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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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Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself. Really?
JNS.org – If I asked you to name the most famous line in the Bible, what would you answer? While Shema Yisrael (“Hear O’Israel”) might get many votes, I imagine that the winning line would be “love thy neighbor as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18). Some religions refer to it as the Golden Rule, but all would agree that it is fundamental to any moral lifestyle. And it appears this week in our Torah reading, Kedoshim.
This is quite a tall order. Can we be expected to love other people as much as we love ourselves? Surely, this is an idealistic expectation. And yet, the Creator knows us better than we know ourselves. How can His Torah be so unrealistic?
The biblical commentaries offer a variety of explanations. Some, like Rambam (Maimonides), say that the focus should be on our behavior, rather than our feelings. We are expected to try our best or to treat others “as if” we genuinely love them.
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, in his classic text called the Tanya, argues that the actual feelings of love are, in fact, achievable provided that we focus on a person’s spirituality rather than how they present themselves physically. If we can put the soul over the body, we can do it.
Allow me to share the interpretation of the Ramban (Nachmanides), a 13th-century Torah scholar from Spain. His interpretation of the verses preceding love thy neighbor is classic and powerful, yet simple and straightforward.
“Do not hate your brother in your heart. You shall rebuke him, but do not bear a sin because of him” by embarrassing him in public. “Do not take revenge, and do not bear a grudge against your people. You shall love your fellow as yourself, I am God” (Leviticus 19:17-18).
What is the connection between these verses? Why is revenge and grudge-bearing in the same paragraph as love your fellow as yourself?
A careful reading shows that within these two verses are no less than six biblical commandments. But what is their sequence all about, and what is the connection between them?
The Ramban explains it beautifully, showing how the sequence of verses is deliberate and highlighting the Torah’s profound yet practical advice on how to maintain healthy relationships.
Someone wronged you? Don’t hate him in your heart. Speak to him. Don’t let it fester until it bursts, and makes you bitter and sick.
Instead, talk it out. Confront the person. Of course, do it respectfully. Don’t embarrass anyone in public, so that you don’t bear a sin because of them. But don’t let your hurt eat you up. Communicate!
If you approach the person who wronged you—not with hate in your heart but with respectful reproof—one of two things will happen. Either he or she will apologize and explain their perspective on the matter. Or that it was a misunderstanding and will get sorted out between you. Either way, you will feel happier and healthier.
Then you will not feel the need to take revenge or even to bear a grudge.
Here, says the Ramban, is the connection between these two verses. And if you follow this advice, only then will you be able to observe the commandment to Love Thy Neighbor. If you never tell him why you are upset, another may be completely unaware of his or her wrongdoing, and it will remain as a wound inside you and may never go away.
To sum up: Honest communication is the key to loving people.
Now, tell me the truth. Did you know that not taking revenge is a biblical commandment? In some cultures in Africa, revenge is a mitzvah! I’ve heard radio talk-show hosts invite listeners to share how they took “sweet revenge” on someone, as if it’s some kind of accomplishment.
Furthermore, did you know that bearing a grudge is forbidden by biblical law?
Here in South Africa, people refer to a grudge by its Yiddish name, a faribel. In other countries, people call it a broiges. Whatever the terminology, the Torah states explicitly: “Thou shalt not bear a grudge!” Do not keep a faribel, a broiges or resentment of any kind toward someone you believe wronged you. Talk to that person. Share your feelings honestly. If you do it respectfully and do not demean the other’s dignity, then it can be resolved. Only then will you be able to love your fellow as yourself.
May all our grudges and feelings of resentment toward others be dealt with honestly and respectfully. May all our grudges be resolved as soon as possible. Then we will all be in a much better position to love our neighbors as ourselves.
The post Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself. Really? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Nonsense’: Huckabee Shoots Down Report Trump to Endorse Palestinian Statehood
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during the day he visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Saturday dismissed as nonsensical the report that President Donald Trump would endorse Palestinian statehood during his tour to the Persian Gulf this week.
“This report is nonsense,” Huckabee harrumphed on his X account, blasting the Jerusalem Post as needing better sourced reporting. “Israel doesn’t have a better friend than the president of the United States.”
Trump is set to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. The leader’s first trip overseas since he took office comes as Trump seeks the Gulf countries’ support in regional conflicts, including the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and curbing Iran’s advancing nuclear program.
However, reports citing administration insiders claimed that Trump has also set his sights on the ambitious goal of expanding the Abraham Accords. These agreements, initially signed in 2020, normalized relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. The accords are widely held to be among the most important achievements of the first Trump administration.
The post ‘Nonsense’: Huckabee Shoots Down Report Trump to Endorse Palestinian Statehood first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US to Put Military Option Back on Table If No Immediate Progress in Iran Talks
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy-designate Steve Witkoff gives a speech at the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
i24 News – Unless significant progress is registered in Sunday’s round of nuclear talks with Iran, the US will consider putting the military option back on the table, sources close to US envoy Steve Witkoff told i24NEWS.
American and Iranian representatives voiced optimism after the previous talks that took place in Oman and Rome, saying there was a friendly atmosphere despite the two countries’ decades of enmity.
However the two sides are not believed to have thrashed out the all-important technical details, and basic questions remain.
The source has also underscored the significance of the administration’s choice of Michael Anton, the State Department’s policy planning director, as the lead representative in the nuclear talks’ technical phases.
Anton is “an Iran expert and someone who knows how to cut a deal with Iran,” the source said, saying that the choice reflected Trump’s desire to secure the deal.
The post US to Put Military Option Back on Table If No Immediate Progress in Iran Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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