with their story about a persecuted jewish student at Kings, but people see through it. Didn't stop the usual running dogs from retweeting it and hang-wringing over the "rampant anti-semitism" in universities, etc. Of course, the troygraph is owned by Axel-Springer where you have to sign a loyalty pledge to the apartheid state or leave (not sure if you actually have to sign but their stance on the matter is well documented and completely ridiculous).

This tweet exposes the hasbara op:

https://x.com/GarySpedding/status/2078189049601532294

Tali Smus is not some ordinary student who has been targeted for being Jewish; she is a very active and vocal advocate for Israel.

Her social media posts include videos of herself ripping off pro-Palestine stickers on campus, engaging with anti-Palestinian organisations such as StandwithUs and Conservative Friends of Israel, and promoting anti-Palestinian racism.

She has marketed herself online since before going to university as the 'British Zioness'.

Tali Smus is affiliated with several right-wing Israel advocacy organisations including CAMERA, StandwithUs, Students Supporting Israel (SSI), and is a participant in the Nitzavim Fellowship.

Her article below tells us of her claimed experiences as a supporter of Israel at a UK university. She readily conflates political criticism of Israeli government policy & anti-Zionism with racial or religious antisemitism.

The Israel advocacy organisations to which she is affiliated have been founted to implement strategies whereby conversations are entirely centred on the emotional distress or perceived unsafety of pro-Israel students, these strategies often successfully divert public attention away from the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the reality on the ground in Palestine, or various other human rights and international law concerns.

Important to note that the police reviewed the conversation logs but concluded they were unable to legally prove specific criminal offenses, such as racially aggravated harassment, alarm, or distress based on the messages they were provided. I also note that the full transcripts of the message exchanges, including what Tali Smus herself wrote, have not been revealed publicly.

The full, unedited transcripts of the group chat messages have not been published online by Tali Smus or any third party. The public record consists entirely of specific, curated excerpts and quotes that Smus and various media outlets have chosen to share as part of a concerted and highly selective public discourse initiative.

In her speeches for the Campaign Against Antisemitism and her firsthand op-ed in The Daily Telegraph, Smus provided only selective quotes such as "We've fished out a Zionist" and "The Zionists are actually everywhere". Neither she nor the publishers have uploaded the complete, raw chat file or full screenshots.

We consequently have no way of knowing whether the comments that were made came in response to something pro-Israel that Tali Smus herself had posted or stated within the chats. It is extremely important to understand and have this information as it impacts the entire context.

If Tali Smus simply joined a group chat and was immediately targeted for having been recognised as pro-Israel and a Zionist then it makes the messaging far more alarming, intimidating, and sinister. However, if the messaging came in response to Tali promoting pro-Israel and Zionist talking points then the comments made become a reaction/response to political points. Such comments can be seen as unpleasant but they are not remotely the same as a concerted campaign of targeted harassment and intimidation.

Similarly, the messaging regarding her presence in lectures appears to focus on her alleged interruption of the lecturer - this begs a question surrounding her own conduct in lectures and on campus. Did she interrupt a lecturer with pro-Israel talking points? Again, students that are disruptive in lectures are routinely asked to leave the lecture theatre... it is not unreasonable for her fellow students to want her thrown out if she was being disruptive.

Overall, my biggest issue here is that once again the Telegraph is publishing an article from a now prominent pro-Israel student influencer who is affiliated to some rather nasty anti-Palestinian organisations... meanwhile Jewish students facing very real antisemitism that is unrelated to Israel-Palestine are totally ignored by our media & politicians.