to never talk about,” she said. “I think because I was in a country that didn’t allow for religion.” The “Bad Moms” star added that her children also helped her tap into the religious side of Judaism.
“I was raised culturally Jewish. So for me, it’s a culture,” she said. “And as I had kids, and my kids very much identity with the religion aspect of it, I was like, ‘Oh, I guess we’re doing Shabbat and the candles. And there are so many beautiful traditions.”
“I never lit Hanukkah candles until I had kids,” she further noted.
When Kunis lit the menorah with Tishby for the second night of Hanukkah, they called Kutcher for some help. Both women were unsure if they needed to light the candles from left to right or from right to left, and asked Kutcher for guidance.
Kunis also talked about being raised with a lot of Jewish guilt and superstition. Listing another things that are culturally Jewish about her, she shared, “I have a fear of not having enough food and my fear of somebody being hungry. The worst thing my kids can say to me is, ‘I’m hungry.’”
“Food fixes everything. You’re tired, eat some food. You’re cranky, eat some food,” she joked. “A health person would say, ‘This is unhealthy and you’re doing something wrong.’ And I understand. I’m working on it. But it’s just something that is embedded in me.”
The post Mila Kunis Says Husband Ashton Kutcher And Their Children Helped Her Embrace Judaism: ‘I Fell in Love With My Religion’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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