Labour Party dumps UK election candidate over 10-year-old tweets about Israel and Islamophobia

Shaheen accused the Labour Party of waging “a systematic campaign of racism, Islamophobia and bullying” and alleged that the party, led by Keir Starmer, has “a problem with black and brown people.” (AFP/File)
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Updated 31 May 2024
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Labour Party dumps UK election candidate over 10-year-old tweets about Israel and Islamophobia

  • Faiza Shaheen blocked from standing for the party at the General Election on July 4 because of a handful of interactions on social media platform X over the past decade
  • The tweets include one about her experience of Islamophobia in the party, and a clip from The Daily Show in which host Jon Stewart discussed Israel’s actions in Gaza in 2014

LONDON: Labour Party bosses have blocked a candidate from standing at the upcoming UK General Election because of a handful of interactions on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, over the past 10 years.

In one case, economist and academic Faiza Shaheen “liked” a video of a TV comedy sketch about Israel by acclaimed American comedian Jon Stewart, host of satirical news program The Daily Show. In another she wrote about her own experiences with Islamophobia within the Labour party.

Shaheen said she was informed on Wednesday night that she could not stand for the party at the election, after she was called to a meeting to discuss accusations of antisemitism and other misconduct. She told the BBC’s Newsnight program on Wednesday of her shock upon receiving the email confirming her candidacy had been blocked.

“Fourteen tweets since 2014 — 10 years,” she said. “Three of those were about the Green Party, me liking my friends’ tweets before I joined the Labour Party, and one of them was about my experiences of Islamophobia in the party.

“How am I not allowed to talk about my experiences of Islamophobia and the double standards that I’ve seen.”

Shaheen, an academic who specializes in the study of inequality, had been presented with a list of tweets earlier in the day, including one that included a clip from The Daily Show broadcast in July 2014. In it, host Stewart, who is of Jewish heritage, starts to discuss an Israeli ground offensive during the 2014 Gaza War. He is immediately surrounded and rebuked by four of the Comedy Central show’s correspondents who, as part of the show’s satirical commentary on the issue, accuse him of being a “self-hating Jew” for questioning the actions of Israel.

Shaheen’s interaction with video on social media prompted a complaint from the Jewish Labour Movement, which is affiliated with the Labour Party.

“It was the middle of the night, if you look at the time. I was probably with the baby, breastfeeding. I don’t even remember liking that tweet,” she said during her appearance on Newsnight.

She later accused the Labour Party of waging “a systematic campaign of racism, Islamophobia and bullying” and alleged that the party, led by Keir Starmer, has “a problem with black and brown people.”

Adding that she will challenge the party’s decision in the courts, she said: “This campaign of prejudice, bullying and spiteful behavior has finally been rewarded by Labour’s NEC (National Executive Committee) and my name has been added to the list of those not welcome in the candidate club. And it is no surprise that many of those excluded are people of color.”

Stewart reacted to the Labour Party’s action against Shaheen with a message on Twitter in which he wrote: “This is the dumbest thing the UK has done since electing Boris Johnson.”

The decision by Labour bosses to prevent Shaheen from standing in the Chingford and Woodford Green constituency in North East London comes as the party campaigns for the General Election on July 4, which many experts predict will result in a landslide victory for the party.

However, under Starmer, who became leader in 2020, the party has faced criticism on a number of issues, including its stance on the war in Gaza and its handling of internal matters.

In 2020, watchdogs ruled that the party was responsible for “unlawful” acts of antisemitic harassment and discrimination during the four-and-a-half years when Starmer’s predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, was party leader.


Lebanon deports detained US-Israeli national: officials

“Joshua Samuel Tartakovsky, a journalist with Israeli, US and British passports, was detained on October 5 and then deported.
Updated 14 sec ago
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Lebanon deports detained US-Israeli national: officials

BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities detained a US-Israeli national in Beirut last week and later deported him, Lebanese security and judicial officials said on Thursday.
“Joshua Samuel Tartakovsky, a journalist with Israeli, US and British passports, was detained on October 5 and deported the following day,” a judicial official said, requesting to remain anonymous.
Israel intensified air strikes in Lebanon over two weeks ago, targeting the Hezbollah armed group.
Lebanese law prohibits any contact with Israel, punishable by imprisonment, and Lebanese citizens are barred from traveling to its southern neighbor.
A security official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said Hezbollah members detained Tartakovsky and handed him over to the military intelligence, but said he was not a journalist.
He had gone to the southern suburbs, where Israel has pounded what they say are Hezbollah sites in recent weeks, presenting himself as a “supporter of Gaza and Hezbollah,” the security source said.
He claimed he wanted to tell Hezbollah about “Israeli army tactics,” the source said.
A spokeswoman at the US embassy told AFP: “We are aware of the arrest and due to privacy reasons have no further information to provide.”
The escalation of Israeli strikes in Lebanon since September 23 has killed more than 1,200 people and displaced over a million more from their homes, according to official figures.
Before that, Hezbollah had traded near-daily fire with Israeli forces in support of ally Hamas since the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza.


’Sleeper agent’ bots on X fuel US election misinformation, study says

Updated 10 October 2024
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’Sleeper agent’ bots on X fuel US election misinformation, study says

  • American Sunlight Project found apparent pro-Russian bots target Democratic contender Kamala Harris
  • Accounts as old as 15 year also touted the unfounded claim that the White House was pushing for regime change in Lebanon

WASHINGTON: Hundreds of apparent pro-Russian bot accounts on X are pushing US election misinformation and amplifying false narratives about Democratic contender Kamala Harris, a research group said Thursday, calling them “sleeper agents” for having evaded detection for years.
The findings by the Washington-based American Sunlight Project (ASP) demonstrate how bot-like activity plagues X, previously called Twitter, despite pledges by billionaire owner Elon Musk to crack down on the digital manipulation.
ASP analyzed nearly 1,200 accounts, a long-standing network that generated more than 100 million posts as of July, including pro-Kremlin propaganda, content favoring Republican nominee Donald Trump, and misinformation about Harris’s campaign.
The accounts, some of which have escaped detection and moderation on the site for as long as 15 years, retweeted such content within seconds of its posting, indicating bot activity, the group said in a report shared with AFP ahead of its public release.
“We were not surprised to find another pro-Russian bot network, but we were shocked to learn that some of the accounts in the sleeper agent network have been active for more than a decade,” Nina Jankowicz, the group’s co-founder and chief executive, told AFP.
Jankowicz, the former Department of Homeland Security disinformation chief, called on X to take down the network, which has seen an uptick in “abusive and false content” targeting Harris.
One account created in 2020 promoted the falsehood that Harris had admitted that she will be a “puppet” of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky if elected president.
It also touted the unfounded claim that the White House was pushing for regime change in Lebanon, taking advantage of Israel’s recent attacks on the militant group Hezbollah.


Another account created in 2011 shared a post by Musk — who has endorsed Trump and courted criticism for amplifying political falsehoods through his influential personal account — that pushed the debunked narrative that migrants were being imported into the United States to manipulate the November 5 election.
Hundreds of accounts in the network are not attributable to real social media users, with some creating fake personas using images from stock photo websites such as Shutterstock, ASP said.
To disguise their objectives and more easily “inject themselves into larger X/Twitter conversations,” some accounts regularly shared content about subjects such as sports and cryptocurrency, the report said.
It was not possible to determine the precise entity behind the pro-Russian accounts.
With data restrictions imposed by X since Musk purchased the company in 2022 for $44 billion, it was also difficult to assess their exact reach.
Researchers are now required to pay a hefty fee for access to its API, which allows third-party developers to gather the social platform’s data.
“If researchers had data access restored, more of such activity would likely be visible,” the ASP report said.


Bots and other automated accounts, researchers say, are a cornerstone of the Kremlin’s efforts to spread misinformation, in some cases supplanting state media accounts which have been restricted across several countries since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
X did not reply to AFP’s request for comment.
Ahead of his purchase of the platform, Musk pledged to “defeat the spam bots or die trying.”
But bot activity remains entrenched on the platform, a report from Australia’s Queensland University of Technology said last year, after an analysis of about one million posts.
The platform has gutted trust and safety teams and scaled back content moderation efforts, making it what researchers call a hotbed for misinformation.
“Despite the fact that Musk has an avowed goal of ridding his platform of bots, we’ve found that they persist on X, even coming from networks that are likely state-affiliated,” said Jankowicz.
“This is behavior that is fairly easy to identify, and yet this multi-billion dollar corporation has not cracked down on these accounts that violate its platform manipulation and spam policies.”


Hamas accuses Israel of killing cameraman for Gaza TV network

Updated 10 October 2024
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Hamas accuses Israel of killing cameraman for Gaza TV network

  • Muhammad Al-Tanani, a cameraman for Al-Aqsa TV, was buried Wednesday afternoon by colleagues at the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in northern Gaza City

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Hamas accused Israel of killing a cameraman for a television station it operates in the Gaza Strip, while Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera also blamed Israeli forces for wounding one of its journalists in the territory’s north.
Muhammad Al-Tanani, a cameraman for Al-Aqsa TV, was buried Wednesday afternoon by colleagues at the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in northern Gaza City, according to AFP journalists.
In a statement, Hamas’s press office called his killing an “despicable crime” and said the Israeli army was “fully responsible,” without offering details of the circumstances of his death.
Al Jazeera, meanwhile, said Wednesday that one of its cameramen, Fadi Al-Wahidi, was “injured by Israeli gunfire in northern Gaza, becoming the second Al Jazeera cameraman to be injured in an Israeli attack this week.”
According to an AFP journalist who was present, Wahidi was wounded in the neck in Jabalia, north of Gaza City, while covering Israeli operations in an area the army had previously told civilians to evacuate.
Al Jazeera said on X that his condition was critical.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment on the two incidents.
Israel’s military has repeatedly accused journalists from Al Jazeera of links to Hamas or its ally Islamic Jihad.
The network has fiercely denied these accusations and said Israel systematically targets its employees in the Gaza Strip.
Four Al Jazeera journalists have been killed since the war in Gaza began, and the network’s office in the territory has been bombed.


Elon Musk’s X is back in Brazil after its suspension, having complied with all judicial demands

Updated 10 October 2024
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Elon Musk’s X is back in Brazil after its suspension, having complied with all judicial demands

  • X and its former incarnation, Twitter, have been banned in Russia, China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Venezuela and Turkmenistan
  • Other countries, such as Pakistan, Turkiye and Egypt, have also temporarily suspended X before, usually to quell dissent and unrest

RIO DE JANEIRO: The social media platform X began returning to Brazil on Wednesday, after remaining inaccessible for more than a month due to a clash between its owner, Elon Musk, and a justice on the country’s highest court.
Internet service providers began restoring access to the platform after Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes authorized lifting X’s suspension on Tuesday.
“TWITTER IS ALIVE,” Lucas dos Santos Consoli, known as luscas on X, wrote on the platform to his more than 7 million followers.
“I’m happy that the platform decided to follow the laws of Brazil and finally adapted, after all I’ve been using the app for almost 15 years so I can’t deny that I was missing it,” the 31-year-old told The Associated Press.
De Moraes ordered the shutdown of X on Aug. 30 after a monthslong dispute with Musk over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. Musk had disparaged de Moraes, calling him an authoritarian and a censor, although his rulings, including X’s nationwide suspension, were repeatedly upheld by his peers.
Musk’s company ultimately complied with all of de Moraes’ demands. They included blocking certain accounts from the platform, paying outstanding fines and naming a legal representative. Failure to do the latter had triggered the suspension.
“This sends a message to the world that the richest person on the planet is subject to local laws and constitutions,” said David Nemer, who specializes in the anthropology of technology at the University of Virginia. It could set a precedent as to how other countries that are clashing with Musk — such as Australia — could move forward, as it shows Musk is not unbeatable, he added.
Brazil — a highly online country of 213 million people — is one of X’s biggest markets, with estimates of its user base ranging from 20 million to 40 million.
“X is proud to return to Brazil,” the company said in a statement posted on its Global Government Affairs account. “Giving tens of millions of Brazilians access to our indispensable platform was paramount throughout this entire process. We will continue to defend freedom of speech, within the boundaries of the law, everywhere we operate.”
Julia Bahri, an 18-year-old law student, said she was delighted with X’s return. She said that losing access to the platform had led to “one of the most desperate feelings I’ve experienced for a while,” adding that she had felt lost with regards to news.
Bahri said she uses X to express herself, whereas Instagram and Snapchat are mostly for posting photos.
The Aug. 30 ban came two days after the company said it was removing all its remaining staff in Brazil. X said de Moraes had threatened to arrest its legal representative in the country, Rachel de Oliveira Villa Nova Conceição, if the company did not comply with orders to block accounts.
Brazilian law requires foreign companies to have a local legal representative to receive notifications of court decisions and swiftly take any requisite action — particularly, in X’s case, the takedown of accounts.
Sleeping Giants Brazil, a platform for activism that seeks to combat fake news and hate speech, said the resumption of X’s activities in Brazil marked “a significant victory for Brazilian democracy.”
“It is crucial to remain steadfast against efforts to weaken democratic state authority, institutions and values,” it said in a statement.
Some of Brazilian X’s users have migrated to other platforms, such as Meta’s Threads and, primarily, Bluesky. It’s unclear how many of them will return to X.
In a statement to the AP, Bluesky reported that it now has 10.6 million users and continues to see strong growth in Brazil. Bluesky has appointed a legal representative in the South American country.
“Never get back with your eX,” Paul Frazee, a developer at Bluesky, wrote on the platform on Tuesday.
X is returning to Brazil weaker than it was before the ban, said Nemer, noting that X is now worth less than a fifth than when Musk bought Twitter. The platform has lost a lot of users, especially in Brazil, he said.
Brazil was not the first country to ban X — but such a drastic step has generally been limited to authoritarian regimes. The platform and its former incarnation, Twitter, have been banned in Russia, China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Venezuela and Turkmenistan. Other countries, such as Pakistan, Turkiye and Egypt, have also temporarily suspended X before, usually to quell dissent and unrest.
X’s dustup with Brazil has some parallels to the company’s dealings with the Indian government three years ago, back when it was still called Twitter and before Musk purchased it for $44 billion. In 2021, India threatened to arrest employees of Twitter (as well as Meta’s Facebook and WhatsApp), for not complying with the government’s requests to take down posts related to farmers’ protests that rocked the country.
Musk’s decision to reverse course in Brazil after publicly criticizing de Moraes isn’t surprising, said Matteo Ceurvels, research firm Emarketer’s analyst for Latin America and Spain.
“The move was pragmatic, likely driven by the economic consequences of losing access to millions of users in its third-largest market worldwide, along with the millions of dollars in associated advertising revenue,” Ceurvels said.
“Although X may not be a top priority for most advertisers in Brazil, the platform needs them more than they need it,” he said.


Israeli journalist arrested in Lebanon after entering with foreign passport

Updated 10 October 2024
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Israeli journalist arrested in Lebanon after entering with foreign passport

  • Joshua Tartakovsky entered together with other reporters using a British passport

BEIRUT: An Israeli journalist has been arrested in Lebanon after entering the country using a British passport, according to reports from Israeli and Lebanese media on Wednesday.

The pro-Hezbollah Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar identified the journalist as Joshua Tartakovsky, an Israeli citizen who reportedly entered Lebanon two weeks ago. Tartakovsky, born in the US, raised suspicions due to his behavior, leading to his eventual arrest by Lebanese security forces.

When arrested on Tuesday, authorities discovered that Tartakovsky was carrying both British and Israeli passports, violating laws in both Israel and Lebanon that prohibit Israeli citizens from entering Lebanon.

A security source confirmed to Arab News that Tartakovsky had been in Beirut’s southern suburbs in recent days, reportedly covering Israeli strikes in the area.

“He entered Lebanon as part of a group of foreign journalists who arrived in Beirut to cover the ongoing events in Lebanon and who visit the southern suburb and certain areas on a daily basis under the pretext of inspecting the destruction,” said the source, who requested anonymity.

The southern suburbs, heavily targeted by Israeli airstrikes, have seen widespread displacement and severe damage. The area is monitored by Hezbollah, who not only control journalists’ access but also guard the buildings against looting.

A security source stated that Tartkovsky has been referred to the judiciary, which will decide whether he will be deported or arrested.

“This is similar to other foreign nationals accused of collaboration, who have been arrested and tried in Lebanon unless their countries request extradition. The final decision rests with the Lebanese government,” the souce explained.

A judicial source told Arab News that “there is a strong inclination to deport the detained journalist without awaiting any extradition request. In this case, he would be handed over to the British embassy, which would facilitate his deportation from Lebanon.”

Tartakovsky, according to his profile on Vision Magazine, describes himself as an independent journalist. He studied at Brown University and the London School of Economics. He entered Lebanon alongside other journalists before his arrest.

Israeli media reported that Tartakovsky, who grew up in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish family and served in the Israeli army, reaching the rank of first sergeant, has been a contributor of “Zo Haderech,” a website associated with Israel’s far-left and anti-Zionist movements.

He has also previously worked for the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin, the International Defense and Security Team at Transparency International in London, and the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs in Israel.