The Twitter feed of user @AhmedAElsisi is filled with both criticism of the United States and Israel, and messages of support for Hamas and the Islamic State.
He often tweets things like this:
Let’s define the term #reverse_terrorism which means killing the original terrorists. #ISIS and #Hamas are practicing #reverse_terrorism
— Freedom Fighter (@AhmedAElsisi) November 13, 2014
And this:
Its good stupid #Republicans are winning. #ISIS are happy.
— Freedom Fighter (@AhmedAElsisi) November 5, 2014
And this:
Excellent work by #Hamas today. This is the right way to go.
— Freedom Fighter (@AhmedAElsisi) November 18, 2014
This is all pretty unremarkable, of course. Twitter is filled with fringe figures who say fringe things. And most of those things, like the tweets above, go largely unnoticed.
But @AhmedAElsisi (or Freedom Fighter, as he identifies himself) managed to climb from obscurity this week when he said members of the Israeli army were “all terrorists”:
The #Israel army is composed of all Israelis. There are no innocents there. They are all terrorists. #عملية_القدس
— Freedom Fighter (@AhmedAElsisi) November 18, 2014
That tweet, of course, looks a lot like his other tweets. But it drew attention for something else that appears on his profile. In the space reserved for his biography, @AhmedAElsisi describes himself as a “Journalist working for NBC.”
Works for NBC -> MT @AhmedAElsisi: The #Israel army is composed of all Israelis. There are no innocents there. They are all terrorists.
— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) November 18, 2014
.@AhmedAElsisi identifies as a “journalist working for @NBCNews.” This was his reaction to today’s synagogue attack. pic.twitter.com/v3cCq2cWJB
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) November 18, 2014
If @AhmedAElsisi is indeed, as he claims, a journalist for NBC, it’s time for him not to be. Join me in calling on @NBCNews to fire him now.
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) November 18, 2014
.@AG_Conservative I, for one, appreciate that NBC is fine with everyone knowing it employs anti-semites. @AhmedAElsisi @AviMayer @NBCNews
— RB (@RBPundit) November 18, 2014
It certainly would be notable if an NBC employee indicted the Israeli army as “terrorists.”
But a spokesperson for the network told TPM on Wednesday that @AhmedAElsisi “does not and has not worked with NBC News in any capacity.”
Not everyone on Twitter bought the user’s claim. Facing skepticism, @AhmedAElsisi said he was “a freelance journalist” and that NBC purchased his footage “at $700/min,” but he declined to provide any links to his work.
@zhanover @NBCNews here is the funny story. I was a freelance journalist. NBC was buying my footage at $700/min
— Freedom Fighter (@AhmedAElsisi) November 19, 2014
@zhanover @NBCNews you have to find it on your own. I dont have time to do it.
— Freedom Fighter (@AhmedAElsisi) November 19, 2014
