Kulturkampf

[benji]

The replies on that tweet are saying the first guy pictured, Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, used to be a huge pro-Israel guy who has switched sides in recent years including calling October 7th a false flag.

I just searched for him to see if I could find anything to confirm that and found better from the top result:

A postdoctoral fellow left UCLA following multiple accusations of sexual harassment on Twitter.

Starting in early June, several Twitter users accused Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, a postdoctoral fellow at the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, of sexual harassment, stating that he sent private messages harassing them, invited underage people for drinks and sent minors unsolicited inappropriate photos.

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“I have recently engaged in several instances of inappropriate communications with individuals,” Ben-Ephraim said in an emailed statement to The Bruin.

Zaugg said in an interview with The Bruin that she and Ben-Ephraim met through Twitter and exchanged messages because they were both involved in the Jewish community on Twitter.

However, in May, Ben-Ephraim began to criticize her on Twitter and through email, Zaugg said. Ben-Ephraim threatened to hurt himself, criticized her political opinions and threatened to destroy her life, she added.

In an email obtained by The Bruin, Ben-Ephraim told Zaugg that “when you least expect it, you will get the payback you deserve.”

Once, when Zaugg tweeted about her friend being “her queen”, Ben-Ephraim criticized Zaugg over text message for being affiliated with anti-Zionists because of her friend’s rhetoric online, Zaugg said.

Khelgati first met Ben-Ephraim after she attended his lecture on Israeli settlement in the fall because she was interested in the topic, she said in an interview with The Bruin. Khelghati is an active member of J Street U at UCLA, a club dedicated to fostering discourse about the Israel-Palestine conflict.

After she attended his lecture, she became more interested in his work and invited him to speak about a similar topic to her club last December.

In February, Khelghati said Ben-Ephraim asked her through Twitter direct message if she would like to get a drink. Khelghati declined and told Ben-Ephraim that she was 20, but Ben-Ephraim asked her for dinner. Khelghati then told him she was uncomfortable.

Ben-Ephraim then told Khelghati he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, but added he wished she was older.

Minor A, whose name has been redacted for confidentiality purposes, a 17-year-old girl, said Ben-Ephraim sent her flirtatious messages and photographs of himself on Twitter and Snapchat, even though he knew she was a minor. Minor A told Ben-Ephraim her age in their Twitter exchanges, according to screenshots she posted on Twitter of these exchanges. She also listed her age on her Twitter page.

“Once I had posted something about liking tattoos on white guys and he’d messaged me saying, ‘I’m white but I don’t have tattoos,’ which I found weird,” Minor A said in an interview with The Bruin.

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