A Case Study on How Not to Show Concern for the Current Situation in Israel and Gaza

Although it Would Make the Kremlin Very Happy

If you’re relatively new to the issues related to Kremlin propaganda and how it’s affecting other countries (including the United States), I recommend reading some background posts I wrote that explains things in more detail along with links to other sites where you can read more to educate yourself.

I wasn't planning on writing a third post this week but I became aware of an incident that I needed to write about.

I live just outside of Washington, DC. Over the years I have taken advantage of the free museums on the Mall. I have visited and revisited places like the Air and Space Museum and the Museum of American History more times than I can count. However there was only one museum on the Mall that I had visited only once and that was several years ago.

The Holocaust Museum is a very informative museum that pulls no punches in its depiction of what the Nazis perpetrated on innocent men, women, and children. There is a giant mountain of shoes that once belonged to concentration camp inmates. There is a display of the striped uniforms that the inmates had to wear. There are photos that show the horrible results of the medical experiments perpetrated on some of these inmates. There is a display of antisemitic propaganda that was designed to disgust ordinary gentile Germans so much that they looked the other way when their Jewish neighbors were taken away by the Nazis, never to be heard from again.

They didn't just have those gut-wrenching exhibits. The design and lighting of that museum provided an atmosphere that was supposed to suggest that you're visiting a concentration camp. You are given a passport at the beginning of the tour where you are randomly assigned to a real life concentration camp inmate. As you go through the tour you periodically scan your passport at a computerized station where you get to know about the life of your assigned inmate. By the end of the tour you make one last scan where you find out about your inmate's fate. When I did the tour I was assigned to a woman inmate who was about my age. I've since forgotten her name and the specifics of her life but I remembered that my inmate had perished in a concentration camp.

While I was very moved by that museum, I haven't revisited it since mainly because of the depressing subject matter. It's very hard to feel any sense of joy or fun in a museum that's devoted to educating people about the systematic torture, starvation, and murder of millions of people. I don't regret visiting it once but I would rather revisit the National Gallery of Art or the Hirschorn than the Holocaust Museum.

As you know, there have been protests all over the world about the Israel-Hamas War. Some people have sided with the Israelis while others have sided with the Palestinians. As a veteran of many protests myself (starting with the 1980s protests against the nuclear arms race, the Reagan Administration's policy in Central America, and South Africa's apartheid policy), I have no issue with people protesting in the streets as long as they do it in a peaceful manner.

When the pro-Israel protest took place in downtown DC, they were peaceful with no arrests. When the pro-Palestine protest took place just a few weeks earlier, they were mostly peaceful with the exception of people splattering red paint on the White House fence and a few nearby statues.

The vandalism has continued since that protest. Last week someone had splattered red paint and painted the words “Free Palestine” and “land back” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The big problem with using red paint is that it can cause major damage and removing the paint is incredibly time consuming. The steps on the west side of the Lincoln Memorial were closed while workers were trying to remove the red paint. That's definitely an inconvenience to someone who was looking forward to visiting the Lincoln Memorial, especially if that person was visiting from out of town. A person who is inconvenienced, disappointed, and irked about the situation would be far less likely to emphatically listen and understand the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza.

I'm currently involved with the Poor People's Campaign and the organization has a prohibition on damaging and destroying property at their rallies and marches. That's because engaging in such actions are more likely to get people to turn against your cause and everything that you stand for.

This week there was a call to stage a pro-Palestinian protest inside of the Holocaust Museum. It was originally scheduled for tomorrow and it was made by a relatively new organization called Doctors Against Genocide.

It's one thing to protest at the White House and the US Capitol building since that is where foreign and domestic policies are made. But to protest inside of a museum that's devoted to educating the public about the Holocaust is crossing the line. The people who are visiting that museum are doing so because they want to learn more about the Holocaust. They are not there to encounter protesters waving Palestinian flags and signs condemning Israel. They are going to be so annoyed at the protesters interfering with their ability to see the exhibits that they will not listen to the protesters’ message.

How does that action even help the Palestinians in Gaza? No one goes to the Holocaust Museum to decide on the current course of Middle Eastern policies.

The group has since canceled the protest. They said that their event had been misrepresented as an antisemitic action when they say that they condemn all kinds of bigotry. They simply wanted to raise awareness of what they say is a current genocide that is happening in Gaza.

However there's a concern that other people, who either aren't getting the message or did get the message but are ignoring it, will go to the Holocaust Museum tomorrow and still go through with their protest. I wouldn't be surprised if the museum has extra security on hand tomorrow.

Unfortunately it is proposed actions like this one that undermines the legitimate grievances of the Palestinians because more people will associate the Palestinian cause with dumb actions like that. They simply won't take whatever the Palestinians say seriously.

This is just like the equally dumb trend of environmental activists going into museums in Europe and splattering red paint on the priceless works of art as a way of raising awareness of climate change. Not only does their actions risk ruining the art but it annoys visitors who were only there to spend a day of looking at art. These visitors would become so annoyed that they won't listen to the protesters’ concerns about the potential climate catastrophe.

Then there is the nature of the original target. That group could have held their protest in equally nonsensical locations like the National Zoo or the fountain in Dupont Circle. But they chose the Holocaust Museum. What does the Holocaust and the current situation in Gaza have in common? The presence of the Jews. Had the majority of the victims of the Holocaust had been–let’s say–Africans, would that organization even considered holding their protest in that museum in the first place?

Then there is the organization itself. Doctors Against Genocide's account on Twitter/X was only created last month.

The website is one that looks like it was made using a template and it has generic stock photos. The most prominent part of that front page is the request for donations.

Someone named Stephen Elliott looked into the group and made this post on Twitter/X raising his suspicion that Doctors Against Genocide isn't a real organization but it may be a group that's little more than a fundraising grift that's designed to take advantage of the ongoing tragedy in Gaza.

He made a followup tweet where, through this article in Roll Call, he learned that the group was founded by a doctor in Dearborn, Michigan named Nidal Jboor and the group claims to be a global group of roughly 200 professionals advocating for a cease-fire. Despite the organization's membership claim, the poster suspects that Doctors Against Genocide is really just a one-person operation.

So Nidal Jboor/Doctors Against Genocide could potentially be just like Jackson Hinkle, using the plight of the Palestinians as a way of making money for themselves without any of that money trickling down to the Palestinians living in Gaza.

We also can't discount the possible involvement by the Kremlin. That now-canceled action at the Holocaust Museum has all the makings of a psyop, including a new group that few people have heard of before and the possibility that this action was considered as a way of sowing chaos.

That incident is bringing back memories of the 2016 elections when a variety of online accounts were posting on social media about the danger of electing Hillary Clinton. There is evidence showing that much of the online activity came from troll farms in Russia, which resulted in Donald Trump being elected that year.

Right now there is no hard evidence linking Doctors Against Genocide to the Kremlin. But we also can't rule out possible Kremlin involvement. Why would the Kremlin directly or indirectly support an organization like Doctors Against Genocide? Remember Hamas is funded by Iran which, in turn, is aligned with Russia. Furthermore, this expose by the Middle East Institute has evidence that suggests a very direct and cozy relationship between Russia and Hamas.

The silver lining for Russia regarding the current Israel-Hamas war is that much of the world's attention has shifted away from Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine. Groups like Doctors Against Genocide can further divert attention away from Ukraine so Vladimir Putin can achieve his ultimate goal of conquering that nation.

There's also an added reason why the Kremlin would like Doctors Against Genocide. Right now Russia is trying to do everything possible to make sure that Donald Trump is reelected president. Having Palestinians activists engage in graffiti with red paint and other inappropriate actions (like the now-canceled protest at the Holocaust Museum) will inflame American sentiment against Muslims in general and Palestinians in particular. Donald Trump has stated that he will bar Hamas supporters from entering the US and deport immigrants who support Hamas. If the Palestinians keep up with their antics, the Kremlin hopes that it will spur enough Americans to vote for Trump that he will return to the White House.

The only thing I can suggest is to get ready for more psyops like this over the coming year. The Kremlin is doing everything possible to ensure that Donald Trump will win next year's election.

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