EXPOSED: TECH ENTREPRENEUR BEHIND PRO-ISRAEL HATE NETWORK TARGETING PALESTINIANS

Thu 04 July 2024:

A hate campaign led by supporters of Israel has been uncovered, revealing a web of anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim propaganda spread across social media. A Guardian investigation has exposed a group called the Shirion Collective, a conspiracy-driven, pro-Israel disinformation network that has been active in shaping public opinion in the US, Australia and the UK about Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza.

At the heart of this operation is Daniel Linden, a Florida-based tech entrepreneur who has been identified as a prime mover behind the Shirion Collective. Linden is said to have co-written a guidebook for OnlyFans users. The Zionist advocate has been instrumental in coordinating the group’s efforts through various social media and crowdfunding platforms.

The Shirion Collective describes itself as a “surveillance network” and boasts of an AI-surveillance platform called Project Maccabee. Its activities have included harassing pro-Palestinian activists, including many Jews critical of Israel, offering bounties for the identities of pro-Palestinian protesters, and spreading conspiracy narratives centred on figures like George Soros.

The group’s activities include the particularly troubling practice of doxing, which involves revealing individuals’ private or identifying information without their consent. According to the Guardian, Shirion began offering what it described as “bounties” for identifying people involved in pro-Palestinian protests. This campaign, launched in late 2023 on X, advertised an “INSIDERS AGAINST ANTISEMITISM” scheme that promised “CASH for GREAT insider information”.

The bounties increased with the target’s occupational status, ranging from $500 for identifying a student up to $10,000 for a politician. Shirion has posted dozens of such bounty offers and claims to have paid out to individuals who have helped the group identify critics of Israel. As recently as 19 June, the group claimed to have paid out $1,000 for the identity of a protester. This systematic approach to doxing not only violates individuals’ privacy but also potentially puts them at risk of harassment or violence.

Beyond the bounty programme, Shirion has consistently voiced and boosted Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian hate. According to leading experts on Islamophobia, pro-Israel and Zionist networks are one of the five pillars of anti-Muslim hate which have been on the rise. The other four are made up of the far-right network, neo-conservative think tanks, state apparatuses and liberal commentators.

Shirion is said to have celebrated repeatedly the killing of Palestinians in Gaza, including journalists and children. In one particularly chilling post on 27 April, it responded to a video showing destruction in Gaza by posting “Love that Gaza looks like that now”, adding the acronym “FAFO” (“f**k around and find out”).

The collective has also celebrated police violence directed at pro-Palestinian protesters in the US and reportedly endorsed violence against journalists it characterised as “Marxist”. In a post on 5 May depicting an attack on protesters in Denver, Shirion wrote “LIKE & SHARE to make this more common”, effectively encouraging violence against peaceful demonstrators.

The group’s propaganda efforts extend beyond direct hate speech to include the spread of disinformation and conspiracy theories. Despite claiming to be an opponent of anti-Semitism, the group regularly promotes conspiracy theories that experts regard as implicitly anti-Semitic.

It has also shared conspiracy theories about Muslims, including one projecting a Muslim takeover of Europe, a common hateful trope peddled by the far right and European fascists. In some instances, Shirion has posted outright disinformation, such as captioning images of pro-Palestinian protesters taking a lesson in Haitian martial arts with the claim that they were “Practicing Slaughter Techniques on Jews”.

Daniel Linden’s involvement with Shirion was uncovered through a trail of online breadcrumbs. The Guardian investigation used public records and open-source materials to corroborate information originally provided by the White Rose Society, an Australian anti-fascist research collective.

The investigation also revealed Linden’s preoccupation with OnlyFans, the platform that allows producers of adult content to monetise their work. He is credited as co-author of a Spanish-language e-book about mastering OnlyFans, and a screenshot from one of his personal Facebook accounts showed a substantial quarterly payment from the platform.

The Shirion Collective is the latest pro-Israel hate campaign to be exposed since 7 October. Last month, in a startling revelation, the New York Times exposed a secretive Israeli influence campaign aimed at swaying US lawmakers and public opinion in favour of the actions of the occupation state during its military offensive in Gaza.

-MEMO

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