“We don’t need influencers who are complicit in genocide”: Pro-Palestine protesters confront Nas Daily at Japan meetup
Tokyo (Quds News Network)- A group of pro-Palestinian activists confronted popular Israeli-Palestinian vlogger Nuseir Yassin, better known by his social media name Nas Daily, at a meetup in Tokyo on Saturday, accusing him of being “complicit” in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Yassin organized the meetup for his fans and followers, where he was confronted by the activists.
“He’s not just another content creator, he’s a willing brutal tool of Israel’s propaganda machine,” one of the protesters said.
Others held up signs stating: “We don’t need influencers who are complicit in genocide” and “Jews for a free Palestine”.
In a widely shared clip, some of the meetup attendees can be seen shouting at the demonstrators, while others voiced their support.
“I came here for the event, but after listening to you and listening to him right now, I’m not on his side,” one of the event goers said on camera.
“Basic humanity is to not laugh when somebody’s dying. He’s making a joke out of it.”
Meanwhile, Yassin can be seen taking pictures with fans, and saying: “My country is Israel.”
‘Influencer’ Nas Daily has left Instagram after he couldn’t handle how embarrassing he looked like when a group of pro Palestinian protestors in Tokyo disrupted his meet up.
“Tokyo stands united for Plstine: Z*on*sts and normalizers are not welcome here” via palestinejapan (ig) pic.twitter.com/VCKwmALdMK
— Leyla Hamed (@leylahamed) October 15, 2024
Following the protest, Yassin released a video, saying that he was “excited to announce” that he had experienced his first pro-Palestine protest at a Nas Daily meetup.
“I told them I agreed with them. I also want a Free Palestine from Hamas. Free Palestine from terrorism. Free Palestine from radical religion,” he wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“They disagreed. They just wanted a Free Palestine from Jews.”
I am excited to announce that I had my first Free Palestine protest come to a Nas Daily meetup.
I told them I agreed with them. I also want a Free Palestine from Hamas. Free Palestine from terrorism. Free Palestine from radical religion.
They disagreed. They just wanted a Free… pic.twitter.com/OYuA9eRLNH
— Nuseir Yassin (@nasdaily) October 13, 2024
Palestinians of Japan, the group that organized the protest, said: “We believed that [Yassin’s] viewers clearly are interested in what’s going on in the world, but that Nas was depriving them of the truth.”
“In order to be globally informed, you have to know about the horrifying realities too, such as the live-streamed genocide in Palestine. So we came to not only protest him, but to educate people and raise awareness about what’s going on,” the group added in a statement to Middle East Eye.
Who’s Nas Daily?
Yassin is a travel content creator who amassed tens of millions of followers on social media by making one-minute video clips from around the world.
Yassin, identified himself as an Israeli-Palestinian instead of a Palestinian-Israeli, comes from Arraba, an Arab town in the Galilee, and has been frequently accused of whitewashing the Israeli occupation and presenting both sides as equal.
Meanwhile, he has defended himself as an advocate of peace and coexistence.
In a minute-long video about the creation of Israel in 1948, he claimed: “Some Palestinians left, some got killed and some stayed in their land. My people stayed.”
He added that he had chosen to accept the borders of Palestine and Israel and “move on” because “in life there are better and bigger things to focus on than the name of a piece of land”.
Following Hamas’s 7 October operation of Al-Aqsa Flood, the blogger stated his support for Israel, and said that he identified as an Israeli-Palestinian instead of a Palestinian-Israeli.
“Israeli first. Palestinian second. Sometimes it takes a shock like this to see so clearly,” he wrote.
“I do not want to live under a Palestinian government. Which means I only have one home, even if I’m not Jewish: Israel… Palestine should exist too as an independent state. And I hope to see the country thrive and become less extreme and more prosperous.”
In 2018, a day after 58 Palestinian protesters were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, Yassin stated: “If you stand with one side and one side only, you are wrong, because it’s not black or white.”
In 2020, the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement criticized Yassin’s search for 80 new Arab content creators, saying the training programme was a cover for normalization with Israel.
