My Experience w/ a Twitter Troll

Recently, I experienced a twitter shaming attack from an account whose description is “PROUD MUSLIM. LIVERPOOL! BOXING! @LFC #FreePalestine #FreeSyria #Humanity”.  His tweet was “@IBM this guy that represents you likes people starving to death, and thinks PALESTINE are terrorists“.  He embedded a screenshot of my Twitter profile and some likes I made regarding tweets on Marwan Barghouti’s Prisoner Hunger Strike.

I quickly blocked him and do not intend to comment directly with him on Twitter.  This is the first time I experienced someone on-line trying to bully me.  I initially looked up shaming and stalking on social media, and found a good article on Wired:

• Why You Should Think Twice Before Shaming Anyone on Social Media

I specifically liked the following two quotes from the article:

“But even if you think your bullying is serving a greater good, the fact remains that you’re still just a bully.”

“The bully is the one punching down.”

I thought about this shamer’s tweet and the above article, which led me to further break down his accusations raised to my employer.  Foremost, I feel his comment that I “like people starving to death” is deceptive as it misrepresents the ones “starving” as having no choice and as innocent.  I obviously feel his tweet lacks merit, specifically because:

• Firstly, the people starving are prisoners who are making a political statement and have chosen, under their own free will, to go on a hunger strike.  Nobody is forcing them into starvation, and they can stop when they wish.
• Secondly, these are not innocent women and children who are starving in the midst of a famine, but prisoners who committed acts of terrorism.  The vast majority of whom were part the 2nd Intifada or the recent knife/ car ramming attacks.  These “political prisoners” contributed to the murder of over one thousand Israelis and have wounded scores more.
• Lastly, the correct label for people who commit terrorism is “terrorists”.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a page published (from 2002) which describes the heinous crimes of Marwan Barghouti, the hunger strike leader.  This page along with other related posts about Barghouti and his organized hunger strike can be found at:

• Information on Marwan and Ahmed Barghouti (MFA.GOV.IL)
• Terrorist Attacks and Activities Carried out by Field Commanders and Activists (MFA.GOV.IL)
• What the NY Times didn’t say about Barghouti (The Times of Israel)
• With Palestinian prisoner strike, Barghouti challenges Abbas’ leadership (Ha’aretz)

Not only do I feel the aforementioned tweet was bullying, but I also feel he was purposely hiding the fact that these hunger strikers ARE terrorists who murdered, wounded or coordinated attacks on civilians for being a specific religion/ nationality (i.e. Jews/ Israelis).  I feel no remorse speaking out against Islamic Terrorism and supporting people who call out their bully supporters that preach and endorse hatred against Jews, Israelis and the United States of America.