🧵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.
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!
Newly Declassified: The IDF just announced that the elite Shaldag unit dismantled an underground precision-guided missile production compound in Syria.
If Israel hadn't done this, it would've fallen into the hands of the Al Qaeda-linked HTS or other Jihadist groups
As suspected, the IDF’s claim that it struck an Islamic Jihad cell disguised as a PRESS vehicle seems accurate.
Of the 5 Facebook profiles of the five “journalists” killed, only Ayman al-Jadi and Faisel al-Qumsan contain more than a few photos or posts. So let's dive in 🧵
First, a reminder: The “journalists” worked for the Al Quds Today network, which even CNN acknowledges is affiliated with Islamic Jihad.
So already, there were members of a US-designated terrorist organization.
Now, as for the individuals themselves: Here is what Faisel posted 2 days before the October 7th massacre.
Human Rights Watch's new "genocide" report is a farce. It centers on alleged water deprivation and claims that "thousands of Gazans have died from dehydration," yet cannot substantiate a single case where someone definitively died of dehydration.
Rather, they rely on hearsay and testimonies from Hamas Health Ministry officials and either political activist doctors or "useful idiot" doctors. Dehydration is always listed as a "contributing factor" or something like that.
But even assuming that their central contention is true—which it manifestly is not—the notion that Israel is responsible for it is ludicrous.
As @cogatonline stated this morning:
"🔸️3 water lines FROM ISRAEL are active, supplying an average of 107 liters per person in northern Gaza, 34 liter per person in central Gaza, and 20 liters per person in southern Gaza. According to international standards, conflict zones require 15 liters of water per person daily. The amount of water supplied exceeds that.
🔸️Israel facilitated hundreds of water infrastructure repairs, both in northern and southern Gaza. Israel also fixed water lines leading to Gaza on the Israeli side that were damaged by Hamas. Some of these repairs were done under fire.
🔸️Israel facilitated the repair of the 'Kela' electricity line (also damaged by Hamas on October 7th), so the desalination plant in Khan Yunis can work at full capacity.
🔸️We coordinated the refueling of water pumping facilities on a continued basis.
🔸️Water also enters Israel on humanitarian aid trucks."
See below for many examples where Human Rights Watch admits that their central argument cannot be verified. 🧵
"They had seen"
"Impossible to capture the full number of people who have died"
Breaking: The IDF targeted a Hamas-run Gaza Civil Defense command center used for terrorism. Among those killed was Ahmed al-Louh, an Al Jazeera "cameraman" who was also a platoon commander in Islamic Jihad.
As always, the IDF's claims are complemented by open-source info🧵
First of all, Alouh writes on his Facebook that he studied at the London School of Economics, which, if true, is just.... wow 🤷♂️
On Facebook, Alouh likes to engage in good old-fashioned journalism, which, in this case, means fawning over terrorists.