“Want to treat yourself? Give us targets. If they deserve it, we troll them. » Small wink and telephone emojis to support, the administrators of the Telegram group “Jewish Brigade”, recently renamed “Celestial Dragons” – a reference to a caste which rules the world in the manga One Piecesometimes considered anti-Semitic -, are looking for a new prey to “troll” to start 2024. The exact term would rather be “doxing”, an English expression designating the act of publishing personal contact details (address, telephone number, etc.) a person without their consent, with the aim of inciting their harassment.
The lack of inspiration does not last. The personal phone of a sports journalist is published on the channel on January 8; then that of a Twitch streamer. Both are accused of relaying pro-Palestinian messages. The next day, a Belgian conspiracy figure was targeted, again with the publication of personal information. On the 12th, a journalist from the AJ+ media, a subsidiary of the Qatari channel Al-Jazeera. On the 19th, three Toulouse activists from the Palestine collective won. On the 21st, an activist from La France insoumise (LFI). Everyone will receive dozens of calls, malicious messages or threats on their cell phones.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas is also a propaganda war that is waged on sometimes virtual fronts. Anti-Semitic acts and remarks have exploded in France, particularly on social networks, according to the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France. On these same networks is added an all-out offensive by supporters of Israel, with methods already used a few years earlier against the leaders of the pro-Palestinian BDS movement (boycott, divestment and sanctions), which called for a boycott of Israeli products.
“He was very scared”
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirms having received at least five complaints relating to the “Jewish Brigade” group alone. A preliminary investigation is opened, entrusted to the brigade for the repression of personal delinquency, under the direction of the national center for the fight against online hatred. In addition to this group, several other activists, some of whom grouped under the banner of “Swords of Solomon”, have made a specialty of “doxing” used as a means of intimidation, so otherwise industrial, at least very organized. What they all have in common is that they are anonymous.
The method is perfected and is not limited to the publication of contact details. “Israeli numbers called repeatedly and in large numbers”says, on condition of anonymity, one of the hosts of Cerfia, an account devoted to news on the social network X, three members of which were targeted in November by the “Jewish Brigade”.
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