🧵Probably the most sophisticated Al Jazeera "journalist" psy-op yet:
You may have seen the headlines today about Al Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghoul, who was apprehended by the IDF in Shifa Hospital while it was battling terrorists.
Given the multiple instances since October 7th of Al Jazeera journalists moonlighting as Hamas operatives (or vice versa), I figured I’d take a look into al-Ghoul as well.
What I found was a highly sophisticated, concerted effort to – for lack of a better word – manufacture a "legitimate journalist" out of whole cloth.
2/ Here are al-Ghoul's official journo social media accounts on telegram, x, and facebook. They were all created between November 2023 — February 2024.
And here are his first posts on his official Instagram and TikTok accounts.
In other words, unlike many of the Al Jazeera journalists who have been exposed as terrorists or terror supporters since October 7th due to their social media activity, much of this guy's social media activity was inaccessible.
Or so I initially thought.
4/ Turns out he has a personal Facebook, on which he loves to post his love for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar
5/ He also glorifies terrorism, like in the cases of Basel al-Arraj, the head of a PFLP cell who was killed in a gun battle in the West Bank in 2017, and Diya'a al-Sabarini, an al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist who was killed in a gunfight with the IDF
6/ I then found an old disabled X account of his using internet sleuthing stuff.
He used to be a journalist at the Hamas-run news outlets Felesteen and Al-Resalah
7/ I also found that after working for Hamas news outlets, al-Ghoul worked for several "media production companies" in Gaza before moving over to Al Jazeera right after October 7th.
aljazeera.net/encyclopedia/2…
8/ Although al-Ghoul's old X account is disabled and his posts can be seen, I did some more internet sleuthing stuff and managed to find some of his old posts in which he demonstrates his antisemitism and support for terror.
For example:
"The greatest epidemic is the Israeli entity and every Arab trying to normalize it as a reality to coexist with them...
72 years of continuous crime and abuse against Palestinians, the most recent being exposing Palestinian prisoners to the global pandemic.
#Covid48"
9/ Translation:
"Alternative tools are a treasure in the hands of all the young people of the West Bank
#DownWithTheAnnexation_Decision"
10/ To clarify: al-Ghoul's prior TikTok, X, and Instagram accounts were deleted. We know this because the usernames of his new accounts on the platforms all end with the number 2.
It’s no small feat to erase much of someone's social media presence, create new profiles, and then amass hundreds of thousands of followers in just a few months, as seen with al-Ghoul.
The orchestrator of this psy-op invested considerable effort to conceal al-Ghoul’s connections to Hamas and his malevolent beliefs. They recognized the importance of meticulously shaping an image that aligns with the standards of “respected” news sources like Al Jazeera.
Ultimately, they transformed a Hamas operative into an ostensibly "legitimate" journalist, yet whose primary goal is to disseminate Hamas propaganda and demonize the State of Israel, whether through his reporting or now, by elevating his status to that of a martyr following his arrest.
Judging by the public response to al-Ghoul's arrest, it's evident that their strategy was wildly successful.
11/ If you haven't done so yet, I would appreciate if you share my thread to spread the word about this type of nefarious public manipulation.
And while you're at it, please share the legendary @mishtal's thread about the Ghoul as well!
12/ If you made it this far, feel free to check out some of my other threads exposing Al Jazeera "journalists"
13/ And another
14/ And last one. Thanks again!
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