Advocacy media portfolio

 

This portfolio contains summaries of a variety of projects I’ve worked on, either (a) for clients, or (b) of my own initiative.  All pertain to my five highest external values:

  • Freedom
  • America
  • Israel
  • Children
  • Dogs

At the end of each summary is a link to the full project page.


Contents

(1) Freedom

(2) America

(3) Israel

(4) Children

(5) Dogs


(1) Freedom

This section presents a sampling of projects I’ve created, or to which I provided vital services, that champion and defend the basic principles of freedom, that are as applicable in other Western nations as they are in America.

(1.1) “The Choice”: A graphic means to explain freedom vs tyranny to American teenage girls

(1.2) Moms For Liberty

(1.3) Entitlements Destroy Lives

(1.4) SaveTheWest.com

(1.5) Essay: “Why is freedom dying? It’s not being killed. It’s committing suicide.”

(1.6) Investigative report: “FAKE NEWS: What it is, who’s creating it, how to identify it, and how to help stop it”


(1.1) “The Choice”: A graphic means to explain freedom vs tyranny to American teenage girls

Background: In the mid-1990s, I began recognizing a growing disconnect: between the general public, particularly the young, and the knowledge and data amassed by the most principled freedom-oriented think tanks and activist groups that support freedom, capitalism America, Israel and Western culture.  Many were coming to say they would prefer to live under ideas that are at war with freedom (see recent survey data here).  I pitched many of these groups on ideas I had to use visual media, particularly conceptual visualizations, to help bridge this gap, but was consistently rejected.

The challenge: In 2011 I was challenged by a freedom-oriented philanthropist (who rejected me) to design and write a single-frame graphic that explained something vital to understand the dividing line between freedom and tyranny. Until now, the only people with whom I shared this graphic were philanthropists to whom I submitted funding pitches, and colleagues. It had never been in the public domain — until now (September 2024).  I decided to create something that would focus on introducing young American females to the basic facts that would help them realize how incredibly fortunate they are to have been born in America, or to have become US citizens.

The result: We’ll see.

See the complete project profile here.


(1.2) Moms For Liberty

Background: Moms For Liberty was founded in December 2021 to rally parents to exercise more effective oversight of what America’s children are being taught, exposed to, and led to believe. By the summer of 2023, M4L had nearly 350 chapters across America, was having a major impact, and was viewed as a heroic nonprofit to some, but something far worse to those who are vested in defending the existing educational bureaucracy and its practices.

The challenge: In the summer of 2023, M4L was facing a severe PR challenge. Its leadership engaged me to help it navigate this situation.

The result: Due to confidentiality, I cannot disclose the specific work I performed for the group’s leadership. What I can disclose is the testimonial I received from one of the group’s co-founders, after it was clear my work helped produce the results that M4L wanted:

“I highly recommend Jon for his invaluable assistance to Moms For Liberty in clarifying messaging on a complex and challenging issue. Jon’s insightful guidance and clear communication skills played a pivotal role in navigating the intricacies of the matter, ultimately leading to a more coherent and effective message.”

– Tiffany Justice, co-founder, Moms For Liberty


(1.3) Entitlements Destroy Lives

Background: The welfare entitlement industry is driven by one over-arching motive: to convince as many people, organizations, businesses and even foreign nations that they cannot survive independently. It is bankrupting America and other Western nations, and is sabotaging the innovation, productivity and thrift upon which free societies depend.  EDL was started in 2011 by a welfare reform activist who rose from grinding childhood poverty to become a businessman, inventor and philanthropist, to expose the human and financial cost of the welfare entitlement mentality.

The challenge: To work with the founder of EDL create the conceptual framework of EDL as a nonprofit, research and develop the business plan, design the architectural framework of the website, and produce various original content, ranging from key infographics, marketing media (example above), and blog articles.

The Result: My work was deemed a major success by EDL:

“Jon has been tremendously important to the Entitlements Destroy Lives project. Through his graphic design and writing abilities, Jon has been able to convey EDL’s core message in a very coherent and persuasive way. I would strongly recommend Jon to anyone who has a project that needs this kind of clarity brought to it.”

– Jim Morris, founder & president, Entitlements Destroy Lives

See the complete project profile here.


(1.4) SaveTheWest.com

Background: For years prior to 2013, a New York venture fund executive and philanthropist had been giving speeches to private groups throughout the U.S. W. Europe and Israel, on the threats facing Western civilization, and presenting common-sense solutions.

The Challenge: My client decided it was time to create a website to publicly feature (a) videos of his speeches, and his original written content, (b) articles written by his friends, and (c) other useful resources. After purchasing the domain SaveTheWest.com, he hired me to develop the site from the ground up.

The Result: In 2013-14, I worked on a part-time, consulting basis to create SaveTheWest.com, including all the visual branding, and contributed to developing the mission statement, project outline, etc. He was so pleased with my work and ideas that he retained me to act as as the site’s consulting editor and videographer, a role I held from 2014-2020.  I also developed more than 100 elements of original content for the site, including investigative reports, documentary videos and satirical items.

See the complete project profile here.


(1.5) Essay: “Why is freedom dying? It’s not being killed. It’s committing suicide.”

Background: How can freedom survive the ideological war being waged against it, if its supposed advocates are too afraid to even identify its enemies, their motivations and objectives, and what life would look like under the society they wan tot create? How can we educate the general public, especially our young, about the history, virtues, and fruits and requirements of freedom, if doing so is deemed “racist” or “intolerant”? These are questions I have been asking since around 2008, when I began to realize how ineffectual the supposed tip-of-the-spear freedom-oriented organizations were in terms of communicating basic facts and principles to the general public, especially the young.

My challenge: To write an essay, in 2015, for the website I edited at the time, that helps explain my view on why the enemies of freedom keep winning the war of ideas, and what will be required of us, and our institutions, to actually fight this war — to win it.

The result: This essay, for which I’ve received praise from scholars, political figures, entertainers and activists (originally published here):

Why is freedom dying? It’s not being killed. It’s committing suicide.


(1.6) Investigative report: “FAKE NEWS: What it is, who’s creating it, how to identify it, and how to help stop it”

Background: I was not a news hound until soon after 9/11, and naively believed that the biggest Western news organs were sincerely dedicated to providing information and analysis that is free of partisan or ideological bias, unless it is was labeled as an opinion or editorial piece. Over time, however, I began to realize the subtle and overt ways that the “news” that Americans and others in the West receive is manipulated in order to advance unspoken, freedom-subverting agendas. In the wake of the 2016 presidential election (in which I did not vote — for the first time), this manipulation was laid bare — yet the perpetrators paid zero substantive price.

My challenge: To create an organized, evidence-packed, nonpartisan crash course for the general public throughout Western societies in understanding fake news, how to identify it as such, and help prevent it from metastasizing — particularly on social media.

The result: Over the course of several months, I produced this investigative report for the website I was editing at the time, SaveTheWest.com.  Although STW did not have a big following, several influential journalists, journalism professors, and media and political figures cited it as a nonpartisan resource for anyone concerned about the quality of the news we receive.  Ideally, I wanted to turn it into a documentary, but could not find backing; I attribute this to the balkanization of philanthropy, and the resentment of the fact that I called out Trump, as well as Clinton, and their media backers, for their contributions to spreading fake news.

FAKE NEWS: What it is, who’s creating it, how to identify it, and how to help stop it

Here is a slide show I created as a visual summary of my report:


(2) America

This section presents a sampling of the work I’ve done to help champion and defend core American principles, and the legitimate functions of our government, via activism campaigns, journalism, and satire.

(2.1) “America At The Precipice”: A research report

(2.2) The “Lost Liberty Hotel”

(2.3) Virginians Over-Taxed On Residences

(2.4) The Coalition for Non-Living Americans

(2.5) Editorial: “3 Questions CNN Hosts Should Ask Biden at Debate” (published at The Daily Signal, June 27, 2024)

(2.6) Video: “Celebrity Walls vs the Democratic Narrative”

(2.7) “Who benefits from the lies being spread about the ‘caravans’?”

(2.8) My published rebuttal to a hate editorial against the U.S. military

(2.9) My “Support Our Troops” flyer

(2.10) My work to help expose a top-5 US university that was facilitating speaking engagements by anti-American monsters during the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 attack

(2.11) My “2024 Fact Check” series of infographic reports: 30 reports, one released each day during the last 30 days of the presidential election season, that establish vital basic realities, or demolish the destructive myths that have gained widespread acceptance


(2.1) “America At The Precipice”: A research report

Background: Since the mid-1990s, I’ve been collecting and analyzing survey data and anecdotal information regarding Americans’ knowledge of, and perceptions regarding freedom vs tyranny, history, America, the US Constitution, economics, etc.  The more data I saw, the more I became convinced that the approaches and tools being employed to fight for freedom, and to ensure Americans possessed essential civic knowledge, were not working.

My challenge: After 9/11, I became determined to figure out a way to organize all the data I was accumulating, and as time went on, to structure it to “tell the story,” in a logical, sequential format. of how badly our educational system and cultural institutions were failing us.

The result: My “America At The Precipice” research report, completed in 2017 (and updated periodically), analogizes our situation to that of the process of farming: of (a) preparing the soil, (b) planting the seeds of counter-knowledge, and then, (c) harvesting the “crops” that arise from the systematic sabotage and perversion of Americans’ minds and perceptions.  Over the years I have shared “America At The Precipice” with numerous scholars, political figures and activists, who reported viewing it as a quality, one-stop resource from which to efficiently locate and cite specific data points to help advance their objectives.

Read “America At The Precipice” here.


(2.2) The “Lost Liberty Hotel”

Background: In June 2005, by a 5-4 margin, the U.S. Supreme Court established a “new interpretation” of the US Constitution’s provision for “eminent domain” takings.  It ruled in Kelo v. City of New London that a city has the “right,” under eminent domain, to seize private property, and transfer it to another private party, if the latter’s use could provide greater tax revenue or economic benefits to the community “as a whole.”

The Challenge: I helped to inspire a fellow activist to generate an activism campaign concept that was both principled and hilarious, to see if the SCOTUS’s ruling also applied to the personal property owned by the Justices that voted for it.  My challenge was then to take the raw idea and turn it into innovative, finished media, from press releases to a logo and beyond, that would get attention, and attract support from across the cultural, economic and racial spectrum.

The Result: With the aid of the media tools that I created, the “Lost Liberty Hotel” burst into the American consciousness — and catapulted my client from obscurity into an interview subject on top TV news programs, practically overnight.

“I love this… this is how you fight this stuff, folks… this is how you do it … you turn it right around on them […] the ‘Lost Liberty Hotel’… you just have to love this…”

– Rush Limbaugh, one day after the project’s press release that I edited was issued, reading it at the opening of the show

“The pro-liberty movement is fortunate to have Jon Sutz among its ranks. [H]e edited our first press release – which led to national media exposure… and also a vital follow-up press release, and our first newsletter… and developed a beautiful logo… [J]on’s creativity, passion and strong work ethic were vital assets to us, and any serious liberty-oriented organization would benefit by enlisting him in its development and outreach efforts.”

– Logan Clements, CEO, Freestar Media, developer of the “Lost Liberty Hotel”

See the complete project profile here.


(2.3) Virginians Over-Taxed On Residences

Background: From 2000 through 2006, modest- and fixed-income individuals and families throughout Virginia were being taxed out of their homes, due to ever-increasing annual property tax increases. VOTORS was created to advocate for a proposal to limit the power of cities and towns in Virginia to increase property taxes by no more than 1% per year.

The Challenge: To consult on, rewrite and redesign all of VOTORS’ media, including its logo and brochure, to make the entire project more professional-appearing and effective — especially to educate low-literacy homeowners of how they would benefit from its proposal.

The Result: The media tools that I created (and recreated) for VOTORS were deemed a major success by its board.

“Jon has been impressively responsive from the moment I began to work with him to change our logo. So impressed was I with our new logo that I asked Jon to use his abilities to help us to improve our VOTORS brochure… [he] has become a welcome and essential element in our grassroots effort. I could not be more pleased with his work.”

– Al Aitken, founder and chairman

See the complete project profile here.


(2.4) The Coalition for Non-Living Americans

Background: In 2016, I began hearing rumors about the extent to which ballots in American federal, state and local elections were being cast in the names of dead voters. I didn’t believe it at first, until I saw watchdog reports, and local news organs’ coverage of such incidents… but nothing by the national media.  These facts compelled me to find a way to use my skills to raise awareness of this outrage.

My challenge: As the consulting editor and videographer of SaveTheWest.com at the time, I pitched an idea to the site’s owner, to allow me to create a funny way to package up the evidence about this problem, and hopefully rouse Americans from across the political, cultural and racial spectrums to rise up to help stop it. He agreed.

The result: I wrote, designed and produced this 3-minute overview video, which was natively displayed on various social media platforms, and shared with voting integrity watchdog organizations:

See the complete project profile here.


(2.5) Editorial: “3 Questions CNN Hosts Should Ask Biden at Debate”

Background: For many years, I have been compiling research data on several intersecting interest areas: national news organizations’ extreme bias in favor of Democrats, and the extent to which Democratic presidential administrations have been acting as financial enablers of the Islamist terrorist regimes, most notably Iran and the Palestinians. A particularly acute frustration for me has been the extent to which there is almost blanket silence about the fact that President Biden chose to become the world’s #1 cash enabler of the Iranian terrorist machinery.

My challenge: I had been posting the evidence of my assertions on Twitter/X and Facebook since 10/7, but don’t have a large enough following to make a difference. Soon before the June 27, 2024 Biden-Trump debate, CNN, which was hosting it, indicated it wanted to break free of the impression that it is effectively an extension of the Democratic Party.  I challenged myself to construct a publish-able article that would provide CNN with three serious questions that would enable it to advance its stated mission — and perform a vital service for the American people.

The result: The Daily Signal was, for many years, the in-house website of the Heritage Foundation.  Recently it broke away to become a free-standing news organization.  I’d been in contact with its leadership for some time, and submitted this piece to them as an item that could potentially draw traffic and influence CNN’s decisions re debate questions.  The Daily Signal agreed, and quickly published this editorial — my debut at the site:

3 Questions CNN Hosts Should Ask Biden at Debate, by Jon Sutz, Daily Signal, June 27, 2024

My three questions, backed up by voluminous evidence, are:

1) Why are you the No. 1 global financial enabler of the Iranian terrorist regime?

2) A two-part question: Why do you incite hatred against America, and against our law enforcement officers, based on falsehoods about race issues?

3) Why do you keep claiming that “Hamas doesn’t represent the Palestinian people,” when every reliable metric shows Palestinians support Hamas by overwhelming margins?


(2.6) Video: “Celebrity Walls vs the Democratic Narrative”

Background: Throughout 2017-2018, an increasing number of celebrities were making public statements condemning efforts to enforce America’s immigration and border laws, especially by constructing physical barriers along areas of the US southern border in which a flood of foreign nationals were illegally entering. “Racism,” they cried. “Everyone is welcome here,” they insisted. I became extremely frustrated with the inability of those who opposed these celebrities from making a cohesive, evidence-based argument as to why, in view of the American people who do not consume conservative media.

My challenge: To create a way to demonstrate the stunning hypocrisy of these celebrities — who champion open borders as a moral imperative, yet personally live behind big walls, to protect them their property from unauthorized entry. I believed that this principle — of the obligation to protect oneself and one’s property — properly presented and supported with reliable evidence, could open the eyes of reasonable people from across the political spectrum, especially in regards to repeatedly-deported criminal illegal aliens who are able to walk right back in, 5, 10, 20 or more times, continuing their lawless behavior.

The result: I researched, wrote, designed and produced this six-minute video, which was published on January 3, 2019:


(2.7) “Who benefits from the lies being spread about the ‘caravans’?”

Background: In the fall of 2018, America’s most influential news organizations, Democratic political figures, Hollywood royalty and “social justice” organizations were peddling an incessant volley of lies about the waves of 5,000 or more foreign nationals from 160+ countries walking/sneaking into America. While right-of-center organizations and Republican political figures led by President Trump, sounded the alarm about this situation in their own ways, in general I found their statements and approaches either (a) bombastic and irresponsible, or (b) too scholarly. I believed (and still do) that if the American people are provided with essential facts regarding the situation, in a format they could understand, easily validate and relate to their own lives, they would be able to view it in a rational way — and act accordingly, with moral confidence.

My challenge: I wanted to create something from the ground up that would serve this purpose. In summary, I wanted to create a definitive go-to, in-depth report that contained all the vital source evidence, with bite-sized visual consolidations of specific facets of the greatest importance.  I pitched the owner of the website I edited at the time, SaveTheWest.com on my idea and approach, and he approved me to produce it.

The result: After two months of intensive research and development, my report — and its four key sub-reports — was published on :

“Who benefits from the lies being spread about the ‘caravans’?”

The answer to this question is a series of four sub-reports, summarized and linked at the bottom of this detailed introduction:

(1) Previously-deported criminal illegal aliens

(2) Islamist terrorists

(3) Woman & child sex traffickers

(4) Violent criminal gang members

The report caught on a bit, and I was interviewed on numerous radio shows; listen to a sampling here.

Here are some key visual reference tools I created to support the main report, and frame the sub-reports, starting with a particularly insidious lie was peddled with virtual impunity: the claim that the bulk of the “caravans” were women and children:


This slide show exposes another lie that was widely peddled then, and continues to be, because no organization I’m aware of has fully, relentlessly fought to expose it:


I created this graphic to put the flood of foreign nationals who are illegally entering America, and the bad apples among them, into a visual context;

(2.8) My published rebuttal to a hate editorial against the U.S. military

Background: Ted Rall is a notorious far-left hate columnist and cartoonist. In March 2003, a Charlottesville, VA weekly published Rall’s editorial, “Don’t Support our Troops,” on the entire inside back cover. Rall’s basic premise was that American soldiers should be considered no better or worse than Nazis, and that we should not support them as they were being deployed to Iraq.

The Challenge: My objective was to rapidly write and get published a fact-based rebuttal to Rall’s screed against the U.S. military, and its command leadership.

The Result: My rebuttal was published in place of Rall’s usual space on the inside back cover of the weekly paper, and inspired a steady stream of pro and con letters to the editor. Excerpt:

“In regards to Rall’s “good German” comment, applying this concept to our troops, and America’s heritage, is about as close to national blasphemy as I can imagine. The Nazis were determined to conquer the world, while exterminating “undesirables” such as Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, etc. When the Nazis marched into Poland and began murdering its citizens, any “good German” who supported these acts of barbarism would be as guilty as those who committed them. So when Rall states that a “good German” wouldn’t want the Nazis “to win or to lose,” this means that this person sit on the fence, watching as his/her military goes on a brutal rampage, in the hope that the world will sits by, holding peace marches, and that eventually, the Nazis conquer enough territory and peoples to be placated, without first being defeated by the Allied forces.”

See the complete project profile here.


(2.9) My “Support Our Troops” flyer

Background: In April 2003, I observed the vile way in which activist minorities in Charlottesville, VA were protesting America and its military leadership, in our efforts to force Iraq to comply with U.N. resolutions to which it agreed, twelve years earlier. These protests included: Traffic-blocking, vulgarity-laced demonstrations; Placards that likened America’s military to Nazis and murderers, and claimed President Bush is a war criminal. Soon after, I learned that the University of Virginia’s ROTC office had been vandalized by “peace” protesters.

My challenge: In addition to other work I was doing to support the US military, on a volunteer, often self-directed basis, I wanted to create a simple, efficient means by which to help inform Americans how to send gifts, notes and care packages to soldiers on deployment.

The result: I produced this flyer, printed up 500 copies of it, and began distributing it. As fast as I distributed them, however, anti-US military fanatics began throwing them away or defacing them, so I printed up even more. The controversy was eventually the subject of a profile of my work by Charlottesville’s NBC-TV affiliate.

Jon Sutz Support Our Troops… by jonsutz

See the complete project profile here.


(2.10) My work to help expose a top-5 US university that was facilitating speaking engagements by anti-American monsters during the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 attack

I never publicly shared this flyer I created in 2006, until now. But as we approach the one-year mark of the 10/7 attack, and observing how comprehensively the information war is being lost to anti-freedom, anti-American, anti-Semitic monsters, I am including it in this roundup of my work to defend America — and Israel. – JS, September 30, 2024

Background: In the late summer of 2006, I became aware that a controversy was quietly brewing at the University of Virginia, consistently ranked as one of America’s top-five public institutions of higher learning.  The nature of the controversy were rumors that two academic groups, in conjunction with outside groups, were arranging for speeches over days just before and after the 9/11+5 commemoration period by anti-freedom, anti-American fanatics: former Iranian president Mohamed Khatami, and former New Jersey Poet Laureate Amiri Baraka.  Although I am not formally affiliated with UVa, I lived in Charlottesville, VA at he time, about 2 miles away from the school, and was in fact drawn here from far away, after teaching myself American history, and becoming extremely inspired by Thomas Jefferson, the school’s founder, and how he described the area.  After confirming that the rumors were indeed correct — and that these academics were violating the schools protocols in order to invite and host these speakers, I became motivated to see if I could identify and help the students, professors and administrators who wanted to expose it.

My challenge: After establishing contact with the handful of UVa-related persons who were organizing a protest, we determined that a petition would be helpful in acting as a central repository for evidence about why these speeches violated UVa’s policies, and were an outrage, given what America suffered at the hands of such anti-freedom extremists, only five years earlier.  As I began to consider how to write and design such a petition, I realized that one particular challenge would be to do so in a way that punctures the veil of “political correctness” that often prevents criticism of anti-American extremists, when they are persons of color, or Muslim.  The key, to me, was to provide the evidence, up front, that’s formatted in a way that even a child can understand it. Towards this end, I contributed significant portions of data and on-site photography to this documentation blog.

The result: In less than ten days, I created this petition flyer draft, that could be used in both online and printed efforts, to frame the need for corrective actions by UVa’s leadership. Unfortunately, the ad hoc UVa group with which I was affiliated felt that the situation had gotten too hot, and decided to only do a live protest with placards, etc., but not draw in the larger community.

Petition re Khatami & B… by jonsutz


(2.11) My “2024 Fact Check” series of infographic reports

Background: Since I became politically aware in 1990, and a champion of liberty, soon thereafter, I have been extremely frustrated with the disconnect between vital facts about vital civic issues, and the general public — particularly during presidential election campaigns.  The loftiest “news” organizations engage in verbal sparring with candidates over important issues, but there is precious little evidence presented — least of all in a format that the average American can understand, or validate as accurate.  In response, in 2012 and again in 2020, I created infographics-based reports that I tried to the hands of those who could make the most use of them, to inform the public of the most important issues facing Americans.  I was not successful.

My challenge: In October 2024, I was beyond frustrated, for the same reasons as before, but also for reasons unique to this election season (specifically, the fact that America was facing the greatest Constitutional crisis in our history — the coup that replaced the legitimate Democrat nominee with another, and the media’s complicity in facilitating it).  So, from October 6 onward, I began producing and publishing one infographic report each day, addressing issues that I believed the American people needed to be aware of, prior to entering the voting booth.

The result: This time, I was much more successful. See the Complete directory to 2024 Fact Check infographic reportsOn two occasions (regarding these reports), my reports were featured on “Hannity,” consistently the most-watched prime time news talk show on cable TV. Here is the 2-minute clip of the second of these incidents, which of course thrilled me:


(3) Israel

Since 2008, I’ve done a wide variety of work to champion and defend Israel, amid an escalating avalanche of lies and incitement.  This work ranges from social entrepreneurship to journalism, rapid-response infographics to documentary production. See a comprehensive breakdown of this work at My work for Israel.

Here is some of the work I’m most proud of, and which has earned the most acclaim:

(3.1) ILoveIsrael.me

(3.2) Infographic report: It’s time to stop the lie that “Hamas doesn’t represent the Palestinian people” (February 2024)

(3.3) Infographic: Demolishing a false Reuters story about the killing of an IDF officer at the Lebanon border (2010)

(3.4) Infographic: “The Money Trail” (2013)

(3.5) Documentary: “The Huffington Post’s Anti-Semitic Bias and Incitement During the Third Intifada” (2016)

(3.6) Mini-documentary: “Which Abbas?”

(3.7) Report: “Exposing the NY Times’s latest blood libel against the IDF & its research unit”

(3.8) Report: “The LGBT filmmaker boycott of Israel is anti-Semitic and hypocritical”


(3.1) ILoveIsrael.me

Background: Over the course of more than ten years collecting many thousands of links about what makes Israel such an amazing, inspiring, humane nation – but for which I had no practical application. The reason I began collecting these links, aside from my general admiration for Israel, was that I could find no online resource that contains carefully-curated, meticulously-organized materials about Israel, that enables the general public, especially adolescents, to easily navigate, and dig as deep as they want into key subject matter. Neither could I find a resource that enabled an average person to locate and share such resources, on a moment’s notice, whether at a cocktail party or academic environment, to establish the reality of Israel, and refute the lies, with rock-solid evidence.

My challenge: I pitched the idea for such a singular, go-to resource to numerous philanthropists and think tanks, but got no backing. So I set about creating this resource on my own. From 2019-2021, I worked my way through the volumes of unsorted links I’d compiled, and completed the basic content architecture of the site, and develop the framework from which to pitch the project as a crowdfunding nonprofit-in-formation.

The result: I unveiled my ILoveIsrael.me site in October 2021, along with this 12-minute video about the project, which took an entire year to write, design and produce. The crowdfunder failed. I am now preparing a new way to develop the project (September 2024).


(3.2) It’s time to stop the lie that “Hamas doesn’t represent the Palestinian people”

Background: Since the 10/7 attack, I observed President Biden, Secretary of State Blinkin, the UN and various top US news organizations and Western leaders claim, “Hamas doesn’t represent the Palestinian people.” They insinuated that Hamas is to broader Palestine what he Ku Klux Klan is to Christian America: a weird, violent, ultra-fringe group of nutballs. They said these things despite repeated surveys of Palestinians, by Palestinian research organizations, that consistently show overwhelming majority support for Hamas, and its 10/7 attack, and its intent to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. Unfortunately, I saw no news organization or activist group creating knowledge tools to expose these lies — which were being used as a pretext to promise to spend tens of billions of Western taxpayer dollars to build a Palestinian “nation,” that they claim will not be ruled by Hamas.

My challenge: I wanted to convert the essential clash between this lie, and the reality, in a visualization-based knowledge tool that anyone — even the indoctrinated college students who actually believe Hamas is the good guys — could understand.  In late 2023 I pitched the idea to several news organizations and think tanks, but got no takers.  By February 2024 I got so frustrated that I went ahead and created this knowledge tool, on my own.

The result: I published this slide show on February 29, 2024. It, and select slides from within it, have been shared by a small group of influencers, primarily on X. See the full report at: It’s time to stop the lie that “Hamas doesn’t represent the Palestinian people.”


(3.3) Infographic: Demolishing a false Reuters story about the killing of an IDF officer at the Lebanon border (2010)

Background: On August 3, 2010, Reuters reported that an IDF officer was killed by the Lebanese military after he ordered his unit to cross the Israeli border into the Hezbollah-dominated nation, in an offensive maneuver. The reality was the entire incident occurred on Israel’s side of the border, and that the officer was assassinated by a Lebanese military or Hezbollah sniper.

My challenge: In the following days, the IDF responded with a crude map showing where the incident actually occurred.  I felt this tool was inadequate to refute Reuters in front of the general public, so I reached out to the IDF’s spokesperson’s office, and to create a single-frame infographic that presents a definitive depiction of what actually happened, when, and how, in sequence. I didn’t hear back as quickly as I hoped, and opted to seize the moment and produce what I was envisioning, before the murder faded into memory.

The result: Although I never heard back from the IDF, I learned that my infographic had been distributed through back channels to the major “news” organizations that perpetrated this fraud. It also proved helpful in opening doors for me within the pro-Israel and Jewish philanthropic worlds.

See the complete project profile here.


(3.4) Infographic: “The Money Trail” (2013)

Background: I first became active in fighting the lies that incite terrorism against Israel and Jews in 2007-2008, but it wasn’t until around 2011-12 that I learned about the Palestinian Authority’s use of US and other Western taxpayers’ money to indoctrinate and militarize children. Although there were numerous resources on the Internet about this phenomenon, I soon realized that I was not alone in my prior ignorance of the matter. I attribute this to the research I did that showed none of the top-tier American Jewish nonprofits were even trying to alert the general public to the fact that money forced out of their paychecks was being given to people who were turning children into what amounted to young Nazis.

My challenge: I wanted to create a definitive, go-to resource that would enable anyone, anywhere to learn about not only Palestinian child-indoctrination and -militarization, but the price that victims of their attacks, and their families, suffered.  A philanthropist with whom I’d become acquainted agreed to provide me with a modest initial budget, through the nonprofit Middle East Forum, to think through, design and produce version 1.0 of this resource. My only condition was that I had to perform this work anonymously, for reasons I will explain to qualified inquirers.

The result: I decided that this resource needed to consist of a website filled with evidence, and some short video documentaries of the victims of Palestinian child terrorists, particularly those who throw rocks at cars driven by Jews. I named the website The Truth About Palestinian Rock-Throwing, and produced two videos about the victims of rock-throwing — and how often the “news” media either whitewashed or ignored these stories:

The Wadi’a Maswadah Hoax (7:30)

2010 E. Jerusalem Ambush-Hoax (6:30)

After all this work was done, I felt there was a need for a super-simple, one-graphic-frame summary of the entire situation was needed, so I created this:


(3.5) Documentary: “The Huffington Post’s Anti-Semitic Bias and Incitement During the Third Intifada” (2016)

Background: In the fall of 2015, Palestinians in the West Bank began a series of terrorist attacks on Jews. As it had been doing for years, the Huffington Post, at the time one of the world’s most influential, ad-supported news sites, began once again acting as a mouthpiece for Islamist terrorist organizations, to incite global rage against Jews and Israel, particularly among young people. And as I’d observed for years, top-tier Jewish organizations were loathe to stand up to HuffPost; in fact, the heads of several of the most prominent of these nonprofits actually wrote free editorials for the site, despite my informing them of the documentation I’d amassed of its incessant anti-Semitic bias and incitement.

My challenge: At this time, I was the consulting editor and videographer of an activism site, SaveTheWest.com, and pitched to the owner an idea for a documentary that would comprehensively expose HuffPost for its lies and anti-Semitism. My pitch was greenlit, funded in part by the Millstein Foundation. Over five months, I wrote, designed and self-produced this documentary, and an array of evidence-rich resource pages to support every allegation.

Result: My 44-minute documentary was published on March 1, 2016.  It was hailed by the watchdog group CAMERA, author Melanie Phillips, terrorism analyst & professor Ryan Mauro, and other notable figures, as depicted in this 2-minute video. Excerpts:

  • “This forensic debut video… details the systematic way in which the Huffington Post whitewashes Palestinian terrorism, dehumanises its Jewish victims and incites hatred against Israel. A sobering analysis which sheds valuable light on the deranged prejudice against Israel and the Jews now endemic in the West.”
    – Melanie Phillips
  • “This documentary… is both chilling, and a work of art.  It provides evidence of what appears to be Huffington Post’s intentional misrepresentation and distortion of events in Israel.  […] By the end of the documentary, Arianna Huffington’s proclamations about the Post’s commitment to objectivity and providing quality news coverage lie in tatters.”
    – Steve Stotsky, Senior Research Analyst, CAMERA

Also see trailers 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Here is the full version:

Learn more about the film at:

My documentary about HuffPost anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist bias and incitement

Script & resources: “The Huffington Post’s Anti-Semitic Bias and Incitement During the Third Intifada”

I also produced several slide shows that contain key source evidence (more documentation here):

(1) This slide show exposes how HuffPost showers personalized, graphic, name-specific global sympathy on Palestinians who allege — without proof — they were victims of unprovoked Israel aggression:

(2) This slide show illustrates some of the (proven) Jewish victims of the Third Intifada, not one of which HuffPost gave any coverage to:


(3.6) Mini-documentary: “Which Abbas?”

Background: In early 2014, Western news organs began gushing over Palestinian Authority dictator Mahmoud Abbas finally acknowledging that the Holocaust was “a heinous crime.” I observed this with mixed feelings, given that these same news organs seem to do everything possible to avoid all mention of Abbas’s use of Western taxpayer donations to incite the mass murder of Jews, and to financially reward terrorists and their surviving family members, after they perpetrate anti-Semitic attacks. Although I am not an expert on these matters, I created a brief proposal to see if I could get institutional support to write and produce short documentary that would expose this blood-drenched hypocrisy, and how the news media was depicting Abbas in a gauzy-lensed way.  My proposal was rejected, in part because I was told by several “insiders” that if I did too good of a job of exposing Abbas, his “government” might collapse, and the replacement could be far worse for Israel.

My challenge: I opted to self-produce the documentary I envisioned, as quickly as possible, and to try get it into the hands of the growing ranks of pro-Israel “influencers” who might help it reach a broad audience.

The result: I wrote, designed and produced this 9-minute documentary about this issue, and published it anonymously. Unfortunately, few influencers were willing to share the video, I assume for the same general reason why I could not get it funded: out of a pragmatic wish to keep “the devil we know,” rather than to disrupt the status quo.

As a follow-up, I also produced this item for The Gatestone Institute, under the same pseudonym, “John Ryan”:

Eight Crucial Questions for Abbas (and One for President Obama)


(3.7) Report: “Exposing the NY Times’s latest blood libel against the IDF & its research unit” ()

Background: For roughly ten years, I’d been observing and in some cases, documenting news organizations’ bias and incitement against Israel, with particular emphasis on HuffPost. I still was reluctant to believe that the NY Times, supposedly the unchallenged pinnacle of objective journalism, the model that others sought to follow, would stoop so far as to engage in similar behavior.  On May 8, 2020, however, I saw an NYT Tweet, framing a news story, it produced, which opened by claiming: “The Israeli Defense Ministry’s research-and-development arm is best known for pioneering cutting-edge ways to kill people and blow things up.”

My challenge: At the time this incident occurred, I was already deep into developing an information-packed resource page for my ILoveIsrael.me site: Israel’s humanitarian benevolence – even for enemies. Sections 2 and 3 on that page documents some of the super-human, little-known lengths to which the IDF goes to figure out how to protect innocent civilians, even when terrorists are using them as human shields (or they are acting in that capacity voluntarily). I became determined to use the best of these materials to construct a rebuttal to the NY Times that would be unlike anything I’d seen before. I pitched the idea to the owner of the site I edited at the time, SaveTheWest..com, and the got the go-ahead.

The result: My report was published on , and was shared by numerous Israel supporters around the world on social media, and beyond:

Exposing the NY Times’s latest blood libel against the IDF & its research unit


(3.8) Report: “The LGBT filmmaker boycott of Israel is anti-Semitic and hypocritical” (March 2020)

Background: In early 2020 I became aware of a boycott campaign against an an Israeli LGBT film festival, that had been organized by LGBT actors, directors, producers & artisans. Their central allegation was that the Jewish state oppresses Palestinians, and thus does not deserve to host such a festival.  At the time news of this boycott emerged, I was nearing completion of this resource page for my ILoveIsrael.me site: Israel’s LGBT inclusion & protection., which documents in great detail the fact that Israel is the only nation in the entire Middle East in which the LGBT community is able to live in equality, freedom, dignity and protection.

My challenge: Even though I am straight, as a staunch Israel defender I felt an obligation to use my skills and research to set the record straight about the mind-boggling hypocrisy and double-standards these film artists employ.  I pitched the idea to the owner of the site I edited at the time, SaveTheWest..com, and the got the go-ahead.

The result: Because I had already done so much of the research for my ILoveIsrael.me project, this report only took a few weeks for me to produce, and was published on :

The LGBT filmmaker boycott of Israel is anti-Semitic and hypocritical


(4) Children

I endured an extremely traumatic childhood and early adulthood, and am lucky to have survived. As I matured, and my multimedia design and writing skills developed, I contributed my creativity to projects that benefit children, especially those who suffered as a result of intentional and negligent acts by adults, but also to those who suffer medical maladies.

(4.1) “Visiting Musicians”

(4.2) “Project Nehad”

(4.3) Facebook suspended me for mocking Palestinian terrorists who use children as human shields


(4.1) “Visiting Musicians”

Background: After enduring several medical tragedies, my mother, a retiree in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, also suffered a physical disfigurement about which she felt great embarrassment. She wanted to continue her volunteer activities, but on a more limited, shut-in basis.

My challenge: To create something for my mother that would allow her, in her limited capacity, to do something she felt was worthwhile, on her own. After suggesting that she read the iconic career planning book, What Color Is Your Parachute?, we discovered that she was particularly passionate about children and music. The question then became, with this knowledge, what could I create that would satisfy both her desires, yet not exceed her limitations?

The result: I created “Visiting Musicians,” a means by which my mother could recruit local musicians to play for and with serious and terminally ill children, at the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. Of the musicians that my mother (and I) recruited for this effort, one wrote a poignant letter (featured at link below) of how his experience influenced his life, and work.

See the complete project profile here.


(4.2) “Project Nehad”

Background: In 2014-15, as ISIS overran northwest Iraq and southeast Syria, destroying the ancient Yazidi population and taking tens of thousands of young girls as rape slaves, I learned that a social media friend, Steve Maman, had been working behind the scenes to create a rescue network. One of his success stories was Nehad Barkat, who was taken captive at age 15, and traded among top ISIS commanders. Although she was finally safe, one can only imagine the trauma she endured, and the services she’d need to heal.

My challenge: At the time, I was living in Charlottesville, VA, one of the most naturally beautiful areas of America, which was surrounded by big, beautiful ranches.  As a visualization-oriented person, it was very easy for me to imagine how Nehad might value being able to walk these one of these ranches, by herself or with a horse, in complete serenity and peace. Having suffered severe abuse and neglect as a child, helped enable me to also imagine what a young lady in her position might need, considering what she’d just been through — the medical and counseling help and services.

The result: I persuaded a friend who owned a beautiful nonprofit horse ranch Charlottesville, VA, Legacy Mustang Preservation, to extend an invitation to Nehad, through Steve. I then created a quiet, private, invitation-only resource to solicit professional service volunteers to help Nehad, and ideally, other rescued Yazidi females — including physicians, dentists, psychologists, etc., which I called “Project Nehad.” Ultimately, Nehad was able to relocate to Australia with her remaining family members, before my plan matured, but below is the link to the page I created — which was private, until September 2024.

See the complete project profile here.


(4.3) Facebook suspended me for mocking Palestinian terrorists who use children as human shields

Background: For many years, Israeli military leaders and diplomats have been providing proof and testimony of the fact that Hamas systematically uses human shields, including women and children. For those who aren’t familiar with this concept, these Islamist terrorists build their weapons bunkers, and position their rocket launchers and command and control centers, within civilian population centers — including beneath, beside and atop Gaza homes, hospitals, mosques and schools. No matter how much evidence is provided, however, the international “news” media consistently downplayed or outright denied this fact, which only served (and continues to serve) to assist, embolden and protect Hamas terrorists — and to perpetuate their use of human shields. Finally, in late 2024 and early 2015, Hamas was caught red-handed, and finally admitted, openly, that they do use human shields:

The problem I saw was that while this reporting was good, the story never reached mainstream consciousness, and this frustrated me beyond words. I became determined to do something that would help solve this.

My challenge: As noted elsewhere, whenever possible, I enjoy packaging vital evidence in funny ways.  So at some point in the spring of 2015, I shared the above stories on Facebook, in the context of a satirical exchange between a Hamas terrorist about to fire rockets into Israel, and the children he’s using as human shields.

Terrorist: “C’mon kids, let’s go shoot off some rockets at the Jews!!!”

Children: “But uncle, won’t they shoot back? Won’t we get hurt, or killed?”

Terrorist: “Well duh, that’s kind of the point, Ahmed. If they fire back, and you get killed, we know the ‘news’ media that we allow in here will show your mangled corpses to the world, and claim that the rotten Zionists are murdering innocent Muslim children again.”

The result: I wrote that post fast, published it, and never thought about it again — until three years later, when Facebook suspended me for it, claiming I’d violating its “community standards.” I shared the facts with a journalist I knew at the Daily Caller, who did some research and ran with the story. As mentioned at the end of the article, soon after the Daily Caller article was published, Facebook apologized, said it took this action against me “upon receipt of reports that the content violated the site’s community standards,” claimed my ban was a “mistake,” and restored my account.

FB Suspends User Critiquing Martyrdom, The Daily Caller, March 10, 2018. Excerpt:

Facebook suspended a user in March for critiquing Palestinians who force their kids to fire rockets at Israel.

Blogger Jon Sutz of Save the West found himself the target of a one-week Facebook suspension for a post he made satirizing Palestinian martyrdom, according to information he sent to The Daily Caller News Foundation. Sutz’s post consisted of a parody dialogue between a Palestinian terrorist and his nephews, who are reluctant to shoot rockets at Jews.

“C’mon kids, let’s go shoot off some rockets at the Jews!!!” begins the uncle in Sutz’s hypothetical dialogue.

The kids say, “But uncle, won’t they shoot back? Won’t we get hurt, or killed?” to which the uncle responds, “Well duh, that’s kind of the point, Ahmed. If they fire back, and you get killed, we know the ‘news’ media that we allow in here will show your mangled corpses to the world, and claim that the rotten Zionists are murdering innocent Muslim children again.”

Facebook suspended Sutz with a probationary 30-day ban should he violate the social media company’s community standards again.

“My satirical post was based on verifiable facts,” Sutz told Facebook using the feedback feature for his suspension. The blogger linked to three articles, which included descriptions of Hamas’ launching of rockets from civilian regions and reported use of children as human shield[s].

A Facebook spokeswoman told TheDCNF that a member of Facebook’s review team mistakenly deleted Sutz’s post and suspended his account upon receipt of reports that the content violated the site’s community standards. Facebook had restored Sutz’s post, restored access to his account, and apologized to the Save the West blogger, the spokeswoman noted.


(5) Dogs

I am not just a fan of dogs, I view them as a gift to humanity, that when closely observed, make us better people. My life was transformed by one dog in particular, the first I had as an adult, all on my own, whom I adopted as a traumatized 11 week old soon after 9/11.  All of my activism for dogs since then has been inspired by, and in loving tribute to my Shayna (d.2014):


Contents

(5.1) HEATKILLS.us: The only world-class website that is 100% dedicated to help prevent dogs from suffering in hot cars

(5.2) ShaynasList.com: A website seedling that will help dog parents avoid scams, and become smarter product and service consumers

(5.3) Dog-U.com: A concept I’ve developed for a new approach to dog training


(5.1) HEATKILLS.us

Background: Dogs throughout America and the world suffer unimaginable agony, irreversible organ damage, and even die, as a result of being left in hot cars. In most cases, this occurs because dog owners (and observers) are unaware of the danger of leaving them in a car, even on a seemingly “cool” day, and even if the windows are left partially open.  After observing and documenting on video dozens of such incidents in Central Virginia in 2012-13, I searched online to try to find a website that contained reliable information about the heatstroke danger to dogs, presented in a simple manner, but was unsuccessful.

My challenge: The absence of such a site inspired me to think through what an ideal one might look like, and the kinds of knowledge tools that I could create for it, to help solve this problem. The more I talked to police and animal control officers, and veterinarians, the more I began to realize how widespread the problem is, and how such a site could save dogs’ lives.

The result: In 2013-14, I designed the core visual assets and content architecture for what would become HEATKILLS.us. Learn about the site’s evolution, how widely it’s been cited around the world, and its assets utilized by police departments and others, at:

About HEATKILLS

Update: In July 2023, Psychology Today produced a feature about HEATKILLS.us, my creation of it, and the heatstroke danger to dogs.


(5.2) ShaynasList.com

Background: Starting soon after I became a dog “dad,” for the first time, I became aware of how those without experience — or discerning shopping skills — can be, and are being taken advantage of and manipulated by a variety of product retailers and service providers. After discovering one industry-wide scam in particular, I began interviewing veterinarians who had publicly expressed dismay about what was happening, and began thinking through how to help address it.

My challenge: I became determined to create the kind of website that would have helped me early on, and to avoid spending a small fortune on things that were (a) unnecessary, (b) unwise, or (c) actually dangerous for my dog.

The result: Although ShaynasList.com is just a seedling at the moment, featuring the general problems that I intend for the site to address.  Behind it is a proprietary model for executing my challenge in a simple and efficient manner, that I’ve been developing for several years. I anticipate that 2025 will the formal debut of my site, and its unique model. The dedication I wrote for the site (at end here):

“Through Shayna’s List, I want her name to always be associated with something positive for her dog friends – and those who, like me, become passionately dedicated to doing the best we can to ensure their health, happiness and longevity.”


(5.3) Dog-U.com

[Coming]


 

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