At first glance, the X account @StopZionistHate seems like a pro-Palestinian leftist organization. It describes itself as a “Leading non-partisan American based organization fighting zionism and zionist hate.” Its logo is corporate-looking, and it has the $1,000-a-month “gold check” that represents supposedly reputable businesses and nonprofit groups. Some tweets seem anodyne — the account provides fact-checking, for example, via “our very own news wire.”
But the vast majority of its content is anything but vanilla. Stop Zionist Hate is based on and in reaction to an account called Stop Antisemitism; both achieve their high engagement and awareness rates by sharing upsetting and horrifying examples of hate — in Stop Zionist Hate’s case, from “Zionists” (usually far-right supporters of Israel) directed at pro-Palestinian activists, Muslims and others. Similar to Stop Antisemitism, it also doxxes and engages in mass harassment campaigns to get these people fired. All of this helps feed the outrage of its audience while positioning Stop Zionist Hate as a leader in the battle for Palestinian rights.
After Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, white nationalists pivoted to pro-Palestinian content.
Scratch the surface, though, and something far darker is exposed: a white nationalist marketing machine. Accounts like Stop Zionist Hate are part of an even larger white nationalist, neo-Nazi and far-right project: exploiting the war in Gaza as disinformation explodes and a friendly billionaire/social media site owner gives them free rein.
To understand how Stop Zionist Hate fits into this, we need to examine how that project came to be. After Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, white nationalists pivoted to pro-Palestinian content. Accounts like those of Jackson Hinkle (with a long track record of transphobia) and Censored Men (misogyny) have followed this tactic to incredible success, garnering hundreds of thousands or even millions of new followers. Together, these…
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