Since emerging in America from seemingly out of the blue in 2020, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) has become one of the trans-Atlantic establishment’s most effective tools for censoring online speech. Its founder, Imran Ahmed, has nurtured close ties with the Biden White House since moving to Washington DC, targeting its political enemies with calls for their removal from social media. Back in his hometown of London, Ahmed was an influential advisor to the neoliberal wing of UK Labour, helping sabotage the leftist insurgency of Jeremy Corbyn and place his ally, Keir Starmer, in charge of the party.
Ahmed has been embroiled in controversy since journalists Paul D. Thacker and Matt Taibbi published internal CCDH documents showing he held private meetings with influential Democratic lawmakers throughout 2024 to advance a plan to “kill Elon Musk’s Twitter.” The billionaire Twitter/X owner and his allies in president-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle retaliated by accusing the British operative of violating laws against foreign interference in American politics.
However, internal CCDH emails obtained by The Grayzone reveal that while Ahmed nurtures ties to the Labour government in Britain, the self-styled “anti-hate” campaigner also enjoys a secret, “collaborative” relationship with a rogue foreign government whose leadership currently stands accused of genocide by the International Court of Justice, and is wanted for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.
In an email dated June 12, 2024, Ahmed thanked Efrat Hochstetler, the Public Diplomacy Counselor of the Israeli Embassy in the US, for his “continued support of [CCHD’s] work.” He then introduced himself to Marco Sermoneta, Israel’s consul general in San Francisco, to “emphasize the importance of our collaborative efforts in combating hate and lies online.”
Ahmed appears to enjoy a working relationship with at least one figure who fits this mold. He is Trevor Chinn, a multi-millionaire British auto industry baron who is a top funder of Israel lobby activities in the UK.
As Paul D. Thacker and Matt Taibbi revealed, Ahmed emailed Chinn on June 4, 2024 – one day after he met with the Israeli embassy’s Hasson and Hochstetler – to set up a rendezvous. Copied on the email was Louise Jacobs, a British Zionist activist who serves on the Board of Governors of the Israeli government-controlled Jewish Agency for Israel.
Posing as a grassroots “social movement” composed of anonymous citizens concerned with misinformation, Ahmed’s group successfully knee-capped one of the most popular pro-Corbyn, antiwar outlets, The Canary UK, by organizing a boycott of its advertisers.
In 2021, CCDH registered as a non-profit in the US, and its founder settled down just a few blocks from the US Capitol in Washington DC with his new American wife. He quickly homed in on the enemies of the Biden White House, branding influential critics of its Covid restrictions as “The Disinformation Dozen,” and earning a shout-out from then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki as she successfully clamored for Facebook to ban their accounts.
CCDH’s report relied on the International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA)’s notoriously expansive definition of antisemitism, which equates condemnation of Israel’s discriminatory system of apartheid with hatred of Jews. Among the examples of antisemitism listed by the IHRA is, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” The definition has been exploited so rampantly by the Israel lobby, that its author, Ken Stern, complained that “right-wing Jews are weaponizing” his work.
Ahmed has made no secret of his far-reaching censorship objectives. He has disclosed to journalists his “five-year plan” to demonetize any content creator who engages in what CCDH defines as “hate speech.” As his report attacking pro-Palestine Facebook groups makes clear, he sees little distinction between expressions of “hate” and advocacy for the rights of Palestinians living under siege and bombardment.
What Ahmed has failed to tell the public is that his crusade to censor and punish online Palestine solidarity activism is an outcome of his secret collaboration with the state of Israel – and that it may have been financially incentivized by the Israeli government as well.