Author Robert Inlakesh

A network of influencers from the United Arab Emirates have become part of a social media conspiracy that seeks to spread anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim propaganda, interwoven with pro-Israel messaging. The goal of the campaign, now being promoted by Elon Musk and his X [formerly Twitter] online affiliates, is to drive hatred of Muslims, while securing support for Israel.

In early August, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, publicly admitted that Israel was losing the online propaganda war, making it clear that he was particularly concerned with social media efforts that reach Republican voters, who he identified as still supporting Israel.

Taking this issue very seriously, Tel Aviv initiated a plan to pay pro-Trump influencers to travel on specially designed propaganda tours. Israel’s goal is to bring some 550 such right-wing influencers on these all expense paid trips. The group responsible for organizing the trips is called Israel365 and describes its mission as defending “Western civilization against threats from both Progressive Left extremism and global jihad.”

Exchanging Hatred Of Muslims For Love Of Israel

Since the start of the “War on Terror” in the early 2000’s, a common tactic employed by Zionist billionaire-funded propaganda projects was to drive fear of Islamic fundamentalism and Muslim migration amongst Western populations.

At the centre of this strategy is an organization called the David Horowitz Freedom Center (DHFC). Together with the DHFC and its key donors, a media and policy network was constructed that financed the rise, or influenced the trajectory, of almost every major pro-Trump conservative figure that we have all become familiar with. Everyone from Charlie Kirk, Laura Loomer, Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson, to Geert Wilders, John Bolton, and Pete Hegseth are implicated.

Another pillar of this strategy has been to use identity politics to bolster this propaganda. The “as a Muslim” or “ex-Muslim” commentators, who are granted book deals and provided immense compensation for their alleged “expertise” are used as effective tools for convincing right-wing audiences of their views. While the majority of their content is designed to advocate against Islam and Muslim migration to the West, the primary objective is to insert pro-war and pro-Israel propaganda.

Although the right-wing “new media” has built its audience through cosplaying an opposition to identity politics, they have in fact used it just as much as their liberal counterparts. Such is the idea of using someone from a Muslim background to affirm a position, in order to point to them and say “see, even one of their own agrees they are doing this to our identity group”. This also notably comes in the form of the “as a Palestinian” influencers, who are used to either push outright hatred of their own people, or to claim they are peace seekers using their platforms to attack and smear people standing up for the Palestinian cause and promote Israeli propaganda. 

The Emirati Zionists And MAGA

A recent surge in content spread by Emirati influencers has aided narratives fueling anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiments in the West, with clear pro-Israeli undertones and an identifiable goal of demonizing Palestinians. The social media content is most heavily present on X, where its CEO Elon Musk is actively retweeting these accounts.

While Musk’s documented ties to Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the various allegations of censorship are perhaps too broad a scope for this article alone, pointing out the specific UAE influencers, their networks, connections to the MAGA movement, and the regime’s geopolitical agendas are crucial to pulling apart the propaganda they are now promoting. This is because the content they share is specifically targeting right-wingers who lack the knowledge to critically analyze what they are being told, many of whom find affirmation in an Arab wearing cultural clothing; arguing very similar talking points as far-right influencers, like Tommy Robinson for example.

One account that has received a lot of attention — retweets and engagement — from Elon Musk and his network of right-wing accounts is that of Hassan Sajwani. This Emirati billionaire, owner of Hassan Sajwani General Trading LLC, was perhaps one of the most pro-Israel voices that openly celebrated UAE-Israel normalization in 2020.

Hassan Sajwani met with Chief Arabic Content Officer for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lorena Khateeb, back in November of 2020. Khateeb is an Israeli Druze woman who co-founded the Sharaka Institute in Dubai, an organization created to promote pro-Israeli content and programs in favor of the so-called “Abraham Accords”.

In December of 2023, the Sharaka Institute’s Gulf Affairs Director, Fatema al-Harbi of Bahrain, was even featured in a Daily Wire propaganda piece, where alleged Arab “peace activists” were sat down to watch Israel’s 47-minute long October 7 propaganda film at the Israeli Consulate in Boston Massachusetts.

For Sajwani’s part, he has expressed his joy at receiving retweets from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog. He also promotes scaremongering content that advocates for censorship, banning groups, and crackdowns on Muslim organizations and immigrant populations.

Recently, he posted a video of UAE foreign minister Abudallah bin Zayed’s warning to Europe about the rise of Islamic extremism, that was also retweeted by Elon Musk and received 1.5 million views.

He also promotes the work of Amjad Taha, who resides in the UK and was flown on a trip to Israel, sponsored by the Sharaka Institute. In a recent interview that was shared by the Emirati, Israeli, and Musk circles on X, receiving 16.4 million views, Taha spoke to right-wing media outlet Visegrad 24 — infamous for helping promote the 40 beheaded babies and other October 7 propaganda hoaxes — where he advocated for the banning of the Islamic Relief charity.

He employs the argument that Europeans are letting Islamic fundamentalists take over their countries and asserts “do not let them harm your children, do not let them harm your society or community.” Then he predictably pivots to Israeli anti-Hamas propaganda, “do not let them be the people who wake up on the 8th of October for example and tell you to boycott Challah”. Again he suddenly changes the conversation to using the “as an Arab” and “as a Muslim” approach to pose the rhetorical question as to why Saudi Arabia and Morocco ban the Muslim Brotherhood and even the Islamic Relief charity.

The pro-Israeli commentator also appeared on the UK’s right-wing media outlet GB News, again to argue his point about banning Islamic Relief, but also to argue against freedom of speech and to introduce censorship against alleged “anti-Semitism”. He also claims that there are more Islamic extremists in the UK than in the Middle East, which the host of the show he appears on accepts without question, despite there being no such data to support the statement.

Taha, who is of Iranian-Bahraini heritage, appears on Israeli media and was even featured in a video with fellow Sharaka Institute ally, Majid al-Sarrah, that was shared by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. Al-Sarrah also pushes the same line and recently shared a video put together by Rauda al-Tenaiji, another Emirati influencer who has been making content accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of being behind the Hamas-led attack on October 7 and the Civil War in Sudan.

Al-Tenaji employs Colonial Feminist argument’s against the Muslim Brotherhood, desperately clutching at straws to link Israeli propaganda about Hamas to the conflict in Sudan and beyond.

There are also countless other Emirati social media influencers who have emerged with large followings on X, who are pushing the exact same anti-Muslim Brotherhood narrative and then linking everything back to Hamas. Take for example Loay al-Shareef, who also has an anti-Hamas obsession and recently participated in a panel alongside Douglas Murray and the right-wing’s favorite “ex-Muslim” Ayaan Hirsi Ali — who has long been exposed for her shocking lack of knowledge on basic Islamic history and belief, in addition to contradictions in her own narratives.

Al-Shareef is now tagging along in the wave of anti-Muslim brotherhood posts, retweeting the “as a Palestinian” activist who writes “Free Palestine from the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist terrorists”.

Then we have the Trump administration itself and its direct ties to the United Arab Emirates, which is often ignored entirely. While the Russiagate scandal had received wall-to-wall coverage in the US corporate media during the first term of Donald Trump’s Presidency, little attention was paid to what could be referred to as “UAE Gate”.

Now serving as US ambassador to Turkey and a Middle East Envoy, Tom Barrack was charged back in 2021 for allegedly engaging in illegally lobbying on behalf of the UAE. Although the charges were later dropped, Barrack, who was a close aide, inaugural committee head, and fundraiser for the Trump campaign, was only able to stay out of jail initially on a 250 million dollar bond — secured by 5 million in cash.

Charged alongside Barrack were Matthew Grimes, a former executive at Barrack’s company, and Rashid al Malik, a wealthy businessman from the UAE who allegedly worked as a direct connection to the Emirati ruler. In fact, al-Malik, a major Trump campaign donor, had allegedly reported to UAE intelligence about aspects of the White House’s Middle East Policy.

Notably, allegedly on the advice of the Emiratis, Donald Trump’s first ever foreign visit, at the beginning of his term in 2017, was to Saudi Arabia, a close ally of the UAE.

Earlier this January, prior to the President’s inauguration, Trump had appeared alongside Emirati billionaire Hussein Najwani, announcing a pledge to invest 20 billion dollars in US Data Centers. Najwani has also historically been a business partner to Donald Trump. Evidently, billionaire Elon Musk also has financial ties to the UAE too, despite claiming to no longer being officially part of the Trump administration, and is continually pursuing a right-wing populist agenda amongst elements of the MAGA base.

Of course, pointing out that influencers and their affiliates are all part of a network connected to Israeli or Emirati billionaires and directly tied to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not a rebuttal of their arguments. So, let’s take some of their main points and demonstrate why they are both incorrect and made in bad faith.

The Propaganda 

Understanding how the United Arab Emirates is not a democracy, does not have free speech, and is deeply involved across the region in a number of conflicts is an important starting point in this conversation.

When it comes to the UAE’s opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood, it has itself played an insidious role across the region, most prominently in the manufacturing of the Sudan and Libyan civil war conflicts that continue to rage on.

So, taking the arguments made by Rauda al-Tenaiji, in her videos about the Muslim Brotherhood and violence against women in Sudan, as an example, the United Arab Emirates had originally played a role in influencing both sides in the country’s civil war. However, since the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been fighting a full-scale war, the Emirati’s have thrown their weight behind the RSF, now accused of genocide.

In a recent video posted by Middle East 24 (partnered with Visegrad 24) Rauda al-Tenaiji argues that it is the Sudanese Army that is responsible for rape and abuse of women in Sudan, pulling up articles highlighting the rates of sexual violence against women across the country. She attempts to then argue that this is somehow connected to the Muslim Brotherhood and its ideology.

She also smugly asserts “I am from a nation that reached mars, while they [the Sudanese State] are busy destroying their own land and enslaving their own people.” What she fails to mention is that the RSF (that her nation supports) was found to be committing the majority of all sexual violence against women in Sudan.

According to a UN fact finding mission in October of 2024,

“it found that the majority of rape and sexual and gender-based violence was committed by the RSF – in particular in Greater Khartoum, and Darfur and Gezira States – was part of a pattern aimed at terrorizing and punishing civilians for perceived links with opponents and suppressing any opposition to their advances.” It also concluded “that there are reasonable grounds to believe that these acts amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including of torture, rape, sexual slavery, and persecution on intersecting ethnic and gender grounds.”

Another major point that almost all of these self-styled “peace” advocates preach, is that the Muslim Brotherhood is connected to Hamas, therefore, every affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood must be banned and censored, including charitable organizations, in their eyes.

They then go on to claim that all Islamic extremism comes from, or is linked to, the Muslim Brotherhood, making sure to lazily link Hamas and October 7 propaganda to this argument, fear-mongering over “a new October 7 in the West”.

To address this properly, we must begin with an acknowledgement that Muslim Brotherhood linked groups have certainly been engaged in acts of extremism and that movements affiliated with it have sought to take over countries. Yet this is not why the UAE and Israel are opposed to it.

If the UAE cared about stopping so-called Islamic fundamentalism, why then would it be joined at the hip with neighboring Saudi Arabia, which not only adopts the most extreme Islamic school of thought in the world, Wahhabism, but continues to inspire extremist Salafist organizations across the region to fulfill their goals?

Saudi scholars and religious influencers have contributed above any others to the outgrowth of extremism, sectarianism, and the ideology of Takfirism that advocates that people are not Muslim if they do not adhere to their very specific interpretation of Islamic texts. Prominent Wahhabi and Salafist scholars are also given a safe haven to preach their message in the United Arab Emirates, so long as that message aligns with Abu Dhabi’s regional foreign policy goals and is pro-Israel.

Also, the idea that Hamas is in any way connected to al-Qaeda or ISIS is the height of lunacy. Not only has Hamas never carried out any armed action on foreign soil, being explicitly focused on the liberation of Palestine alone, they have actively fought against al-Qaeda ever since taking power in the Gaza Strip, following their election in 2006.

Then, when ISIS emerged in Gaza back in 2015, Hamas crushed the terrorist group and eliminated its leadership there, which led to ISIS declaring war on Hamas in 2018. Keep in mind that ISIS never declared war on Israel. Today, the UAE collaborates with Israel on formulating a security plot for taking over Gaza, while the Israelis continue to fund and arm ISIS and al-Qaeda linked militants to fight against Hamas.

Without addressing every point they raise and why it is all hypocritical and nonsensical, it suffices to say that these “as an Arab”, “as a Muslim”, and “as a Palestinian” influencers are largely not authentic and are part of a Zionist disinformation campaign designed to channel right-wing hate into support of Israel’s military actions across the region.