Hen Mazzig
Hen Mazzig is an Israeli writer, speaker, and social media influencer. He is also a senior fellow at the Tel Aviv Institute.
Biography
Mazzig is a gay Mizrahi Jew of Iraqi and Tunisian descent, whose grandparents fled after the Farhud. He served in the Israel Defense Forces in a role coordinating between international organizations, Palestinians and the army. He spent time in the United States, working for Hillel International and StandWithUs, before returning to Israel, where he started a social media company.Activism
Mazzig has been a staunch defender of Israel during the Gaza war. He emphasizes the importance of careful word choice and framing in addressing Israel's actions. Mazzig co-founded the Tel Aviv Institute in 2019, an organization aimed at influencing younger audiences who are skeptical of traditional news media coverage and receive information from social media influencers. He started a movement in August 2020 to take over the antisemitic hashtag on Twitter, #JewishPrivilege, by encouraging Jews to tell personal stories of discrimination and abuse. Mazzig criticized a student Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions resolution passed at San Francisco State University in November 2020.In October and December 2023, Mazzig, among others, reshared a false post claiming that Palestinian babies killed by Israel during the Gaza war were actually dolls.
In 2025, Mazzig criticized the band Massive Attack, after they showed a clip of late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar walking in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip in a backdrop video at their show during the 2025 Lido Festival in Manchester. He accused them of "encouraging with Hamas" and incitement. The band responded by threatening to sue Mazzig for defamation, and defended the clip, which was cut with scenes from Jean Cocteau's Orpheus, as "placement and implicit tone of horrified lament; that an individual of power can take people down into hell". They also felt the criticism of the clip was selectively chosen from a broader montage of various issues and themes. Mazzig subsequently deleted the post.
Speaking
Mazzig spoke to the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies in December 2020, commemorating the exodus of 850,000 Jews from Arab lands after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. He was a panelist in 2020 with Arizona State Rep. Alma Hernandez, on antisemitism. He debated left-wing British commentator Owen Jones on Sky News in April 2024 regarding Israel's response to the Hamas-led October 7 attacks. CNN commentator Van Jones described Mazzig as "someone who respects opposing points of view".In 2018, The Forward reported that Mazzig had received payments from Israel's Government Advertising Agency during his 2017–2018 speaking tour of U.S. college campuses. The report suggested this arrangement could have required registration under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act. Mazzig denied any wrongdoing, explaining that his work for the government agency focused on combating discrimination. “The consulting that I gave to the was about fighting anti-Semitism,” he said in a phone interview. “I gave information about being attacked for being LGBT, being a Jew of color. That gives me the understanding of how to combat anti-Semitism, racism and LGBT phobia. And that was the consulting I gave to the agency.” No legal or regulatory action was reported to have resulted from the claims.