Portable “pop-up houses” are now available for purchase on American retailers Walmart and Amazon. The houses are manufactured in China and come in several sizes and price ranges.
The houses, which are built from containers, are called “expandable prefab houses” and are created by Chinese company Chery Industrial. They can be purchased in various sizes, ranging from a simple office with bathroom that costs approximately €14,000, to a larger house with bedroom, living room and dining room along with bathroom and kitchen that costs around €24,500.
The pop-up houses can be bought on Amazon and also at American discount retailer Walmart, but it’s likely cheapest to buy directly from the manufacturer, reports Fortune.
The house can be packed up and becomes “container-sized,” according to the company. Delivery to the buyer is included, but the buyer is responsible for moving the house from the truck. This requires a forklift strong enough to lift the container house, but for the larger houses it’s recommended to rent a crane. The house is delivered folded up and then you need help from friends to unfold it.
China is now building small, affordable homes, that you can buy at Walmarts in the USA.
Buy an acre of land with some friends and put a few of these on there.
Before purchasing, you need to have land to place the house on, but also plan for connecting water and electricity. Toilet and shower are included in most houses, but furniture you naturally choose yourself.
In recent years, so-called “tiny houses” have become a movement, particularly in the USA, where people advocate for more minimalism and simply living more simply with fewer possessions. Often the houses are portable, extremely small in size compared to regular houses, but also planned and well-thought-out in both structure and furnishing.
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While the world focused on terrorist attacks in the West, an extensive wave of violence erupted in China's northwestern Xinjiang region.
From the early 1990s to the mid-2010s, thousands of terrorist attacks were carried out, killing hundreds of innocent people and transforming an entire region.
The Nordic Times has visited the Xinjiang region and uncovered three decades of overlooked terrorism in what has today become one of the world's safest countries.
It is just before six o’clock in the evening on February 28, 2012. On Xingfu Road, a pedestrian street with market stalls in the city of Yecheng in southern Xinjiang, it is crowded with people. Shop owners are selling grain, vegetables and fish. Children are on their way home from school. It is an ordinary Tuesday evening in an ordinary Chinese city.
Then the massacre begins.
Nine men, armed with axes and machetes, storm into the street and begin hacking down everyone who comes in their way. Within minutes, fifteen people are killed and sixteen are seriously injured. Among the dead is an auxiliary police officer who tried to stop the men when he discovered they were carrying weapons. Among the injured are a four-year-old boy and his mother, a 60-year-old woman whose jaw was crushed by an ax, and several shop owners who tried to defend themselves.
— When I saw what the terrorist was holding, my first thought was, ‘Oh no, he’s going to kill me’, recounts shop owner Wang Tiancheng, who managed to fight back with a wooden chair.
— When terrorists come at you, you either fight back or wait and die.
The attack in Yecheng is just one in a long series of terrorist attacks that struck China, and especially the Xinjiang region, for nearly three decades. Between 1990 and 2016, according to official Chinese sources, thousands of terrorist attacks were carried out in the region, where large numbers of innocent people were killed and hundreds of police officers died on duty.
But for many in the Western world, this story is largely unknown.
A region of diversity and conflict
To understand the emergence of terrorism in Xinjiang, one must understand the region’s complex history. Xinjiang, or “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” as its official name is, is an enormous region in northwestern China covering 1.66 million square kilometers – about the size of Alaska, or the combined area of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The region borders eight countries: Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
Xinjiang has been home to many different peoples since ancient times. By the end of the 19th century, thirteen ethnic groups had established themselves in the region: Uyghurs, Han, Kazakhs, Mongols, Hui, Kyrgyz, Manchus, Xibe, Tajiks, Daurs, Uzbeks, Tatars and Russians. The Uyghurs constituted the largest group.
The Uyghur people, who today number around ten million, have their roots in the Ouigour people who lived on the Mongolian plateau during the Sui and Tang dynasties in the 6th–10th centuries. Through centuries of migration and ethnic integration, the modern Uyghur identity was formed. During the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century, Mongolian blood was added, and the standardized name form “Uyghur” (维吾尔) was not adopted until 1934, with the meaning “to maintain unity among the people.”
Religion has also been diverse in Xinjiang. From shamanistic origins, the region successively transitioned to Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Manichaeism and Nestorianism. Islam was introduced to southern Xinjiang in the late 10th century and spread to the northern part during the 14th century, often through war and coercion. But Islam was neither the original nor the only religion – even today, a significant portion of the population practices other religions or is non-religious.
The Xinjiang region’s location with borders to several Muslim countries with high levels of poverty has made the region particularly vulnerable to the intrusion of religious extremism.
The roots of separatism
Towards the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, colonial powers began spreading theories of “pan-Turkism” and “pan-Islamism” in Central and South Asia. These ideologies would come to lay the foundation for a separatist movement in Xinjiang.
Separatists and religious extremists, both inside and outside China, began claiming that the Uyghurs were the only “true rulers” of Xinjiang, that the region’s cultures were not Chinese cultures, and that Islam was the only religion practiced by the ethnic groups there. They called on all Turkic-speaking and Muslim ethnic groups to unite to create the theocratic state of “East Turkistan.” They denied China’s common history and called for “opposition to all ethnic groups except Turks” and “annihilation of pagans.”
On November 12, 1933, the so-called “Islamic Republic of East Turkistan” was proclaimed by the separatist Mohammad Imin. The experiment collapsed after less than three months due to strong opposition from the population. A new attempt was made on November 12, 1944, when separatists led by Elihan Torae proclaimed yet another “Republic of East Turkistan,” but it too fell apart after about a year.
But the East Turkistan movement did not die. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, separatist forces, with support from anti-China forces internationally, continued to organize and plan divisive and sabotage activities.
Religious extremism as a weapon
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, religious extremism began making deeper inroads into Xinjiang. The religious extremism that emerged had little in common with traditional Islam.
The extremists preached that people should only obey Allah and urged them to resist all state control. Those who did not follow the path of extremism were branded as pagans, traitors and scum. Followers were urged to verbally attack, reject and isolate non-believers, party members, officials and patriotic religious leaders.
They banned all secular culture and preached a life without TV, radio and newspapers. People were not allowed to cry at funerals or laugh at weddings. Singing and dancing were forbidden. Women were forced to wear heavily veiled, long black garments. The concept of “halal” was generalized far beyond food to include medicine, cosmetics and clothing.
“They turned a blind eye to Xinjiang’s diverse and splendid cultures created by all its ethnic groups, and tried to sever the ties between Chinese culture and Xinjiang’s ethnic cultures,” states a Chinese official report. “All this indicates their denial of modern civilization, rejection of human progress, and gross violation of citizens’ human rights.”
Poverty became a breeding ground for extremism. In certain areas of Xinjiang, people had weak understanding of the law, could not speak, read or write standard Chinese, and lacked employable skills. This made them more susceptible to being lured or forced into criminality by terrorist and extremist groups.
The violence escalates
From the 1990s onwards, terrorism intensified dramatically. The East Turkistan forces, both inside and outside China, stepped up their cooperation as terrorism and extremism spread globally, especially after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
In the name of religion and ethnicity, they deceitfully exploited people’s ethnic identity and religious faith to incite religious fanaticism, spread religious extremism, and urge ordinary people to participate in violent and terrorist activities. They brainwashed people with the concept of “jihad” and persuaded them to “die for their faith to enter heaven.” Some of the most susceptible followers lost all self-control and became extremists and terrorists who ruthlessly slaughtered innocent people.
Montage of images from the 1992 bombing in the regional capital Ürümqi. Photo: The Nordic Times
On February 5, 1992, in the middle of the Chinese New Year celebration, a terrorist group planted bombs on two buses in Ürümqi. Three people were killed and 23 injured.
On February 25, 1997, three buses in Ürümqi were blown up by East Turkistan terrorists, killing nine and seriously injuring 68 people.
On February 5–8, 1997, the East Turkistan movement orchestrated riots in Yining. Seven people were killed and 198 injured, 64 of them seriously. More than 30 vehicles were damaged and two houses were burned down.
On August 24, 1993, Senior Mullah Abulizi, imam at the Great Mosque in Yecheng County, was stabbed and seriously injured by two terrorists.
On May 12, 1996, Aronghan Aji, vice chairman of the China Islamic Association and chairman of the Xinjiang Islamic Association, was attacked by four terrorists who stabbed him 21 times on his way to the mosque. He survived but was seriously injured.
On November 6, 1997, Senior Mullah Younusi Sidike, member of the China Islamic Association and imam at the Great Mosque in Baicheng County, was shot dead by a terrorist group on his way to the mosque.
On July 30, 2014, the 74-year-old Senior Mullah Juma Tayier, vice chairman of the Xinjiang Islamic Association and imam at the Id Kah Mosque, was brutally murdered by three terrorists on his way home after morning prayer.
The list could be made much longer. The violence was directed at everyone – ordinary citizens on streets and squares, religious leaders who dared oppose extremism, government officials and police officers.
Massacre on Xingfu Road
The attack in Yecheng on February 28, 2012, became one of the most brutal examples of the blind terrorism that struck Xinjiang. The nine terrorists had divided themselves into three groups with plans to kill an estimated 500 people each. Their original target was the schoolchildren from nearby elementary and middle schools.
But the plan was exposed by auxiliary police officer Turghunjan, 28 years old and a new father to a six-month-old baby. He saw the group gathering at the market and asked them to disperse. When they refused and he discovered that one of them was carrying an ax, he tried to take them to the police station. Then a terrorist gave a signal and hacked him down. Several others fell upon him and stabbed him to death.
Turghunjan’s father, Tursun Talip, who worked at a school, received the news that same evening but did not dare tell his sick wife for several days.
— I went back to the scene the next afternoon, there remained some blood on the ground, and I was sitting there, looking at the blood, and crying. All I had in my mind was the scene where my son was hacked to the ground, and I could even hear him cry, “Dad, Dad…”
When the terrorists began their attack, it was total chaos. Wang Tiancheng, the shop owner with the grain and oil store, was standing in front of his shop when he suddenly felt a blow from behind.
— After the first hack, two people (the terrorists) turned directly to my front. They were holding an ax in one hand and a machete in another, and their axes were so big, and the hafts were so long. So, they hacked me with their machete right on my head and shoulder.
Wang managed to defend himself with a wooden chair and escaped with wounds to his head and shoulder. The doctor later said that the shoulder bone would have been broken if the machete had gone half a centimeter deeper.
But many others were not so lucky. In the grain shop next door, the shop owner and two employees were killed. An elderly couple shopping there was attacked – the man was killed on the spot and the woman was hacked in the head as she tried to protect her grandchild. She became half-paralyzed after the attack.
— They hacked me for no reason. This was so unreasonable. On a personal level, I had no grudge against him. But on a societal level, he was carrying out terrorist activities, says Wang Tiancheng.
Brother Mehmet Tursun lost his brother Ubulqasim in the attack. His brother worked in a grain shop and defended himself with his fists but was hacked to death.
— This incident has brought us so much harm that we are still in pain and anger today. It destroyed my sister-in-law’s entire family. My dad was in constant pain and eventually passed away. My younger brother, who was only nine years old when it happened, developed epilepsy from the shock.
Their father could never get over his son’s death. He became ill shortly after the attack and passed away five years later, in 2017, after spending his final years visiting his grandchild’s school every other day – the only moments when he felt some joy.
When the police arrived at the scene, several shop owners were still fighting the terrorists. Brothers Chen Jizhong and Chen Jide from Sichuan Province, who ran fish shops on the street, were among them. With fishing nets, wooden sticks and a steel pipe, they managed to subdue one of the terrorists.
— We were scared when we saw the terrorist with a machete in his hands. But then, we realized that things couldn’t go on like this, and we must defend ourselves, recalls Chen Jizhong.
Seven of the terrorists were shot dead by police at the scene. One was injured and died later. One was captured alive, sentenced to death and executed.
Terror in the capital
Xinjiang terrorism was not limited to the region. On October 28, 2013, three terrorists from Xinjiang drove a jeep loaded with 31 barrels of gasoline, 20 lighters, five knives and several iron bars onto the sidewalk east of Tiananmen Square in central Beijing. They accelerated toward tourists and police on duty until they crashed into the barrier at the Golden Water Bridge. They then set fire to the gasoline. Two people, including a foreigner, were killed and over 40 were injured.
Smoke rises from Tiananmen Square in Beijing after the attack on October 28, 2013.
On March 1, 2014, eight knife-wielding terrorists from Xinjiang carried out a massacre at the railway station in Kunming. They attacked passengers in the station square and ticket lobby. 31 people were killed and 141 injured. The attack shocked all of China and received international attention.
The terrorist attack on Kunming railway station in southern China in 2014, where victims were attacked with machetes among other weapons, became a major trauma for the country.
On April 30, 2014, two terrorists hid in the crowd at the exit of Ürümqi railway station. One attacked people with a knife while the other detonated a device in his suitcase. Three people were killed and 79 injured.
On May 22, 2014, five terrorists drove two SUVs through the fence at the morning market on North Park Road in the Saybagh district of Ürümqi, into the crowd, and then detonated a bomb. 39 people were killed and 94 injured.
However, the most extensive violence occurred on July 5, 2009, when East Turkistan forces inside and outside China orchestrated a riot in Ürümqi that shocked the entire world. Thousands of terrorists attacked civilians, government agencies, police, residential buildings, shops and public transport vehicles. 197 people were killed and over 1,700 injured. 331 shops and 1,325 vehicles were smashed and burned down, and many public facilities were damaged.
Images from the attack at Ürümqi railway station in 2014.
Three decades’ trail of terror
Between 1990 and the end of 2016, according to official Chinese sources, a total of thousands of terrorist attacks were carried out in Xinjiang. Large numbers of innocent people were killed, hundreds of police officers died on duty, and the property damage is incalculable.
From 2014, authorities in Xinjiang crushed over 1,500 violent and terrorism-related groups, arrested nearly 13,000 accused terrorists, seized over 2,000 explosive devices, and prosecuted over 30,000 people for what was designated as illegal religious activities. Large quantities of religious material that authorities considered illegal were also confiscated.
For Wang Tiancheng, the shop owner who was attacked with an ax and machete, it took years to process the experience. Photo: ICBG.
— It’s been many years since the terrorist attack, but I can still feel the horror whenever I recall it. To be honest, we were scared. But now that the attack had happened, the first thing we should do was to stay calm and be brave and try to fight back. It is the mentality I always uphold. We must not fear terrorism.
For families like Tursun Talip’s, whose son Turghunjan was killed when he tried to stop the terrorists, the pain was immeasurable but also associated with a certain pride, he tells the Institute for Communication and Borderland Governance (ICBG) at Jinan University.
— Although our family was heartbroken for my oldest son Turghunjan’s sacrifice, I feel proud of my son from the bottom of my heart. We told my youngest son that his brother saved the lives of many children, and we also hoped that my youngest son to be a police officer and fight against terrorism!
Turghunjan’s younger brother became a police officer in 2014, two years after his brother’s death.
A calm characterizes the bustling crowds today in Kashgar, an ancient city in westernmost Xinjiang with a 2,000-year history as a meeting place along the Silk Road, known for its labyrinthine old quarter steeped in Islamic culture. Photo: The Nordic Times
Police officer Semet, who was among the first on the scene in Yecheng in 2012 and saw his chief shoot two terrorists at close range, has never wanted to quit being a police officer despite the experience.
— I grew up dreaming of becoming a police officer. Many of us wanted to be police officers when we were still boys. I love this job. I regard it as a very sacred career.
The nearly three decades of terror have left deep scars in Xinjiang, but also marked the rest of China. Families were torn apart, communities changed, and fear characterized daily life for millions of people.
Since 2016, however, China has largely been free from terrorist acts after the People’s Republic’s extensive measures and counter-terrorism programs. Today, the country is one of the world’s safest countries to be in with very few violent crimes.
How has China succeeded in combating terrorism, restoring order and security, and what is actually true about the situation in Xinjiang and the relationship with the country’s ethnic minorities?
The Nordic Times examines the subject and the international reporting that has surrounded the developments in the next article.
American journalist Max Blumenthal sharply criticizes the Nobel Committee’s decision to award the 2025 Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition politician Maria Corina Machado.
In a statement on social media, he accuses the laureate of being a US-funded regime change activist and argues that the prize is a green light for military action against Venezuela.
Max Blumenthal, a journalist at the US-based news website The Grayzone, has in a lengthy post on X questioned the Nobel Committee’s decision to award the Peace Prize to Maria Corina Machado, leader of Venezuela’s opposition.
Blumenthal describes Machado as a political actor working in US interests rather than for peace. “The Nobel Committee has decided to make the case for Trump’s war on Venezuela, giving its ‘Peace Prize’ to Maria Corina Machado, a US govt-funded regime change activist who’s helped lead failed military coups, violent street riots, and has likely promised her country’s oil and mineral wealth to a consortium of MAGA aligned billionaires in exchange for financing her political arsonism,” he writes.
Comparisons to Pinochet and Netanyahu
The journalist harshly attacks the laureate, calling her “a marionette for Marco Rubio, a creation of the CIA-sponsored Gusano Industrial Complex that has brought violent terror and siege to any Latin American country defying the Washington Consensus of privatization and austerity, and a would-be Pinochet in a skirt.”
Blumenthal also claims that Machado has turned to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for support. “This icon of peace has even appealed to Benjamin Netanyahu to help her lead a military invasion of Venezuela,” he writes.
Criticism for supporting sanctions
A central part of Blumenthal’s criticism concerns Machado’s alleged lobbying for economic sanctions against her own country. He argues that she “has spent years lobbying for US and EU starvation sanctions on her own country, resulting in waves of migration to the US, fueling the nativist resentment that gave rise to Trump.”
Blumenthal also points to Machado’s response when Donald Trump sent Venezuelan migrants to a detention camp in El Salvador earlier this year. “When Trump shipped Venezuelan migrants to a torture camp in El Salvador this year, Machado predictably sided with Trump, the main sponsor of her putschist career, over her countrymen,” he writes.
Committee’s role a “soft power instrument”
The journalist draws parallels to previous controversial awards and argues that the decision regarding Machado is consistent with the Committee’s role as a power instrument for the Western world. “Giving the Nobel to Machado is a green light for regime change war on Venezuela, and then Cuba. But the decision is consistent with the Committee’s role as a soft power instrument of the Western empire,” he states.
He recalls the prize to Barack Obama at the beginning of his first presidential term: “Just recall its award to Obama at the beginning of his first term, granting him infinite legitimacy in advance of his destruction of Libya, escalation of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and facilitation of Gaza’s decimation.”
Blumenthal concludes with an interpretation of what he sees as the real purpose behind the award: “Given that nothing has happened in Machado’s career without the support and guidance of Washington, the Committee’s decision must be seen as the result of another Western op – a coup in Oslo to pave the way for one in Caracas.”
Two days before his death, conservative commentator Charlie Kirk expressed strong frustration over pressure from Jewish donors in a group chat. This is shown by text messages now made public by former colleague and commentator Candace Owens.
“Jewish donors play into all of the stereotypes. I cannot and will not be bullied like this, leaving me no choice but to leave the pro-Israel cause.”
The messages have been confirmed as authentic by Turning Point USA.
Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s final weeks were marked by intense pressure from major Jewish donors, according to text messages published by former Turning Point colleague Candace Owens in a video analysis on her X channel. The messages, sent in a group chat with nine people just 48 hours before Kirk’s death on September 10, 2025, provide insight into the political and financial dilemmas Kirk was grappling with.
Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet has confirmed the authenticity of the text messages and stated that he himself originally took the screenshot of the conversation.
Lost millions after refusing to “cancel Tucker”
In the text conversation, which included pastor Rob McCoy – who leads Turning Point USA’s religious branch TPUSA Faith – and conservative author Josh Hammer, Kirk writes: “Just lost another huge Jewish donor. $2 million a year because we won’t cancel Tucker. I’m thinking of inviting Candace.”
Kirk continues to express his frustration: “Jewish donors play into all of the stereotypes. I cannot and will not be bullied like this, leaving me no choice but to leave the pro-Israel cause.”
According to Owens’ video analysis, the messages show that Kirk was under significant financial pressure due to his refusal to disinvite Tucker Carlson, known for his critical stance on Israel, from Turning Point USA events.
Another person in the chat, identified as Sedona, responds and advises against it: “Please do not invite Candace. That might feel good short term, but it’s not good long term.”
WOW… Candace Owens just showed the text messages from Charlie Kirk, 48 hours before his death, saying he had no choice but to leave the pro Israel cause and refused to be bullied by Jewish donors for refusing to cancel Tucker.
In her video analysis, Owens describes a long-running conversation she had with Kirk about his changing views on religion and politics. She recounts that Kirk contacted her as early as February 2024 with the words: “Catholicism is sounding better and better.”
— We talked a lot about the political pressure, about how I felt it functioned more like a cult than a true theology or religion, Owens says in the video.
She is particularly critical of pastor Rob McCoy’s handling of the situation after Kirk’s death. McCoy, whose son and daughter-in-law work for Turning Point USA, published a post on Instagram urging Owens to pause her investigation into the events before the murder.
— Rob McCoy knew for an absolute fact that Charlie was done with Israel bullying him. That’s what bothers me so much about this man, Owens says and continues:
— If Charlie was a friend of mine, I really hope he would raise hell to figure out what actually happened that day if I was assassinated. It’s not being a friend to stay silent when lies are being told.
Confirmation from Turning Point USA
Andrew Kolvet from Turning Point USA confirmed the authenticity of the text messages on Tuesday in an episode of “The Charlie Kirk Show”.
“That was a text grab, a screen grab, that I had shared with people, so it is authentic,” said Kolvet, who explained that he shared the screenshot with authorities after the murder to ensure a thorough investigation.
Kolvet described Kirk’s relationship with Israel as “complicated” and referred to a previous podcast episode with Megyn Kelly where Kirk openly discussed his frustration: “I don’t want to judge an entire group, because there’s been many people in the pro-Israel group that have been very sweet, very kind, very nuanced… however, the behavior by a lot—both privately and publicly—are pushing people like you and me away.”
“Why are you hearing it from me and Tucker Carlson?”
In her analysis, Owens questions why so few other voices within the conservative movement have spoken openly about the pressure Kirk experienced.
— You have people hosting a show. Have they done one honorable thing and come out and said something like: you know what, F a couple of these donors who made his life a living hell in the last couple of weeks? Why haven’t they done that? she says.
She points out that she herself, Tucker Carlson, and Megyn Kelly have tried to tell the truth about Kirk’s situation, while others have remained silent.
— That registers to me as very suspicious. It makes me think that in the same way Charlie was being pressured by money, that you might now be run by that same money, Owens says.
Criticism of pastors’ handling
Owens also expresses broader concern about how pastors and others within the conservative movement have handled the situation after Kirk’s death.
— I feel like a lot this year I have been feeling as though these pastors are just not as honest as they should be. A lot of pastors are not really so concerned with the truth is what I would say, she notes.
She concludes her analysis with an appeal:
— You should not grieve by lying or by gaslighting. Is that fair? Can we all agree? You should not grieve by lying and gaslighting the public.
Charlie Kirk, 31, was shot to death on September 10, 2025, at Utah Valley University. Tyler Robinson, 22, has been arrested and charged with the murder.
Journalist Kim Iversen has previously pointed out that the murder may have connections to the Israeli government.
While the genocide in Gaza continues, the Israeli government is running an extensive influence campaign on social media. Millions of Americans are exposed to political propaganda without knowing that the content is financed by a foreign warring state.
None of the involved influencers have registered as foreign agents – a likely violation of the United States’ primary law against covert foreign influence.
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with a group of pro-Israeli influencers last Friday, the message was clear:
— We have to fight back. How do we fight back? Our influencers. I think you should also talk to them if you have a chance, to that community, they are very important, he stated.
What Netanyahu didn’t mention was how lucrative it is to be one of “our influencers” – or that these influence campaigns are systematically hidden from the American public.
NEW:
Netanyahu meets with US Influencers (on Israel’s payroll) to discuss how they can brainwash evangelicals back to supporting Israel pic.twitter.com/7QwrUt18Lc
Documents reviewed and analyzed by Nick Cleveland-Stout at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft think tank show that a group of 14-18 influencers receive around $7,000 per post on platforms like TikTok and Instagram to shape American citizens’ opinions about Israel and the war in Gaza.
Secret propaganda campaign
The campaign, codenamed “Esther Project,” is coordinated by the company Bridges Partners on behalf of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Between June and November this year, Israel pumped a total of $900,000 into the project during the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Invoices that the company sent to media conglomerate Havas Media Group Germany show that an estimated $553,000 has been paid directly to the influencers for the period June to September. With an expected production of 75-90 posts, this means between $6,143 and $7,372 per post that reaches thousands or millions of American followers.
But despite the influencers being contractually obligated to start publishing in July, none of them have registered as foreign agents. They have also not labeled their posts with information that the content is financed by the Israeli government. This is a likely violation of the United States’ Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) – the country’s primary law against covert foreign influence.
Very informative and well documented piece on the secular government of Israel’s heavily funded foreign influence campaign targeting Christians and conservatives. https://t.co/BxrOnEnOIM
— If you’re being paid by a foreign government to influence the American public on that government’s behalf you should register under FARA, says Ben Freeman, director of the Democratizing Foreign Policy program at the Quincy Institute.
— If these influencers are knowingly accepting money from the Israeli government to produce content for the Israeli government that’s being viewed by thousands or millions of their followers in the US, it’s not at all clear why they would not be required to register.
According to the law, FARA violations must be done “knowingly” to lead to criminal penalties. In other words: if the influencers are aware that they are receiving Israeli state funds to influence American citizens, they are committing a crime.
A lawyer who specializes in FARA and who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue is clear:
— Anyone who is distributing material propaganda and other informational materials aimed at the United States audience on behalf of a foreign government agency would need to be disclosed somewhere, including potentially by filing a short form registration.
Systematic concealment
In addition to not registering as foreign agents, the influencers are violating another basic requirement: they must clearly label their posts so that viewers understand that the content is financed by the Israeli government – either in the post itself or on their profile.
A search on X, TikTok and Instagram yields no results showing that any of the 14-18 influencers working for Bridges Partners have included such labeling. This is despite the labeling requirement being standard practice for all registered foreign agents on social media.
— It’s basically the foreign influence equivalent of the standard sponsorship flagged posts you see all over social media. It just lets social media users know that what they’re seeing is being paid for by the Israeli government, and then they can judge it accordingly.
The difference is crucial: when an influencer markets a commercial brand, there should always be clear labeling. But when the same influencer markets a foreign government’s political agenda in the middle of an ongoing war, there is no information at all showing how they are financed by a foreign power.
Today, I’ll post the 1st 7 cards for Pro-Israel Influencers who partook in the following events between Aug-Sept:
-Israel365 Trip to Israel
-Bill Ackman’s Hamptons Retreat
-Netanyahu’s Influencer Event
The identity of the 14-18 influencers participating in the propaganda campaign has not been made public. Bridges Partners refuses to comment on the matter and Havas Media Group Germany, which oversees the entire campaign, has not responded to repeated requests from journalists about which influencers are participating or how much each one is paid. Uri Steinberg, who owns 50 percent of Bridges Partners, has also chosen not to respond to requests to comment on the influence campaign.
Currently, only Steinberg himself is registered as a foreign agent – despite it being the influencers who reach millions of Americans with the propaganda.
Bridges Partners, which is based in a townhouse on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., has hired Nadav Shtrauchler – a former major from the IDF’s information unit. As legal counsel, the company has turned to the law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, the same firm that previously represented the notorious Israeli spyware company NSO Group.
The name “Esther Project” resembles the Heritage Foundation’s “Project Esther” – a campaign that systematically labels critics of Israel as part of a network supporting “terrorists”. However, the Heritage Foundation itself claims there is no formal connection between the projects.
All social media influencers being paid by the Israeli government or ANY foreign government to promote a foreign country and a foreign country’s interests, must register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) under the DOJ.
Several influencers have made trips to Israel in recent months, partly financed through contracts with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Israel365 Action organized a trip in August that cost $86,000 in state funds. After the visit, influencer Lance Johnston declared that he was now “fine with sending them weapons”.
Republican politicians have also reacted to the revelations.
“Any social media influencer, if they are getting paid by a foreign country, they have to register under FARA”, states US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Former Congressman Matt Gaetz was even clearer:
“In this particular case, the foreign government is pursuing a specific agenda, it is not just friendly relations between our countries. There is a war going on in Gaza”.
Critical timing
Millions of Americans are thus exposed daily to political content without knowing that what they see is paid propaganda from a foreign warring state. The influencers who receive $7,000 per post consciously choose to hide from their followers who pays for the words they spread.
The campaign also comes at a critical time when young Americans are becoming increasingly critical of Israel, the genocide in Gaza and the unlimited American support for the country.
When public opinion turns against Israel, driven by images of Palestinian suffering on social media, a secret influence campaign on the same platforms becomes an important strategic weapon for shaping the narrative and portraying the destruction of Gaza as a noble and necessary defensive war.
