Hamas Call for Twitter Questions Backfires Big Time on #AskHamas
Any time a group or person that can be considered remotely controversial takes the time to start a Twitter question campaign, it’s almost a guarantee that hundreds of people will hijack the hashtag to air their grievances. We saw it happen to #MyNYPD, #CPACQ, #JennyAsks, and #We_Are_Coming_O_Rome, and many others.
And then on Thursday, Twitter users took to #AskHamas — a hashtag set up by the militant Palestinian group for people to ask questions — to flood it with negative comments about the organization and its battle with the State of Israel.
Truth from the mouth of the horse.
#AskHamas pic.twitter.com/S9vizAnCHF
— Hamas Movement (@HamasInfoEn) March 12, 2015
Of course, that was taken by many users as an open call for anti-Hamas tweets on the hashtag. Some prominent examples below:
#AskHamas: Do you still believe that Rotary clubs are all secretly controlled by Jews? http://t.co/nnQ1TtXZoO
— Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) March 12, 2015
@mandeljonah there's a #AskHamas campaign, maybe @AFP should ask them why they chose to pre-position rockets & tunnels in residential areas.
— Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) March 12, 2015
#AskHamas This hashtag campaign seems like a very bad idea. Are you sure the guy who suggested it isn't actually a Mossad spy? Just saying.
— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) March 12, 2015
#AskHamas Is it necessary, or merely acceptable, to kill Jewish children living outside the Zionist Entity?
— Popehat (@Popehat) March 13, 2015
One day before the hashtag began, Hamas seemed to recognize what they were up against, perhaps unintentionally issuing this pre-emptive tweet:
Zionist propagandists will try to convince you that this is a rocket, not a tweet. Do not fall for that.
— Hamas Movement (@HamasInfoEn) March 11, 2015
And it hasn’t been entirely negative, but, yeah, as with most of these hashtag hijacks, it’s been mostly negative. Read the hashtag’s feed here.
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