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Seen, Heard, Read...
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Stay informed with our curated collection of noteworthy updates and insights from the world of conspiracy theories. Uncover the latest trends, explore intriguing perspectives, and broaden your understanding. Delve into our recommended content that keeps you in the know.
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ANTISEMITISM. The BBC has been obliged to apologise again for its coverage of Israel and for platforming antisemitism after it allowed an Iranian regime academic and Press TV producer to go on a hateful rant against Jews and the West - unchallenged. The UK's largest Jewish community organisation said it was 'deeply concerned' about the interview on the Radio 4 Today programme, between Mishal Husain and University of Tehran's Mohammad Marandi. Marandi described Israel as an “expansionist regime” which believed in “ethno-supremacism” and that “they are a chosen people” who felt they had “exceptional rights”. He also described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “holocaust”. At the end of the monologue, broadcaster Husai simply thanked her guest. Marandi, who was born in Virginia in the United States before moving to Iran, previously acted as an adviser to Iran's nuclear negotiations team. Leading historian Simon Schama said on X that Marandi’s remarks were “antisemitic abuse” and that it had been “appallingly offensive”. Another historian Simon Sebag Montefiore called it a “racist rant” filled with “lies, libels, conspiracy theories, fake facts, antisemitic tropes and even distortion and misuse of Holocaust history”. Despite the outrage over the BBC’s segment Channel 4 also platformed the Tehran academic who claimed unchallenged that: "Hezbollah played the heroic role of trying to draw away the Israeli army from Gaza, just like Ansar Allah in Yemen. These are the heroes – and the Western governments – they are the terrorists." Marandi also appeared on Sky News. The BBC has been accused of being “institutionally hostile to Israel” by three prominent UK Jewish organisations, which have criticised its coverage of the Middle East conflict. Danny Cohen, who was director of television at the BBC from 2013 to 2015, has compiled a report accusing the corporation of making “false and damaging claims about Israel’s conduct of this war” and producing “misleading broadcasts and social media output”. In one example, the report criticised the broadcaster for using the term “revenge attacks” in a headline about Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 on the day itself, claiming that this portrayed Israel as a “vengeful aggressor” (Sources: The Times of London, September 30, 2024; The Daily Mail, October 2, 2023; Campaign against antisemitism/X, October 2, 2024).
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QANON. A Seattle doctor whose medical license was suspended after she participated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol was shot and killed after pointing a gun at two people delivering paperwork at her West Seattle home on Tuesday. A 40-year-old man whom police have not identified shot Tamara Towers Parry, 57, multipe times in the torso multiple home. Police have not arrested anyone and are not looking for suspects, spokesperson Detective Brian Pritchard said Wednesday. A photo taken of the house on Tuesday showed a large American flag hanging from the home’s front window underneath the word “QAnon,” the name of a far-right conspiracy theory that gained traction online after the 2016 election of former President Donald Trump (Source: The Seattle Times, October 2, 2024).
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J.D. VANCE. Donald Trump’s slick-talking vice-presidential pick debated Kamala Harris’s ‘Veep’ choice Tim Walz. But Vance tripped up on Trump’s favourite conspiracy theory - that the 2020 election won by Joe Biden was “stolen” from him. Asked directly by Walz if Trump lost the 2020 election, Vance refused to answer and replied: “I’m focused on the future”. He then changed the subject: “Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?” “That is a damning non-answer,” said Walz, turning to the camera, in an exchange widely commented upon as the key moment of the debate. “Vance was given an opportunity to dispel concerns that he would use the vice presidency to overturn another election. He declined that opportunity,” commented the Bulwark’s Will Saletan Trump continues to insist that the 2020 election was “rigged and stolen” from him. Trump also claims that the “only way” he can lose this year’s election is if Democrats “cheat like hell” as they (according to him) always do. US election analysts say he is preparing his supporters to rebel again if he loses. And if he wins, he is laying the groundwork—this time, with a more amenable vice president than Mike Pence—to overturn a loss for his party in 2028. Confronted post-debate over his remarks on the 2020 election, Vance said: "The media's obsessed with talking about the election of four years ago. I'm focused on the election of 33 days from now," Vance said at a Michigan campaign rally (Sources: The Bulwark, October 2, 2024; Newsweek/X, October 3, 2024).
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US ELECTIONS. Donald Trump laid the groundwork to try to overturn the 2020 election even before he lost, knowingly pushed false claims of voter fraud and “resorted to crimes” in his failed bid to cling to power, according to a court filing unsealed Wednesday that offers new evidence from the landmark criminal case against the former president. The filing from special counsel Jack Smith’s team offers the most comprehensive view to date of what prosecutors intend to prove if the case charging Trump with conspiring to overturn the election reaches trial. The filing cites previously unknown accounts offered by Trump’s closest aides to paint a portrait of an “increasingly desperate” president who, while losing his grip on the White House, “used deceit to target every stage of the electoral process” to overtun the legitimate results in 7 states he lost (Sources: AP, October 3, 2024; Washington Post, October 3, 2024)
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AUSTRALIA. Dozens of masked men were filmed waving Hezbollah flags and carrying portraits of the late Hassan Nasrallah in Melbourne Australia during protests following Israel’s killing of the Islamist terrorist leader and global cocaine trafficker. Chants of “Death to America” and “Death to the Jews” were heard at the pro-Palestine and pro-Lebanon rallies endorsed by the Australian Greens party which has 15 members in the Australian Parliament. “We keep hearing about the importance of “context”. In what context is pledging allegiance to a terrorist organisation and its leader on our streets, ok?,” asked Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry in an interview with Australia’s Sky News. After initially declining to press any charges for apologies for terrorism by proscribed terror organisations, the Australian federal police has launched a taskforce to investigate at least nine allegations of prohibited symbols being displayed in Victoria, in response to Hezbollah flags being flown at the protests on Sunday. In a statement, the AFP said Operation Ardvarna would investigate the display of prohibited symbols “while potentially inciting or advocating violence, or hatred, based on race and religion” (Sources: Drew Pavlou/X, September 29, 2024; The Guardian Australia, October 3, 2024)
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