Dozens of videos have gone viral on TikTok and Instagram showing harassment of Palestinians and activists

TikTok has removed an account belonging to an ultranationalist, pro-settlement Israeli influencer for breaching hate speech and bullying rules after the Guardian flagged videos showing him harassing activists in the occupied West Bank.

The Guardian has reviewed dozens of videos posted by various social media figures that have gone viral on TikTok and Instagram documenting the harassment of Palestinians as well as physical attacks on Israeli and international activists.

The accounts began to proliferate after the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, since when Israeli forces and settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank. In recent weeks violence has intensified further, with repeated attacks on homes.

The burgeoning far-right ecosphere has risen in tandem with the growing influence of far-right parties and figures in Israeli politics.

“Dehumanising Palestinians is now mainstream in Israel,” said Yuli Novak, the executive director of the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. “Influencers gain popularity through incendiary messaging.”

  • Bazell@lemmy.zipEnglish
    41·
    3 hours ago

    They are not equal. True. But, without Judaism Zionism wouldn’t have existed. So, it is like an offspring that gained all the worst traits from the parents.

    • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      1 hour ago

      Zionism has it’s roots in Christianity. In short, it began purely religious, expanded to include Jewish Zionists early on, notably in the wake of pogroms in Europe, expanded to include secular justifications as European powers (Britain in particular) were sold onto the project. In any case, Antisemitism was Weaponized to benefit the Zionist project, at the expense of the safety of the Jewish diaspora.

      Ilan Pappe has a very detailed book about the origins to the modern day lobbying apparatus: Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic

      I haven’t read too much of the book yet, so that’s the best summary I can come up with right now

      Zionism began as an evangelical Christian concept and later an active project. It appeared as a religious appeal to the faithful both to aid and be prepared for the ‘return of the Jews’ to Palestine and the establishment of a Jewish state there as the fulfilment of God’s will. But soon after, the Christians involved in this campaign politicised this ‘theology of return’, once they realised that a similar notion had begun to emerge among European Jews, who despaired of finding a solution to the never-ending anti-Semitism on the continent. The Christian desire to see a Jewish Palestine coincided with a similar European Jewish vision in the late nineteenth century.