Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Naftaly Yeffet, also known as Jachnun Supremacist or @JachnunEmpire, is one of a select
group of pro-Israel advocates using their skills in their free time, to fight against
the lies about Israel. Some of us share important content about Israel that
regular people might otherwise not see. Others write blogs, covering what the
media will not, at least not with any objectivity. Then there are those on
Twitter, who hunt and expose anti-Israel propaganda and attitudes for what they
are. Naftaly Yeffet, a resident of Toronto and a dual citizen of Canada and Israel,
would be in this latter category.
Photos are a primary vehicle for antisemites to spread lies
about Israel. Images work because they have emotional impact. A tweeted photo
of an Iraqi soldier holding a gun to the head of an elderly Kuwaiti woman in a jalabiya, for example, can be presented
as cruel IDF soldier about to shoot old woman from the Dheisheh refugee camp. Yeffet,
a former IDF combat soldier, finds the haters and their photos, and uncovers
them both for what they are. The format
Yeffet has settled upon is tweeting their photos alongside the originals, captioned
“shot” and “chaser.”
There is a whole underworld of haters out there, who will
use any means toward their work of driving the Jews into the sea. Poisoning
minds is one step in that direction. Picture, if you will, a hater at his work,
late at night, sorting through images on the ‘net wondering which one to pick
to advance his narrative of evil. Imagine him setting out to lie, knowing that
his hate has no basis, it just is, and knowing too, that the Jews are innocent
of the “crimes” he recites.
Yeffet then, is his exact opposite. He is a hero for truth,
using his free time and his skills, to do good in the world. We all do what we
can for our people and for Israel. This is how Naftaly Yeffet does it:
Lol pic.twitter.com/w5V5qfzXAj
— ~Jachnun Supremacist~ נפתלי בן מתתיהו (@JachnunEmpire) June 20, 2022
Varda Epstein: How
did you find that tweet with the Israeli flag? Do you follow his account? What made you look closer
at the photo?
Naftaly Yeffet: I don’t follow the account. I can across it
because someone I followed wound up quote tweeting it but missing the part
about the flags. The flags stood out right away to be honest, the two stripes
especially made me look closer and saw the faint image of the Magen David.
Varda Epstein: Do you
follow other, similar accounts? How can you stand to read their lies??
Naftaly Yeffet: I do follow accounts that I don’t
necessarily agree with (mainly news accounts like Quds News Network and Shehab
agency as an example) which you can find some really vile responses on
occasion, but usually in Arabic. Some of the stuff I see is so ridiculous
though, you can’t help but laugh. I’ve served in the IDF, so seeing virulent
hatred and rhetoric isn’t new to me, never mind what I saw on campus in
Toronto, Canada when I went to university after my service. And I’ve been
combatting this rhetoric online for a few years on this app [Twitter, V.E.].
I’ve been blocked by the Free Gaza movement (the ones who
organized those headline-making flotillas) on here after they claimed security
cam footage of a priest being stabbed in Bethlehem was fake, then proceeded to
call my mom an evangelical Christian (she’s Jewish). I’ve had Hadi Nasrallah
claim I’m just a convert Arab from Yemen (along with all Yemeni Jews). At this
point I just laugh it off because I hope that any sensible person coming across
their rhetoric will see how absolutely bonkers their opinions are.
Varda Epstein: Are
there other people keeping tabs on this stuff along with you?
Naftaly Yeffet: Yes I’m in a few group chats where we
exchange ideas and share info.
Varda Epstein: Do you
get any response from the haters when you catch them out like this, spreading
lies?
Naftaly Yeffet: Most of the responses I get are either
mockery or to be blocked, which is why I’ve shifted to taking screenshots and
sharing those, over directly quote tweeting the account.
“It’s our people on the line.”
Varda Epstein: Do you
think it has any effect, this work? Do you change minds?
Naftaly Yeffet: I’ve
had someone from Kuwait, and even a Palestinian who lives in Jordan, reach out
and say how much they appreciate seeing someone who actually knows their
history, sharing information. I’m a two-stater and not a fanatic, but I won’t
sugarcoat the facts and I’ve spent quite a bit of time reading through old UN
archives (the personal testimonies to UNSCOP are really eye opening). I’m
not necessarily looking to change someone’s mind directly or achieve any sort
of credit, what I do isn’t a job, I share what I can on my free time as it’s
our people on the line and even if someone comes across a discussion and winds
up with a different perspective out of it that’s a win.
Varda Epstein Do you
happen to have other examples of tweets or photos or items you exposed as lies
or distortions?
Shot: Chaser: pic.twitter.com/jCpkDjC2Qc
— ~Jachnun Supremacist~ נפתלי בן מתתיהו (@JachnunEmpire) July 11, 2020
Shot: Chaser: pic.twitter.com/sZ5YdDgy2R
— ~Jachnun Supremacist~ נפתלי בן מתתיהו (@JachnunEmpire) July 19, 2020
Shot: Chaser: pic.twitter.com/0gngM4xAFU
— ~Jachnun Supremacist~ נפתלי בן מתתיהו (@JachnunEmpire) August 21, 2020
Shot: Chaser: pic.twitter.com/V7Vv4FwcGa
— ~Jachnun Supremacist~ נפתלי בן מתתיהו (@JachnunEmpire) February 14, 2020
Shot: Chaser: pic.twitter.com/5pbA8owBAF
— ~Jachnun Supremacist~ נפתלי בן מתתיהו (@JachnunEmpire) March 10, 2021
And this one got me blocked by the notorious “Syrian girl.”Shot: Chaser: pic.twitter.com/jEgwtE5Hnt
— ~Jachnun Supremacist~ נפתלי בן מתתיהו (@JachnunEmpire) June 2, 2022
Propaganda account spreads image from the holocaust as Deir Yassin massacre.
— ~Jachnun Supremacist~ נפתלי בן מתתיהו (@JachnunEmpire) September 14, 2019
Look how many retweets after just a few minutes even though the proof it’s not from there is in the replies. pic.twitter.com/Gor94yld3w
Varda Epstein: Someone has to be doing this stuff intentionally, right? And then I guess others help them disseminate what they find. But first comes some guy cooking up lies, deliberately.So the account wound up deleting the tweets (after it had already gotten plenty of retweets) and then blocked me.
— ~Jachnun Supremacist~ נפתלי בן מתתיהו (@JachnunEmpire) September 14, 2019
Can’t have people debunking it the next time she wants to post it right? 🙃 pic.twitter.com/VlAlZutjws
Naftaly Yeffet: The other side is definitely well organized.
One thing they do much better than us (in my personal opinion) is support one
another irrespective of political or ideological differences. Meanwhile our
side seems to be, in general, much more fractured. We’ve always been an
argumentative people though, so I guess it’s just something we have to find a
way to push through. The beauty is that push comes to shove we will wind up
having each other’s backs, and I still believe that. Just it has to mean
someone’s life is on the line (see all the physical wars we won when our
efforts were combined versus how we’re essentially still playing catch-up in
the social media aspect.)
Varda Epstein: Can
you tell us a bit about your background?
Naftaly Yeffet: Sure I don’t mind.
My paternal grandparents fled Yemen in the early 1930s, my
father being born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as a result, while they were on
their way to Israel (then the British Mandate). They settled in Tel Aviv and
opened up one of the first falafel shops in the city.
My maternal grandfather was the only member of his family to
survive after the Nazis invaded Poland. When he went back after the war to find
out if any of his family remained he was recognized by their old neighbor and
told him, in detail, how his family was rounded up and shot in the street. His
father (my great grandfather) was the head rabbi of Darachow, a small town that
is currently part of Ukraine and had approximately 100 Jews living there before
the Nazi invasion. My mother was born in Poland a few years after the war ended,
and her family wound up immigrating to Israel in 1957. They lived in a ma’abara [refugee absorption camp] for 2
years, in a tin shack in Kiryat Gat, before they finally were able to move into
an apartment there.
Varda Epstein: Are
you in Israel? Is your family still there?
Naftaly Yeffet: I’m a dual Canadian and Israeli citizen. I was a paratrooper in the IDF, and am in the process of moving back to Israel (hopefully within the next few years). I have plenty of family still in Israel. The only family I have in Canada are my mother and half-sister from my mother’s first marriage.
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