With more than a million followers across Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, Mohammed El-Kurd has become somewhat of a media darling. Over the past two years, the 24-year-old resident of eastern Jerusalem has appeared on virtually every major television network, including CNN, CBS, NBC and MSNBC, and in the process exposed a global audience to his radical anti-Israel views.
Journalists at The Financial Times, Le Monde and other publications have penned fawning profiles of El-Kurd, with some describing the young Jerusalemite as the “next generation of Palestinian activists.”
Related Reading: The Financial Times’ Next-generation Palestinian Activist: ‘Israel is a Child Killing Entity’
El-Kurd has certainly reaped the financial rewards of his newfound prominence: researchers recently revealed that he collected tens of thousands of dollars in speaking fees, which have included giving lectures at college campuses throughout the United States and addressing the United Nations in New York.
Last September, El-Kurd and his sister, Muna, made Time Magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Just days before Time hailed his “grassroots organizing,” the activist announced that he would be joining The Nation as a writer. So far, the “Palestine correspondent” has produced eight articles for the progressive journal — all of which sought to justify violence perpetrated by Palestinians.
Meanwhile, The Nation and other media organizations continue to turn a blind eye to El-Kurd’s brazen displays of antisemitism.
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Last week, the StopAntisemitism NGO took to Twitter to draw attention to El-Kurd’s latest antisemitic social media post. In an Instagram story, he had shared a cartoon portraying Palestinian Authority (PA) Civil Affairs head Hussein al-Sheikh — considered a leading candidate to succeed Mahmoud Abbas as PA president — shaking hands with an Israeli soldier.
The sketch, drawn by Palestinian artist Azeez Azeez, depicted the Jewish serviceman as a devil-like figure. “The prototype Jew of old; an evil dehumanized demon with [a] long nose,” social media users commented, likening the Instagram entry to Nazi-era anti-Jewish propaganda.
“Every institution that hosts Mohammed El-Kurd is giving a platform to Jew hatred,” said Jewish activist Aviva Klompas. Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, director of policy at the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, added: “Mohammed El-Kurd, who TIME considered one of the 100 most influential people of 2021, doesn’t even bother to conceal his hatred for the Jewish people.”
Antisemite Mohammed El-Kurd shares a horrifying Nazi-like cartoon graphic to his nearly 750k followers on Instagram.@instagram did not remove the graphic, citing "due to high volume of reports, our review team hasn't been able to review your report".
Unacceptable @Meta pic.twitter.com/vLGH7cRQBb
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) July 20, 2022
A look at El-Kurd’s profile confirms that The Nation’s “Palestine correspondent” follows Azeez Azeez’s hate-filled account on Instagram. Upon further inspection, HonestReporting discovered that Azeez Azeez more than once invoked overt anti-Jewish tropes and blood libels in his work, frequently illustrating Jews as subhuman creatures secretly controlling world affairs.
The West Bank-based graphic designer also glorified Palestinian terrorism. For instance, on November 21, he wrote that there “is no sound louder than that of a Carlo.” Just hours earlier, Hamas terrorist Fadi Abu Shkhaydam had murdered Israeli tour guide Eli Kay using a Carlo submachine gun, as well as injuring four others.
Related Reading: Time for the Media to Adopt Antisemitism Definition
Recently, El-Kurd’s social media behavior has led some to take a stance against his “activism.”
An appearance in April at Georgetown University reportedly attracted just 18 attendees — including Jewish students who had turned up to protest — following an invitation extended by Law Students Justice for Palestine at Georgetown University Law Center.
Then, on June 17, the Goethe Institute uninvited El-Kurd from a panel on the ‘Dynamics of the Global Right’ in Germany. “In previous posts on social media, he had made several comments about Israel in a way the Goethe-Institut does not find acceptable,” the state-run foundation said, explaining its decision.
After El-Kurd’s latest antisemitic post, it is time for The Nation to have the same realization.
HonestReporting is urging its readers to contact The Nation to demand that it reconsider its decision to employ an activist who spreads Nazi-like antisemitism. D.D. Guttenplan, The Nation’s editor, can be reached by emailing [email protected] or tweeting to @ddguttenplan.
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Featured Image: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
