Earlier yesterday, a malicious trend took Twitter by storm as bigoted online mob, consisting mostly of Muslim Twitter users, from the Arab world launched a coordinated social media campaign attacking Hindus residing in the middle east and outraging over the alleged blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad.
Whipped up by accusations of blasphemy, thousands of Islamists and their sympathisers around the world, most notably in India and the Arab countries, started trending ‘إلارسولاللهيامودي’, a message written in Arabic, on Twitter to mobilise support and demand action against the BJP leaders for quoting Islamic hadiths on Prophet Muhammad.
Now, interesting details have emerged about the social media campaign that culminated in the suspension of Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal from the BJP after some Islamic nations took cognisance of the Twitter storm and expressed condemnation of the statement made by the leaders.
According to the Twitter account ‘The Hawk Eye’, a social media page known for conducting independent investigative journalism, the Twitter storm was initiated by an Egypt based organisation called “International Organisation for the Support of the Prophet of Islam” (IOSPI). The first tweet by the dubious body that touts itself as an organisation that fights ‘blasphemy’ against the Islamic prophet was posted on Friday, 3 June 2002.
The propaganda tweets are related to every other matter like hijab to random incidents, haven’t even heard of with ‘hate’ graphics (mostly carrying PM Modi picture). This is professional work in coordination with someone who closely follows Indian news days n nights.
— The Hawk Eye (@thehawkeyex) June 5, 2022
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As per its website, it was launched in 2021 in Turkey and prominent Islamic scholars and politicians had attended the same. Khaled Mishal, the head of Hamas’ political bureau abroad, Enver Kılıçarsan, the head of İTTİHADUL ULEMA, Abdulvahap Ekinci, the president of the International Islamic Scholars Organization, and Mehmet Görmez, the head of Institute of Islamic Thought, attended the inaugural event.
After crawling through tweets posted by the dubious body, The Hawk Eye concluded that the propaganda appeared professional and betrayed the involvement of someone who closely followed Indian news. The tweets aimed to whip up hatred and resentment against India carried several matters, from the hijab ban in schools where it was not part of school uniform to unheard of random incidents with ‘hate’ graphics bearing mostly pictures of PM Modi—an insidious attempt to demonise the central government and brand them as anti-Muslim.
For over two days, the trend did not gain traction as desired by its machinators. Then on Sunday, 5 June 2022, it suddenly picked up pace after notable Arab personalities with verified Twitter accounts and news organisations started tweeting about it. Soon thereafter, many people, including those in India, started tweeting about it. At the time of writing the thread, The Hawk Eye mentioned that more than 6.1 lakh tweets were posted, with over 45,000 tweets being posted every hour.
While 76% of tweets are in Arabic (sampling), the trend was further pushed by the various handle in Gulf and lslmc nations. In India & nearby, its been contributed by Alt News co-fo Md Zubair & PTI, South Asian INdex (Pak handle) who used hashtag key-word in their tweet.
— The Hawk Eye (@thehawkeyex) June 5, 2022
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While 76 per cent of tweets were in Arabic, in India, the trend was pushed by AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair, PTI and the South Asian index (Pakistan handle), who used hashtag keywords in their tweets.
Interestingly, the IOSPI had also called for the boycott of French products after French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to free France from the scourge of radical Islam in the wake of the beheading of Samuel Paty, a French teacher who was decapitated by an Islamic terrorist on suspicion of reproducing Charlie Hebdo’s caricatures on Prophet Muhammad.
Hateful SM campaign seeded by radical outfit IOSPI that had glorified Taliban and Palestinian terrorists
The IOSPI marked key events like Charlie Hebdo, French teacher Samuel Paty, France’s retaliatory measure to squelch creeping Islamism etc. as events and parties accused of committing ‘blasphemy’ against Prophet Muhammad. The Muslim Brotherhood inspired organisation has Finance, Legal and Communication wing to prop up their vicious propaganda and mobilise online support to amplify their campaign, creating a diplomatic ruckus for the victim countries.
The head of IOSPI is Sheikh Mohamed Al Sagheer, who had not flinched from lionising jihadists and terrorists in Palestine and Afghanistan. “The future belongs to Islam. Its footsteps can be heard everywhere nowadays. The courage, victory, and glory of the mujahideen in Palestine and the victory of the Taliban fighters in Afghanistan are just the beginning,” Sagheer said.
The IOSPI org has called for the French product boycott too which is running for the past 1.5yrs. Their website marked “key” events like Charlie Hobdo, French teacher etc. The MusIim Brotherhood org has Finance, Legal & Comm wing and have introduced Defence wing last year.
— The Hawk Eye (@thehawkeyex) June 5, 2022
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The IOSPI also enjoys support from Turkey, a country whose headlong rush into the abyss of Islamism seems inexorable and irreversible and whose authoritarian premier, Recep Erdogan, has made a string of anti-India comments.
The malicious campaign by the Islamist organisation caused a diplomatic row for India as many Indian envoys got summoned by the Arabic countries, which themselves have dubious records of safeguarding minority rights, over the alleged ‘blasphemous’ remarks made against Prophet Muhammad.
