Thread by @ConneelyL

[Thread] You might see the hashtag 'KidsNotSoldiers' over the next few days. It's from a new organisation called 'Coalition to Save Palestinian Child Soldiers' for their new campaign 'Palestinian Child Soldiers' (PCS) Week

Came across it here:
jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-C… 1/18

I write & research about violence, activism, conflict resolution etc. in Israel-Palestine for my job at @ItmakesSNS, so I wanted to know more about this new organisation and event - it sounded interesting. 2/18

There is plenty to be said & written about the militarisation of youth in Israeli & Palestinian societies. This is something that is unfortunately part-and-parcel of most armed conflicts. This article from @snopes does a great job breaking it down: snopes.com/news/2018/06/0… 3/18

I've spoken with too many Israeli & Palestinian youth, all peace activists, about the traumatic experiences of their childhood: whether it was the terror of riding a bus in Jerusalem during the 2nd Intifada or IDF soldiers shooting across a playground in Ramallah 4/18

So, back to the PCS Week: as I'd never heard of this Coalition, I start digging around. Their website is full of slick graphics, planning for rallies, hashtags etc. A well-produced & funded campaign. But no info on their site of who the Coalition are. The first 🚩5/18

I go to their Facebook page & look at transparency info. It was only created on the 10.02.2020, so new. 🚩no. 2, but not necessarily bad. The organisation that owns the page is The Clarion Project. Who? I thought it was a Coalition of NGOs who want to rescue child soldiers? 6/18

According to the @splcenter it turns out the CP, formerly Clarion Fund, are "an anti-Muslim group based in Washington, D.C. Clarion, formerly the Clarion Fund distributes a number of films promoting anti-Muslim conspiracy theories."

Oh.

splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015…

7/18

According to the @splcenter, Clarion's 'National Security Analyst' Ryan Mauro "Mauro peddles the types of conspiracy theories prevalent in Clarion’s films. He has promoted the false narrative of “no-go zones” for non-Muslims in Europe."

🤔

8/18

So far, so horrible. Here's more on CP from the UK's @hopenothate:

"In collaboration with the Jerusalem-based Honest Reporting media watchdog, it has produced numerous films including:

‘Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West’...

hopenothate.org.uk/research/islam…

9/18

Contd.:

"‘Obsession’ was cited in the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik’s manifesto posted online on 22 July 2011."

So an org who claim to care about Palestinian kids was cited in the manifesto of far-right mass murderer of teenagers.

10/18

hopenothate.org.uk/research/islam…

In another sick twist to this story, according to @hopenothate, former CP board members include Daniel Pipes, who is Founder and President of The Middle East Forum. This is the group reportedly behind these posters recently put up across Tel Aviv:

https://twitter.com/LaraFriedmanDC/status/1228444712538923008?s=20

11/18

The posters were so shocking that TA mayor Ron Huldai ordered them to be removed, saying they are "reminiscent of ISIS & the Nazis" (via @reglash). The MEF 'Israeli Victory Project' is reportedly behind them:

972mag.com/israel-peace-p…

12/18

MEF are also part of the global network supporting 'Tommy Robinson':

"the Middle East Forum (MEF), acknowledges it has spent about $60,000 (£47,000) on Robinson’s legal fees and demonstrations staged in London" via @guardian

theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/d…

13/18

So this global network has many connections. The next node is another organisation I'd never encountered before: Hetz.

After some more digging I discovered this post, talking about PCS Week on Feb 11th '20. The 'story' reads like a press release:

facebook.com/permalink.php?…

14/18

Hetz, allegedly responsible for the PCS Week campaign, are not very present online, but if you search a little you can find this fella, Hetz' CEO Eran Taboul:

linkedin.com/in/eran2bul/

15/18

You can see Taboul & Hetz mentioned in this article, about an anti-BDS speaking tour bringing together a number of right-wing Israeli NGOs to speak in the USA for "a week of regional sessions convened by Hetz":

jewishlinkbwc.com/index.php/comm…

16/18

So this supposedly grassroots 'Coalition to Save Palestinian Child Soldiers' appears to be, in reality, a network of far right 'think thanks', some flagged as hate groups, and for one organisation, was cited by a mass murderer of teenagers in his manifesto.

17/18

As I said at the top, there is plenty of scope for interrogating Palestinian factions for incitement to violence, the historical use of child suicide bombers etc.

But these orgs, facing serious allegations of spreading hateful rhetoric, are not the ones to do it.

18/18 END

@LaraFriedmanDC @JohnLyndon_ @joshnathankazis @Jake_Hanrahan @peacenowisrael @bellingcat @abdallaha92 @YairWallach @Beltrew @rafsanchez @olireports @hopenothate @splcenter @adamrasgon @YachadUK @OzKaterji @alexcruik @abesilbe @DanielSeidemann @joedyke @NeriZilber @CasMudde

@eran_nissan @nathanhersh @estherbeadle @ben_reiff

@eran_nissan @nathanhersh @estherbeadle @ben_reiff Oh, and if any nutty antisemites decide to pop-up, please jog on. You will be blocked.

Update: At least some of the coordination around this PCS Week campaign is coming from the app 'Act.IL', which, according to this @haaretzcom report by @AllisonKSommer, is/was partnered with the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs: haaretz.com/israel-news/.p…

(thanks to @eran_nissan for the tip on the last tweet)

@eran_nissan UPDATE:

It is now clear that this '#KidsNotSoldiers' campaign is predominantly a project of the far right, anti-Islam hate group The Clarion Project.

They claim it as their own on Twitter & a film they've produced is part of the campaign:

kidsthemovie.com

Remember: a film made by the CP was cited by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik’s manifesto in 2011. So their film catalogue and their campaigns are not something mainstream organisations here in the UK or in any country should be promoting.

More: hopenothate.org.uk/research/islam…

Wherever hatred & conspiracy theories rear their ugly head - as we've seen with the #Islamophobic far right Clarion Project #PCSWeek, or far left #Holocaust denial & antisemitism - we must condemn & call it out. Great work from @hopenothate & @CST_UK.

theguardian.com/news/2020/feb/…

@threadreaderapp unroll for old times sake.