Media 'Chaos' Only When Palestinians Are Falsely Accused
When right-wing influencers target an outspoken Palestinian student, Mustapha Kharbouch, with death threats following a Brown University shooting, Axios finds its outrage. Kharbouch, who is openly queer and a vocal critic of the Gaza violence, was smeared by MAGA accounts citing his ethnicity and activism as 'suspicious.' Police cleared Kharbouch, finding the actual killer was a Portuguese
national. Yet, the same media outlets rarely dissect the 'chaos' unleashed by Israeli government officials and their well-funded lobbyists making demonstrably false claims that grease the wheels for actual violence against Palestinians. Where is the Axios exposé on the 'chaotic' propagation of unverified claims by Israeli government social media accounts that fuel the narrative for bombing
hospitals, or the AIPAC-bankrolled politicians who greenlight these actions? (OpenSecrets reports in 2022 alone, AIPAC spent $7.9 million on lobbying, influencing votes on aid packages.) The online mob targeting Kharbouch is indeed reprehensible, but it's a ripple compared to the tidal wave of state-sponsored disinformation justifying mass displacement and starvation. One might wonder if 'chaos'
is only newsworthy when it inconveniences Western sensibilities, rather than actively enabling genocide.