Global Voices » Israel

Israel: Increase in Racism Against African Asylum Seekers

Elizabeth Tsurkov — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:07:28 +0000

In the past few weeks two cases of rape of Jewish women by Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers have been reported in the Israeli media, prompting a new wave of racism against asylum seekers in Israel.

Israel is currently home to about 45,000 asylum seekers; over 80% of them are from Eritrea and Sudan, who are barred from gaining refugee status in Israel. Instead, the refugees receive a conditional temporary release, until their deportation is possible. Currently, since such deportation would endanger the lives of the asylum seekers, it is illegal according to both international law and Israeli law.

The Israeli government insists that the asylum seekers are in fact illegal economic migrants and refuses to grant them any rights. Top Israeli officials, including the Minister of Interior Eli Yishai and Prime Minister Netanyahu have consistently claimed that the refugees pose a demographic threat as well as a threat to Israel's national security.

Following the two incidents of rape, Yishai said in an interview that “most African infiltrators are are involved in crime” and stated that the solution would be to lock up all refugees and deport them. However, police statistics show that the general crime rate in Israel is more than double that of Africans in Israel.

Racist graffiti in Hativa neighborhood, southern Tel Aviv. The graffiti reads "Sudanese go home" and "Price tag". Photo courtesy of Alon Sherf.

Blogger Shooky Galili has written [he] about the government's policy of sending the refugees to the poorest neighborhoods of Tel Aviv the moment they get out of detention (which they enter after crossing the border with Egypt):

מבחינת המדינה הם היו שקופים מאז ומתמיד. לא ספרו אותם. אז זה לא מפתיע שדווקא במקום הזה מכל המקומות בחרה המדינה להשליך, כמו כלבים, מאות אפריקאים בכל שבוע. אלפי פליטים שאיש לא דאג להם ללבוש, מקלט, עבודה או שירותים רפואיים. ביניהם עריקים מצבאות אכזריים, אסירים נמלטים, מתנגדי ממשל, אנשים שיקיריהם נרצחו, עונו ו/או נאנסו לנגד עיניהם וסתם אנשים שברחו מרעב, אלימות ופחד, למקום שחשבו שהוא אנושי יותר.

As far as the state is concerned, it has always ignored them [residents of the poor neighborhoods in Tel Aviv]. It's not surprising that in this place of all other places the state chose to dump, like dogs, hundreds of Africans every week. Thousands of refugees who no one provided with clothing, shelter, food or medical services. Among them are defectors from cruel armies [Eritrean refugees], escaped [political] prisoners, dissidents, people whose dear ones were murdered, tortured and/or raped before their eyes, or just people who escaped hunger, violence and fear, to a place they thought would be more humane.

Sigal Rozen, a prominent refugee rights activist from the Hotline for Migrant Workers (whose employees last week received death threats for assisting refugees), described the consequences of this incitement:

For the residents of southern Tel Aviv, where most of the refugees are concentrated, official crime rates undoubtedly do not matter. Their subjective feelings of fear are understandable. The irresponsible statements of senior police chiefs, together with the media coverage of actual incidents and the speeches of ministers and MKs, lead the residents to believe that almost all Africans walking the streets are criminals. This belief, and the fact that the streets of their neighborhoods are indeed filled with African newcomers, leads residents of the neighborhoods to the painful conclusion that the authorities are abandoning them. But this discourse has dangerous implications. In the last month, the number of hate crimes carried out by Israelis against Africans has risen tremendously. Multiple Molotov cocktails were thrown into houses of Africans in southern Tel Aviv on two separate occasions, a week apart.

Professor Moshe Negbi wrote on the 7th Eye blog about the role of the Israeli media [he]:

חיוני להזכיר למנסחי הכותרות ולכתבי הפלילים כי סעיף 14 לתקנון האתיקה של מועצת העיתונות – שכותרתו “אפליה וגזענות” – אוסר לאזכר את שיוכו של עבריין או חשוד למגזר כלשהו, אלא אם יש לשיוך האמור קשר מובהק וברור לעבריינותו. […] ברור שהכותרות “אריתריאים חשודים בתקיפה בדרום תל-אביב” ו”אפריקאי חשוד בשוד” אף הן עבירות קשות על הסעיף האמור, משום שבאזכור מוצאו האתני של העבריין יש כדי להטביע אות קין במצחם של כל בני עמו או גזעו.

כאשר הדבר נעשה בהקשר לתקיפות מיניות, העבירה חמורה ומסוכנת שבעתיים, משום שהפחד מ”הזר האפל”, המאיים כביכול על תומתן של בנותינו, הוא חומר הבעירה הגזעני הקטלני ביותר. מקומם שעורכים וכתבים מזינים בניסוחיהם את חומר הבעירה הזה. לא למותר לציין כי 85% מהתקיפות המיניות לא רק שאינן מבוצעות על-ידי “זר אפל”, אלא אחראים להן מכרים, קרובים או מעסיקים של הנאנסות.

It is crucial to remind editors in charge of phrasing headlines and crime reporters that Article 14 of the Ethics Regulations of the Israeli Press Council - entitled “Discrimination and Racism” - forbids mentioning the association of a criminal or a suspect with any sector of society, unless the affiliation to this group has a direct and clear connection to his crime. […] It is clear that the headlines “Eritreans suspected of an assault in southern Tel Aviv” and “African suspected of robbery” are grave violations of the aforementioned article, because the mentioning of the criminal's ethnicity implicates the criminal's entire people or race.

When it comes to sexual assaults, the violation [of the Ethics Regulations] is much more severe, since the fear of the “dark stranger”, who supposedly threatens the innocence of our daughters, is the most deadly racist combustive material. It is outrageous that editors and reporters feed the fire of this combustive material with their reports. Needless to say, 85% of sexual assaults [in Israel] not only do not involve a “dark stranger”, but happen at the hands of acquaintances, relatives or employers of the rape victims.

Injury of Eritrean man attacked by two Israelis holding broken bottles and a knife. Photo by Sigal Rozen on Facebook.

Yossi Gurvitz, leading Israeli leftist blogger, commented:

When the Israeli media reports a rape by “foreigners,” it engages in dog-whistling. It informs its readership that something much worse than rape took place: the defilement of the blood and honor of the Jewish people, the defiling of the honor of a daughter of Israel.

On his blog Room 404, Ido Kenan reported on the racist comments [he] posted by some Israelis in response to police requests for help in locating a five-year-old Eritrean girl who went missing (and was later found) in southern Tel Aviv:

הסטטוס זכה ל-300 שיתופים ולתגובות אמפתיות, אבל גם לכאלו של שנאה, גזענות וחוסר רגישות.
Avishay Vas: “תבדקו בחניונים…אולי סודני תקף אותה…”

The status [by the police, notifying that the girl went missing] received 300 shares and sympathetic reactions, but also comments filled with hatred, racism and insensitivity.
[For example] Avishay Vas: Check in the parking lots…Maybe a Sudanese man assaulted her…

Quick to joke about anything, Israelis on Twitter also commented on the growing wave of racism toward Africans:

Ayelet quipped:

זה בדיוק מה שישראל היתה צריכה עכשיו, גזענות נגד שחורים.

@a_Daydreamer: This is exactly what Israel needs right now, racism against black people.

Erez Raviv joked:

למה פאניקה ? קצת גזענות, קסנופוביה, פערים וריקבון חברתי לא הרגו אף אחד. בייחוד יהודים

@Erez_Raviv: Why all the panic? A little racism, xenophobia, inequality and social decay never killed anyone. Especially Jews

Palestine: Agreement Made to End Prisoners' Hunger Strike

Jummana Kahlout — Mon, 21 May 2012 06:43:10 +0000

On May 14 over 2000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails ended their hunger strike after periods varying from 28 to 77 days. This decision to end their strike came after an agreement was reached between the Israel Prison Service (IPS) and the Palestinian committee in charge of prisoner affairs to ensure the basic rights of prisoners would be met.

The agreement came a day before the 64th Nakba Day on May 15, an annual day of commemoration of the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of Palestinian villages and cities following the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.

The agreement consisted of five main provisions:

The prisoners would end their hunger strike following the signing of the agreement; there will be an end to the use of long-term isolation of prisoners for “security” reasons, and the 19 prisoners [currently in isolation] will be moved out of isolation within 72 hours; family visits for first degree relatives to prisoners from the Gaza Strip and for families from the West Bank who have been denied visits based on vague “security reasons” will be reinstated within one month; the Israeli intelligence agency guarantees that there will be a committee formed to facilitate meetings between the IPS and prisoners in order to improve their daily conditions; there will be no new administrative detention orders or renewals of administrative detention orders for the 308 Palestinians currently in administrative detention, unless the secret files, upon which administrative detention is based, contain “very serious” information.

Awareness about the hunger strike reached a peak in the days before the agreement was announced. On Facebook there was a huge public display of support as thousands of users changed their profile picture in solidarity with the 2500 Palestinian prisoners. The pictures showed blindfolded Palestinians in prison uniform.

Solidarity on Facebook. Image posted by ‏@tounsiwaftakhir.

Additionally, almost instantaneous updates on the strike were provided on Twitter under the hashtag #PalHunger. Palestinian blogger and activist Linah Al Saafin confirmed that Thaer Halahleh, a prisoner on hunger strike for 77 days, ended his strike following the agreement:

@LinahAlsaafin: BREAKING: #ThaerHalahleh's father just called me; told me Thaer has agreed to end his hunger strike on the morning of 15/5 Tears #PalHunger

Nevertheless, only two days after the agreement there was a general call to continue supporting the hunger strike, because administrative detention had not ended. The director of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Sahar Francis, explained in an interview conducted by Electronic Intifada:

The success in this hunger strike doesn’t mean that the problem of the Palestinian political prisoners has reached an end, and they would be now living in perfect conditions, no. As well, the changes with administrative detention — until we get to monitor it on the practical level, we have to wait and see how it would work.

It is now apparent that a number of prisoners have resumed their hunger strike protesting Israel’s continued mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners, such as holding them in isolation.

Learning from the Palestinian hunger strikers: dignity first. Cartoon by Carlos Latuff.

Addameer provides constant updates on Twitter about prisoners. On May 17 it tweeted:

‏@Addameer_ps: Ahmad Sa'adat was taken out of isolation today after over 3 years and moved to Shatta prison

@Addameer_ps: As far as we know, there are at least 4 hunger strikers now: #MohammadTaj, #MahmoudSarsak, #AkramRikhawi & #MohammadAbdelAziz

@Addameer_ps: Because he's still on hunger strike, #MahmoudSarsak is not even guaranteed release date of 22 Aug (next date of judicial review)

An agreement may have been reached, but the Palestinian prisoners will not rest until their demands are met. They are ready to strike again if the agreement's terms are not implemented.

Israel: Mofaz Derided for Joining Unity Government

Elizabeth Tsurkov — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:24:06 +0000

Israel's biggest news story of recent months happened in the early hours of May 8: the head of the opposition and new chairman of the centrist Kadima party, Shaul Mofaz, agreed to join Benjamin Netanyahu's government, thus postponing the early elections Netanyahu had announced just days before.

The new unity government has 94 members out of 120 members of the Knesset. In exchange for joining the government, Mofaz was promised the title of a Minister Without Portfolio for the (non-existent) peace process with the Palestinians.

The surprising news came as the Israeli public was gearing up for early elections on September 4. The unity government is designed to ensure that the Netanyahu government will remain in power for the next 15 months, and will make it the first government in decades in Israel to complete its full term. Mofaz, who had at first insisted he would never join Netanyahu's government, was apparently worried about taking part in elections since all the polls predicted his party would greatly diminish in power.

Shaul Mofaz. Image posted on Flickr by Tzipi Livni (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Israelis turned to Twitter, Facebook and blogs to comment on the surprising news. Many of them referred to Mofaz's harsh criticism of Netanyahu up until the moment he entered the government under Netanyahu's leadership. For example, on March 3, Mofaz's official Facebook page posted:

תקשיבו טוב: אני לא אכנס לממשלה של ביבי. לא היום. לא מחר ולא אחרי שאעמוד בראשות קדימה ב-28 במארס. זו ממשה רעה, כושלת ואטומה וקדימה בראשותי תחליף אותה בבחירות הבאות. מספיק ברור?

Listen to me closely: I will not enter Bibi's [Netanyahu's] government. Not today. Not tomorrow and not after I head Kadima on March 28 [at the time he was competing against Tzipi Livni for the leadership of the party]. This is a bad and failed government that doesn't listen to the people, and Kadima under my leadership will replace it in the next elections. Is that clear enough?

Israeli journalist Tal Schneider wrote on her blog about the winners and losers of this deal. Listing Mofaz as a loser, she explained:

שאול מופז – התדמית הציבורית שלו תפגע קשות בעקבות ההחלטה להיכנס לממשלה עם שותף פוליטי אותו כינה לא מזמן “שקרן”. מופז בונה על הטמטום של ציבור הבוחרים, על הזכרון החלש של האנשים. אבל אחרי שהבטיח שהוא יוביל את המחאה של הקיץ, החלטתו הלילה להיכנס לממשלה הופכת אותו לקטן שבקטנים.

Shaul Mofaz's public image will be greatly harmed because of his decision to enter the government with a political partner he recently called a “liar”. Mofaz is counting on the stupidity of the voters, on the weak memory of the population. But after he had promised to lead the social protests during the summer, his decision tonight to enter the government makes him the smallest of the small.

Leading leftist blogger Yossi Gurvits commented on the implications of this move for the Kadima party:

Kadima, a party whose motto may well have been, “We took corruption out of Likud (and brought it to a new home),” also seems to be finished. Why would anyone vote for it again? During the 2009 elections, Livni managed to con the voters into believing she would prevent a Netanyahu government. Livni is out of office, but the party is now in Netanyahu’s lap. If Kadima was looking at 10 seats before Mofaz’s latest schtick, it has now sunk near the level of Ehud Barak’s Atzmaut party (which polls at zero seats).

Dr. Yuval Dror, a widely-read Israeli blogger, wrote:

מופז הוא ג'לי פוליטי: חסר צורה, חסר טעם, ריח או עמוד שדרה, תוצר של יועצים פוליטיים השמים בפיו משפטים ועמדות. הוא האפס הפוליטי המוחלט.
ב-2 לפנות בוקר, כנחש מתחת לקש, חתם האפס הפוליטי המוחלט על עסקה עם אותו שקרן כדי לקבל משרת שר ללא תיק, כדי להציל את עורו ואת עור חבריו ולתת להם עוד שנה וחצי ממנעמי השלטון. כניסתו של מופז לממשלה הפכה את ממשלת ישראל לממשלה הכי צינית בתולדותיה…

Mofaz is a political jello: shapeless, tasteless, spineless, a product of political advisers who put words in his mouth and tell him which positions to take. He is the complete political zero [meaning: worthless, pathetic].
At 2 AM, like a snake coming from under the hay, this complete political zero signed a deal with the same liar [Mofaz recently called Netanyahu a liar] to get the position of a Minister Without a Portfolio, to save his skin and the skin of his friends [Kadima members of the Knesset] and give them another year and a half of the benefits of government. The entry of Mofaz into the Government of Israel has made it the most cynical government in its history…

Amir Schiby posted this altered campaign banner for Mofaz, which in a few hours was shared on Facebook over 1,500 times:

Mock campaign banner. Image posted by Amir Schiby on Facebook.

The text reads:

Mofaz. Because everyone can piss from the springboard [Israeli saying that means showing complete disregard]. Shitting from it [on the public] is art.

Minister's chair. Image posted by Gil Osser on Facebook.

Gil Osser posted an image of a chair, with the text:

An unprecedented sale for members of the Kadima party:

Minister's Chair*

An orthopedic chair made of elephant skin, particularly suitable for the spineless. The chair moves forward [Kadima], backward, right and left and can be found in various colors.

Price: Principles | Payment method: 15 months [the length of time this government will remain in power thanks to the deal]

*The same model sold to members of HaAtzmaut Party in 2011.

Noy Alooshe, the Israeli musician behind Gaddafi's “Zenga Zenga” remix, produced a new remix of footage in which Mofaz proclaims Netanyahu is a liar:

While the overwhelming majority of reactions online were negative, blogger Tal Yaron disagreed. Yaron mentioned the agreement between Mofaz and Netanyahu, which stipulates that the new coalition will pass a law to draft the ultra-Orthodox to military/community service (which they're currently exempt from) and to institute changes in Israel's electoral system:

רבים מגנים את השינוי, אך אם אכן יקוימו שתי הבטחות אלו בלבד, הרי שהדבר יביא לשינוי משמעותי בחברה הישראלית. בעקבות הקואליציה החדשה שנוצרה, יש כיום רוב לגיוס חרדים. הליכוד+ישראל ביתינו+קדימה מהווים קואליציה של לפחות 70 חברי כנסת שיוכלו להעביר את החוק.
גם העברת חוק שינוי שיטת הבחירות יטיב עם מצבה של ישראל, בכך שיביא להקטנת כמות המפלגות המשתתפות במשחק הפוליטי ויגרום למירכוז השיח הפוליטי, להגברת המשילות ולהקטנת ההקצנה.

Many condemn this change, but even if only these two promises are kept, they will result in a significant change in Israeli society. As a result of the newly formed coalition, there is not a majority to enlist the ultra-Orthodox. Likud plus Yisrael Beiteinu [Lieberman's party] plus Kadima form a coalition of at least 70 members of the Knesset who can pass this law.
Changing Israel's electoral system will also improve Israel's situation, by reducing the number of political parties and centralizing the political discourse in Israel, increasing the ability to govern and reducing extremism.

Palestine: Mass Hunger Strike by Prisoners

Jummana Kahlout — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:25:12 +0000

Palestinian prisoners began an open ended hunger strike on April 17 to protest the conditions within Israeli prisons. What had started earlier as a protest by a few has now increased to thousands of participants (with figures varying between 1,400 and 3,000). Several of the prisoners who began their hunger strike earlier are now at risk of dying.

There are more than 4,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, and around 320 have been held without charge or trial under so-called administrative detention.

The situation in Israeli prisons has deteriorated over the years. The prisoners are demanding an end to solitary confinement, administrative detentions and punitive measures. Protests have taken place in the past, but this strike is different, following as it does the widely reported strike of Khader Adnan.

Blogger and journalist Joseph Dana wrote about Adnan's case in February:

Mr Adnan’s story is emblematic of the administrative detention experience of many Palestinians. He claims to have been beaten and humiliated by Israeli soldiers while in custody, and began his hunger strike in protest.

Freedom for Bilal Dhiab and all our prisoners. Image from Facebook page of We Are All Hana Shalabi.

Khader Adnan ended his hunger strike in February after 66 days, when the Israeli authorities agreed to release him on 17 April. Another prisoner, Hana Shalabi, ended a hunger strike after 40 days when she was exiled to Gaza for three years by the Israeli authorities.

In the current strike two prisoners, Bilal Dhiab and Thaer Halahleh, are at grave risk of death.

Information on the hunger strike and solidarity actions can be found at the Twitter hashtag #PalHunger.

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association based in Ramallah has been tweeting updates about the strike:

@Addameer_ps: In Ohalei Keidar prison, the 96 hunger strikers are all placed in solitary confinement cells, 2 prisoners to 1 cell. #palhunger

@Addameer_ps: 220 prisoners are on hunger strike in Ofer prison. #palhunger

@Addameer_ps: All 105 Palestinian prisoners in Eshel prison are on hunger strike #palhunger

@Addameer_ps: Hunger strikers in Naqab prison are being arbitrarily searched each day, including raids of their cells and body searches #palhunger

@Addameer_ps: Addameer currently estimating between 2,000 and 2,500 prisoners on hunger strike, but could be more #palhunger

Walaa Al Ghussein in Gaza tweeted:

@WalaaGh: My aunt's fiance is on his 20 day of hunger strike now, She is waiting him to get married,she don't want him to die! #PalHunger #Palestine

Activist Ali Abunimah ‏commented:

@AliAbunimah: Western media kept demanding “Palestinian Gandhis.” Now that 2000 political prisoners are on hunger strike they ignore. #PalHunger

Egypt: Should the Grand Mufti Have Gone to Jerusalem?

Tarek Amr — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 08:12:47 +0000

On April 18 Ali Gomaa, the Egyptian Grand Mufti and one of the highest religious authorities in the Islamic world, visited Jerusalem for the first time. The visit was controversial since it was seen by many as a step towards normalised relations with Israel, which captured the western part of the city during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and later on occupied the eastern part of it during the 1967 Six-Day War. According to Ahram Online, Osama Yassin, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Brotherhood's political party, called the visit “a total disaster and a blow to the national fight against normalisation with Israel that has been going on for years”.

Many in Egypt have criticised the Grand Mufti for his visit. Zeinobia commented on the fact that people from different political backgrounds in Egypt have finally agreed on something:

You can imagine the uproar in the Egyptian political scene after few hours of knowing about this visit. The nationalists, leftists and Islamists suddenly found something to agree upon at last.

Zeinobia also quoted presidential candidates such as Abdel Moneim Aboul-Fotouh [ar] and Hamdeen Sabahi [ar], as well as MP Essam Sultan [ar] of Al Wasat Party, who all criticised Ali Gomaa.

Grand Mufti in Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Photo shared by Twitter user @alhabibali

Some of the criticism focuses on the point that acquiring a visa from Israel is considered a form of normalisation and recognition of the state of Israel. But Gomaa said, “I did not go on an Israeli visa. It was all organized by the Jordanian authorities.”

Zeinobia elaborated:

Sheikh Ali Gomaa was invited to visit the Holy places in East Jerusalem by the Royal Jordanian family which till this day is supervising the Islamic Holy sites in Jerusalem. (A piece of information I had not known before that day.) He was accompanied by Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, King Abdullah’s cousin and his chief religious advisor. They were inaugurating the renovation of the Mughrabi Bridge, which leads into the courtyard of al-Aqsa mosque as well the Ghazli seat.

Khaled El-Baramawy tweeted:

@EgyPress: حتى الان لم استطع ان افهم اسباب زيارة المفتى للقدس.. صحيح لم تكن بتاشيرة اسرائيلية.. بس لازم يكون لها منطق اهداف.. لم اكون راي حتى الان !!

@EgyPress: Until now I cannot understand the reason behind the Mufti's visit to Jerusalem… It's true he didn't take a visa from Israel, but there should still be goals for the visit… I haven't formed a point of view so far!!

Tunisian Twitter user Tounsia Hourra mocked the Mufti's denial that he took an Israeli visa:
‏

@tounsiahourra: وهنا يقولك مفتي مصر زار القدس دون تأشيرة إسرائيلية لكن تحت اشراف السلطات الأردنية . يعني اسرائيل تنحت وسلمت الأمور للأردن ,إنه لفتح عظيم

@tounsiahourra: And there are those who say that the Egyptian Mufti visited Jerusalem without an Israeli visa as the visit was under Jordanian supervision. So Israel kept to one side and handed over authority to Jordan; what a great achievement!

Aboul Maali Faek still regards the visit as recognition of Israel:

فحينما تعترف إحدى مؤسسات الدولة الرسمية بما يسمى بدولة إسرائيل فهذا يعنى أن مؤسسة الإفتاء فى مصر قد أعطت شيكا على بياض للصهاينة بأن دولة إسرائيل لها الحق فى اغتصاب واحتلال دولة فلسطين،هذا الموضوع لا يحب أن يترك دون محاسبة سياسية.

When one of the official state inistitutions recognises the so-called state of Israel, then this means that Egypt's fatwa-issuing body has given a blank cheque to the Zionists, that Israel has the right to occupy Palestine. This is a subject that shouldn't be left without political accountability.

Ahmad Esseily, on the other hand, had a point concerning recognition:

@ahmadesseily: إعتراف إيه! همّ مستنيين إعترافنا؟ ماهم قاعدين في الأرض بقالهم 64 سنة! حيطلعوا يعني لمّا المفتي مايزورش القدس والمسيحيين مايحجّوش؟

@ahmadesseily: What kind of recognition are you talking about! Are they waiting for our recognition? They have already been sitting on that land for 64 years! Are they going to leave if the Mufti didn't visit Jerusalem, and Copts didn't go?

This brings us to the fact that Pope Shenouda III, the Pope and Patriarch of the Church of Alexandria, who passed away a few weeks ago, requested Copts not to visit Jerusalem until peace was established in the region. Aly Elshafei ‏asked people to compare the two stances:

@Ali2awi: علل ما يلي و فيما لا يزيد عن حدود الادب: البابا شنودة رفض يروح القدس، و جه المفتي هو اللي راح

@Ali2awi: One comment, keeping within the limits of good manners: Pope Shenouda refused to go to Jerusalem while the Mufti is the one who went there.

Nawara Negm joked in one of her tweets [ar] that the Mufti was waiting for the Pope to pass away before going there. According to Reem Al-Ashry things have changed for Copts since the Pope's death:

@MeeMMaa: بمناسبة زيارة المفتي للقدس.. أصدقاء مسيحيين لأول مرة سافروا القدس السنة دي بعد وفاة البابا.. وبيقولوا العدد اللي سافر معاهم كبير

@MeeMMaa: Regarding the visit of the Mufti to Jerusalem… Many of my Christian friends visited Jerusalem for the first time this year after the Pope passed away, and they said that a large number travelled with them.

Mahmoud Hussien tweeted [ar] that the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists were waiting for something like this, since they want to replace the Mufti with one of their own. Issandr El Amrani also expects they will call for him to be sacked:

He might also have known that the Islamist-dominated parliament would not be happy with this, and indeed there is now a move by Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood MPs to question him and possibly sack him (something that in theory is the prerogative of the president, or for now SCAF).

Emad Arab [ar] and Samar Ali [ar] both called for the Mufti to be sacked. Mourid El-Barghouti, Palestinian poet and author living in Egypt tweeted:

@MouridBarghouti: بهدوء شديد: لو كان المفتي مؤمناً أن زيارة القدس أمر جيد فلماذا امتنع عن زيارتها منذ احتلالها؟ ولو كان جاهلاً بعواقبها فهولا يستحق منصبه

@MouridBarghouti: Let's think about it calmly: if the Mufti believed that his visit to Jerusalem was a good thing, why did he decline to visit it since it was occupied? If he's not aware of the consequences of his visit then he doesn't deserve his position.

Al-Habib Ali Algafry is a Sufi scholar who also visited Jerusalem recently, and he congratulated [ar] the Mufti on his visit and on praying in Al-Aqsa mosque. The Saudi Islamic scholar Abdulrahman Al-Harfi attacked them both:

@aalharfi: زيارة الجفري ثم علي جمعة لإسرائيل هل هو تنسيق جديد بين “الصوفية الامريكية” و “الصهيونية”؟

@aalharfi: The visit of Algafry followed by that of Ali Gomaa to Israel; is it a new coordination between “American Sufism” and “Zionism”?

Monmon Salah commented [ar] that paying a visit to a prisoner is always useful to him and not to his jailers. As if she predicted this visit, Palestinian blogger Hanadi wrote a couple of months ago:

أدعو كل العرب والمسلمين الذين يحملون جوازات أميركية وبريطانية وأوروبية وغيرها من الجوازات التي لا تواجه مشاكل في دخول “إسرائيل”، أن يضعوا جوازاتهم في جيوبهم ويحزموا حقائبهم ويزورونا، أدعو المصريين والأردنيين إلى زيارتنا، أرجوكم لا تسموه تطبيعاً، أرجوكم، أنا وأنتم نكره اتفاقيات “السلام”، نعرف كلنا كذبة ووهم اتفاقية وادي عربة واتفاقية كامب ديفيد، لكن يا إخوان .. نحن نشتاق إليكم .. قاطعوا المنتجات الإسرائيلية.. قاطعوا الجامعات الإسرائيلية .. ولكن لا تقاطعونا.. نحن عرب مثلكم

I call on all Arabs and Muslims who hold American, British, European or any other passports that have no problem entering “Israel” to put their passports in their pockets, pack their bags, and pay us a visit. I call on Egyptians and Jordanians to visit us. Please don't call it normalisation. Please! You and I both hate the “peace” treaties, and we know the lies and the illusions of Wadi Araba and the Camp David accords, but brothers and sisters, we miss you. Boycott Israeli products, boycott Israeli universities, but don't boycott us; we are Arabs like you.

Israel: Tweeting the Passover Seder

Elizabeth Tsurkov — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:52:48 +0000

The Jewish holiday of Passover began on the night of Friday April 6, and millions of Israelis gathered with their family for the Seder, the traditional ritual feast. The feast is preceded by reading the Haggada, which (among other things) describes the Exodus of the People of Israel from Egypt. The Passover Seder is notorious for being lengthy, and if followed according to the rules, eating commences after hours spent around the dinner table, reading from the Haggada and singing. The Seder, which is traditionally done with the extended family, is also infamous, much like American Thanksgiving, as an occasion when one is forced to spend time with disagreeable family members.

Table set for the Passover Seder. Image by Gilabrand, Wikimedia Commons.

Israeli Twitter users, known for their sense of humor and cynicism, could be counted on to tweet their Passover Seder experiences.

Lior Oren wrote:

ואין כמו ערב פסח כדי לזכור כי יש אנשים שאין להם היכן לעשות סדר, הם בודדים בביתם. עם בירה. ולקנא בהם.

@alodium: There's nothing like the evening of Passover to remind you of the people who have no place to do the Seder, and they are lonely in their homes. With a beer [forbidden for consumption on Passover]. And be jealous of them

Rotem wrote:

הצעת חוק- כל ערב פסח, בין השעות שמונה לאחת עשרה כל הרציחות יוכרו כאי שפיות זמנית.

@rotemism: A law proposal - in each evening of Passover, between the hours of 8 and 11 pm, all murders will be recognized as a result of temporary insanity.

Avishay wrote:

עוד לא התחלנו וכבר 3 מתי תתחתן ו4 מה עם ילדים

@avishay_b: We haven't even started yet [the Seder] and I already got three “when will you get married?” and four “and what about children?”

Amir wrote:

השעה שמונה וחצי, ועדיין לא התחלנו. אני הולך להתנצר

@amirimon: It's 8:30 pm and we haven't even started yet. I'm going to convert to Christianity

Referring to the strict religious prohibition on consumption of leavened bread during the week of Passover, and the great effort religious/traditional Jews make to clean their homes and remove all bread prior to the start of the holiday, DKapuchino joked:

סבתא, מצאתי לך פרור לחם בתריסים. את הולכת לגהנום

@dkapuchino: Grandma, I found a bread crumb in the shutters. You're going to hell

Musician Mux 2000 reported:

שיכור. מפריע לסדר הציבורי לקול מחאות האורחים מהצד היותר רציני של השולחן

@mux2000: Drunk. Disturbing the public order to the sounds of disgruntlement of the guests at the more serious side of the table.

The blogger Gal Chen wrote:

יחסית לעובדה שהוא מותיר צלקות נפשיות למספר שנים, ליל הסדר ממש קצר

@galchs: Considering the fact that it leaves emotional scars for year, the Seder is really brief.

And, of course, there were the political tweets:

Noa Dror wrote:

לעולם לא אסלח למדינת ישראל על שהשניאה עלי את היהדות כה. חג אביב שמח וסגר נסבל לכולם.

@noa_dror: I'll never forgive the State of Israel for making me hate Judaism so much. Happy Spring Holiday [an alternative name for Passover] and a tolerable closure to everyone. [Each Passover, Israel enforces a complete closure of the occupied Palestinian territories]

There is a tradition of leaving an empty chair for Prophet Elijah at the Passover Seder table, to express the hope for his return along with the Messiah. In recent years, Israeli families added an empty chair for the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, to also signal the hope for his return. Referring to this practice, Journalist Yair Tarchitsky mocks the Israeli public for not caring about Ouda Tarabin, an Israeli Bedouin who is imprisoned in Egypt for accidentally crossing the border into Egypt.

מרגש לדעת שכמעט בכל בית בישראל השאירו הערב מסביב לשולחן הסדר כיסא ריק לעודה טרבין, הבן של כולנו

@yairtar: So moving to know that almost every home in Israel kept an empty chair at the table for Ouda Tarabin, the son of all of us [a common way of referring to Gilad Shalit]

Israeli blogger and social justice activist Haim Har-Zahav ‏wrote:

אני אף פעם לא אומר את המשפט של ״לשנה הבאה בירושלים הבנויה״, כי אני מקווה שאת הסדר הבא אעשה בישראל ולא בירושלים ‎‫#חי_בגיהנום‪‏

@haimhz: I never say the sentence: “Next year in Jerusalem” [which ends the Seder, signaling the Jews' hope to return to Jerusalem during Exile], because I hope that the next Seder I'll do will be in Israel, not Jerusalem [largely populated by ultra-Orthodox Jews]. #LivingInHell

And then there were the tweets discussing the non-stop tweeting of the Seder itself:

Dudi Rosenthal joked:

אישתי כמעט תפסה אותי מצייץ מתחת לשולחן. למזלי גיליתי תושיה ואמרתי לה שאני מאונן

@DudiRosenthal: My wife almost caught me tweeting under the table. Fortunately, I was resourceful and told her I was masturbating

Liron wrote:

עשרים אחוז אגדה. שישים אחוז אינסטגרם וטוויטר. עשרה אחוז ווטסאפ ואסאמאסים. עשרה אחוז לתקשורת עם הסביבה. תם הסדר

@liront: 20% Haggada. 60% Instagram and Twitter. 10% WhatsApp and SMSes. 10% communication with the people around me. The Seder has ended.

Iranians to Israelis: “We Are Your Friends”

Fred Petrossian — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:25:38 +0000

An Israeli Facebook campaign to say to Iranians “We will never bomb your country. We love you” has received an answer from Iranians in the form a corresponding Facebook campaign that says to Israelis, “We are your friends.”

Israeli Ronny Edry and his wife Michal Tamir started the initiative on the Facebook profile for Pushpin Mehina, a small school for graphic design students in Tel Aviv.

The campaign has captured a lot of attention on the internet and even Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper in English, wrote that the “online call for peace initiated by an Israeli couple has managed to achieve the support of 1,000 Israelis and Iranians. And it all began with two posters.”

Now Iranians are going an extra mile by pouring their photos and messages onto Facebook on a page called, ‘From Iran for Peace and Democracy‘.

Each photo begins with a first name, followed by: “Israelis, We do not want a nuclear Bomb, We want democracy and peace, we are your Friends.”

Here is Nima's message:

Happy Nowrooz! let it be the beginning of a new era!
We, Iranians, do not want a nuclear bomb!
We, Iranians, do not want a war!
We, Iranians, do not want an Islamic regime!
We, Iranians, do not want to support terrorist groups!
We want democracy!
We want peace!
We want respect!
We want freedom

A toast for peace

Here is Amir's photo:

… and a human rights activist

Ahmad Batebi is a former prisoner of conscience from Iran. During his studies at the University of Tehran he gained international fame for his appearance on the July 17, 1999, cover of The Economist magazine, holding up a shirt splattered with the blood of a fellow protester. Here is his photo.

Perhaps one day Iranains and Israelis can reap, in the real world, what they sowed in the virtual one.

Israel: “We Love Iranians”

Amira Al Hussaini — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:57:52 +0000

Paul Mutter blogs about the newest permutations of a social media campaign started over the weekend by two Israeli graphics designers that is called “We Love Iranians,” aimed at raising public awareness against the steady march to war the Likud government has been taking Israel on towards Iran. The meme, which uses cat pictures, has “gone viral” in Israel.

A Love Letter From Israel to Iran

Fred Petrossian — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 12:23:38 +0000

A message of love from Israelis to Iranians sounds stranger than fiction in these tense years where Iranian and Israeli governments threaten each other with any imaginable words.

But we see examples of just this in a Facebook campaign launched by Pushpin Mehina (real name Ronny) in his timeline that says: “We will never bomb your country. We love you.”

Israel considers Iran a potential nuclear threat to its existence. Meanwhile Iranian leaders claim that their nuclear program is peaceful, but also call for Israel to be wiped off the map.

Both Israelis and Iranians are now uploading photos of themselves with the logo saying either “Iranians We love You” or “Israelis We Love You” and it has attracted the attention of Israeli media.

For several people it is the first time they have communicated directly with either an Israeli or Iranian, and some Iranians voiced fears of repercussion from their government.

“I never met an Iranian”

Ronny from Tel Aviv in Israel writes:

To the Iranian people
To all the fathers, mothers, children, brothers and sisters. For there to be a war between us, first we must be afraid of each other, we must hate. I'm not afraid of you, I don't hate you. I don't even know you. No Iranian ever did me no harm. I never even met an Iranian… Just one in Paris in a museum. Nice dude… I see sometime here, on the TV, an Iranian. He is talking about war. I'm sure he does not represent all the people of Iran… If you see someone on your TV talking about bombing you… be sure he does not represent all of us. To all those who feel the same, share this message and help it reach the Iranian people.

Beauty beyond culture

A message from an Iranian lady says:

Hi Pushpin, I am an Iranian lady. I just saw your warm and beautiful message to my country mates. Reading your message brought tears to my eyes and warmness to my heart. Just wanted to ensure you, we all Iranians feel the same, we just want peace and beauty on the earth, we hate war and slaughter, we all are the parts of one body and it hurts when you see a human suffering since she or he is a part of your soul. I have been always curious about you guys if you hate us, because I have been sure that the actual face of Iranians would not be introduced to you guys… All in all, just would like to thank you for your beautiful message and say that we all love you because you are our brothers and sisters. The only thing that matters is your beautiful heart not your culture, language, skin color, religion or homeland.

It seems this campaign is offering a real connection between Iranians and Israelis to share a message we can only dream for: love and peace in the name of mankind.

With Gaza Under Attack, #TerroristIsrael Trends on Twitter

Ola Anan — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:57:54 +0000

On Twitter, Palestinians and Palestine activists have been spreading the news about #GazaUnderAttack nonstop since March 9, 2012, provoked by ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip that have so far killed 23 Palestinians and injured more than 100, some of them seriously. On March 11, busy activists introduced a new hashtag to remind people of previous assaults by the Israeli army against the Palestinian people (not only in the Gaza Strip) called #TerroristIsrael.

The new hashtag went viral on Twitter, became a trending topic around the world, and even became a top story on the Twitter Discover page.

@JalalAK_jojo: #TerroristIsrael number One story on Twitter Discover now

The content of the tweets with this hashtag varied.

Some tweets included information and statistics:

@MadeInNablus: #TerroristIsrael has denied the right of millions of Palestinians to return to their homeland. 1 in 3 refugees worldwide is a Palestinian.

…or mentions of previous attacks:

@MarahMajed: ضرب مدارس قطاع غزة اثناء الحرب بالصواريخ و الفسفور المحرم دولياً والتي كانت تمتلىء بالمدنيين الغزيين

During the war bombing the Gaza Strip's schools, full of civilians, with missiles and internationally banned phosphorous. #TerroristIsrael‏

…while other tweets contained powerful images:

@AnjumKiani: Could be Your sister, my sister ! #TerroristIsrael Take pictures & intimidate students in #Palestine #Gaza

Israeli soldiers posing with a Young Palestinian hostage.

…not to mention a lot of emotional and supportive tweets in different languages:

@Nortencabronado: El mundo encontrara la paz cuando Palestina sea libre y reconocida como un País. Viva palestina Viva Gaza Viva la PAZ!

The world will find peace when Palestine is free and recognized as a country. Long live Palestine, long live Gaza, long live PEACE!

A lot of Twitter users were convinced that pro-Palestinian topics are always being censored and prevented from trending worldwide, and so were surprised at the success on this occasion.

@WafaFt: Stunned that #TerroristIsrael is actually trending, didn't think twitter would let that happen

However, this wasn't the first time that a Palestinian hashtag trended worldwide. Just a few weeks ago, activists on Twitter were publicising the case of Palestinian detainee Khader Adnan. A daily hashtag was created for his case - different each day - and each day managed to trend worldwide. The same pattern is now being used to advocate for Hana Shalabi, now on her 24th day of hunger strike.

Brazil: What Happens If There's Another Oil Crisis?

Alex Higson — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 11:42:20 +0000

The rise in oil prices caused by the impasse between Western powers and Iran due to the latter's nuclear programme has been a cause for concern not just for the European and North American markets, but also for economies that are currently less vulnerable, such as the Brazilian economy, for which the two oil crises of the 1970s had catastrophic consequences.

Photo by Fábio Pinheiro on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Four decades of oil flow

The first oil crisis, in 1973 – a result of US support for the Israelis in the Yom Kippur War – and the second crisis, in 1979 – a consequence of the Iranian Revolution – bring back bad memories for the countries that import the commodity. In Brazil, the consequences of those crises were an inflationary spiral and an increase in foreign debt to stratospheric levels.

Similar stories have recently been dominating the news and discussions in the blogosphere. For example, during the last week of February the price per barrel rose beyond US $120 with the announcement from the Israeli authorities that an attack on the Iranian nuclear complex was imminent, in addition to the embargo on Iranian trade imposed by the EU, to commence on the 1st July. In response, Iran made its move by freezing the sale of oil to France and the United Kingdom, promising to extend its retaliation to other European countries.

Oil rig at Angra dos Reis. Photo from Programa de aceleração do crescimento (Growth acceleration programme) on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Another more radical development is Iran's threat of closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which almost half of all oil used throughout the world passes. There are therefore real reasons to fear another crisis, especially considering the current events in the context of what already happened in the region decades earlier. Iran, as the world's fifth largest producer of oil, showed in 1979 that it has enough power to affect even the healthiest of economies if it freezes – or even slows – its oil exports.

The dependency that modern societies have on the energy matrix goes far beyond use in motor vehicles. To have some idea, just read a few of the examples [pt] mentioned by Massimo De Maria in his “Informação Incorrecta” (“Incorrect Information”) blog.

Uma camisa de poliéster, um dentífrico, um fertilizante, uma lata de tinta, uma caneta, um rimmel, um amaciador para roupa, um creme para as mãos secas, uma embalagem de cola, um par de sapatos, um móvel para a cozinha, um computador, um jogo para crianças, o adoçante para os bolos, a insulina, um frigorífico, um antibiótico: o que têm em comum todas estas coisas? O petróleo.

A polyester shirt, toothpaste, fertiliser, a tin of paint, a pen, mascara, fabric conditioner, hand moisturiser, a cola bottle, a pair of shoes, kitchen appliances, a computer, a child's toy, food sweetener, insulin, a freezer, an antibiotic: what do all these things have in common? Oil.

It is therefore clear that another oil crisis would immediately affect not only the economies of importer nations, but also those countries, such as Brazil, that export to the affected countries. First of all, it would result in sharp inflation, followed by a recession. It is, in reality, a vicious circle, as even if a product is not made of oil, it will certainly be transported to its consumer via forms of transport that use petrol, kerosene or diesel.

Solutions for Brazil

For central banks such as Brazil's, there remains the difficult choice of combating inflation with a squeeze on monetary policy or through stimulating economic activity. On this subject, the “Sensor Econômico Brasil” (“Brazilian Economic Sensor”) Blog, by Economics professor José Álvaro de Lima Cardoso, published an article [pt] on the effect of fossil fuels on inflationary pressure in Brazil.

Em um ano de choque de preços dos alimentos –principalmente no primeiro semestre–, disparada de serviços em decorrência da renda em alta e aumento de combustíveis e transportes, a inflação não suportou os focos de pressão e o IPCA [Índice Nacional de Preços ao Consumidor Amplo] fechou 2011 no teto da meta do governo, de 6,5% –mais do que os 5,91% de 2010–, informou o IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística) nesta sexta-feira. Esta é a maior taxa desde 2004, quando o indicador ficou em 7,6%.

In a year of food price shocks – primarily in the first half of the year – an increase in services as a result of high income, and greater use of fossil fuels and transportation, the inflation level could not take the pressure and the IPCA [National Index of Prices for the General Consumer] ended 2011 at the upper limit of the government's target, at 6.5% – more than the 2010 level of 5.91% – the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) announced on Friday. This is the highest level since 2004, which the figure was 7.6%.

The Brazilian national oil company – Petrobrás – has been publicising the positive aspects of its most recent achievements – that is, the exploration of the pre-salt layer (an undersea strip that stretches between the Brazilian states of Espírito Santo and Santa Catarina, which looks promising for oil drilling). However, oil extraction is still in the very early stages, and so Brazil is forced to import oil from the Middle East due to the increase in domestic consumption and the fact that although the country already produces crude oil, it is not self-sufficient in the end-products. Furthermore, the hurry to no longer depend on imported oil products contributed to the leak at the Chevron rig last year, as Global Voices reported in December 2011.

Consequently, in order to maintain current price levels in foreign markets, Petrobrás will no longer be able to subsidise prices for Brazilians, and a rise in the price of fossil fuels will be inevitable. On the other hand, the current events “bring the possibility of the commencement of a new and special industrialization cycle that promises to be the most important in our economic history” claims [pt] Petrobrás Distribution engineer and ex-Managing Director, Rodolfo Landim.

Sugar cane. Photo by Cacero Omena on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Since the rise in consumption is inversely proportional to the available reserves and, consequently, wars and disputes tend to spread as a result of the exhaustion of those reserves, Brazil is protecting itself from international price fluctuations by starting up new refineries and moving forward with biofuels, in which Brazil is the world leader with the project having been strengthened precisely because of the 1973 crisis. Robson Cadoch Valdez, a PhD student of International Strategy Studies said [pt] in his Cenário Externo (Outside Scenario) blog that:

Talvez, para o Brasil, esta seja uma oportunidade para promover o etanol brasileiro. Da mesma forma que na década de setenta o país desenvolveu seu programa alternativo de combustível em um período de crise do petróleo, agora pode ser a oportunidade de intensificar a promoção do nosso etanol como alternativa brasileira a um provável aumento no preço do petróleo no mercado mundial.

Perhaps, for Brazil, this is an opportunity to promote Brazilian ethanol. In the same way that the country developed its alternative fuel programme during a time of oil crisis in the seventies, now could be the time to intensify promotion of our ethanol as a Brazilian alternative to a likely rise in oil prices in the global market.

In a world where “oil crises” will get more and more frequent, possessing reserves such as the pre-salt layer and alternative energy sources such as biofuels involves taking on greater responsibilities, such as preserving this heritage and the sustainable exploration of areas where sugar cane culture has been threatening the survival of indigenous communities and small farmers (as was seen in an article published by Global Voices on 20th July 2011). It would be bad business to exchange peace for war, as is the case in Iran today.

Palestine: Gaza Under Attack - Again

Yasmeen El Khoudary — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 22:20:06 +0000

Throughout the night of March 9 and into the morning of March 10, 2012, Israeli warplanes attacked targets across the Gaza Strip, with a death toll of at least 12, and 20 injured.

On the afternoon of March 9, Zuheir al-Qaysi, secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), was assassinated during an Israeli raid on Gaza City, along with his assistant Abu Ahmad Hanani. Hanani was originally from Nablus and was deported to Gaza as one of the prisoners freed in the prisoner swap deal a few months ago.

In retaliation, Palestinian resistance groups in the Gaza Strip fired rockets into Israel, with no casualties. Israel came back with severe airstrikes that shook Gaza and left 12 martyrs altogether, identified by Ma'an News Agency as Muhammad al-Ghamry, Fayiq Saad, Muatasim Hajjaj, Ubeid Gharabli, Muhammad Hararah, Hazim Qureiqi, Shadi Sayqali, Zuheir al-Qaysi, Mahmoud Hanani, Muhammad Maghari, Mahmoud Najim, and Ahmad Hajjaj. Some reports are now saying that 15 people have died.

Bombing of Gaza City by Israeli fighter jets. Image by Twitter user @journeytogaza.

Gaza's netizens have responded to the attacks on Twitter:

@MaathMusleh: 15 were murdered in Gaza till now, No WORRIES they're just Palestinians!! #GazaUnderAttack

@ectomorfo: Pray for the people of Gaza. No lights, little medicine, no gas. And now they're being bombarded from all sides by #Israel. #GazaUnderAttack

@Omar_Gaza: 18 minutes with no explosions! Cautious silence? is it over? or should I keep holding my breath? #GazaMassacre #GazaUnderAttack

@najlashawa: i dont know how i am still typing that was LOUD! #GAzaUnderAttack

@imNadZ: Welcome to #Gaza. Where sunshine is explosions. Where birds are F16s.

This attack comes at a time of shifting regional and political alliances. Last week, in light of increasing prospects of an American-Israeli war on Iran, two top Hamas officials announced that Hamas would not get involved and support Iran in case of an Israeli attack. Hamas has also declared its support of the Syrian people in their struggle against Assad.

Spain: Head of Journalist Association Threatens Activist With a Belt

Leila Nachawati Rego — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:56:07 +0000

The Head of the Press Association in Granada, Antonio Mora, was presenting a photo exhibition in Granada, Spain, of the relations between Israel and Spain on Tuesday, March 6, when anti-occupation activists from an organization called Plataforma Andalucía con Palestina (Platform Andalucia with Palestine) entered the room. They held Palestinian flags and started chanting “Boycott Israel” and “No to Zionist impositions” in protest against Spain's support of the Israeli occupation of Palestine through these kind of institutional events.

The activists did not leave when Mora told them to keep quiet, visibly impatient and irritated by their presence. What happened next? The answer is so surreal that you should see it by yourselves. Here is the link to the video.

Screenshot of the video in the moment when Antonio Mora holds his belt as he walks towards the activist.

Shockingly, Mora removes his belt and raises it as if to strike one of the women with it, while a second woman records the scene with her mobile phone. A few seconds later he drops the belt and tries to push the other woman out of the room.

The fact that this reaction comes from the head of a press association has sparked shock and disbelief among Spanish netizens, who have flooded Twitter with comments and even created a hashtag with the Head´s name: #antoniomora. Spanish journalist Juan Luis Sánchez tweeted:

Lo que da miedo no es que se ponga violento, sino su gesto de sacarse la correa y doblarla friamente. Como si lo hubiera hecho antes.

What is so scary is not that he gets violent, but how he takes off his belt and then folds it in a cold way. As if he had done this before.

Journalist Lydia Molina agrees:

Lo más perturbador es la tranquilidad con la que se quita la correa para pegarle a la chavala. No será la primera vez.

What's extremely disturbing is how calmly he takes off his belt to hit the girl. It is probably not the first time.

The Journalists Union of Andalucía has demanded Mora's resignation [es]. Mora has since resigned [es]. According to the Union's representatives:

Consideramos esta conducta inaceptable por entender que la actitud del Presidente de la Asociación es más propia de otros tiempos vividos en España durante la dictadura franquista en la que a mujeres, niños y animales se les pretendía corregir sus actitudes o castigar a golpes de correa.

We consider this behavior unacceptable. This reminds us of the times we lived in Spain during Franco's dictatorship, where women, children and animals where punished when their behavior was considered unappropriate.

Palestine: Rare Photographs of the Palestinian Nakba of 1948

Mohamed Adel — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:13:21 +0000

Blogger Iqbal Tamimi posts rare photographs of the Palestinian Nakba of 1948.

Israel: The Lie, the Truth and the Meme (of the Soldier and the Girl)

Carmel L. Vaisman — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:52:05 +0000

The photograph below, of a soldier stepping on a little girl, has been circulating on the social web for the past few days, claimed to be of an IDF soldier and a Palestinian girl. Wesley Muhammad who posted it claimed to have seen it on someone else's news feed with that caption, and wonders why it went viral from his page. Within two days the photo (now discarded) received over 500 comments, including some claims the photo is fake.

Yossi Gavni reposted the photo highlighting the main claims that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) doesn't carry that kind of weapon and has no such uniforms, and that photo circulated mainly among Israelis. Apparently, the photo was tweeted last year in French, claiming this is actually from Syria's demonstrations and asking for it to spread. However, Arab blogger Omar Dakhane found the original photo (below), which is neither from Syria nor Israel but a street theater performance in Bahrain.

This story could have ended here with a lesson not to believe everything that circulates out there in the age of media manipulation and virality, but apparently some Israelis have decided the best response to a viral lie is a humorous meme. In the last 24 hours many photos replacing the soldier with different characters have been circulating on Facebook, initiated by 10Gag, the Israeli answer to 9Gag humor and memes generator.

For example, a photo where the soldier was replaced by a dog wearing real IDF uniform, probably also responding humorously to earlier allegations that IDF trains dogs to attack Palestinians. Other entities stepping on that girl included an empire soldier from Star Wars, the Angry Birds, the Android, the Avatar N'aavi, Chuck Norris and more.

By turning the photo into a meme, Israelis are saying in “social media language” that such a situation is ridiculous and fictional, although Wesley Muhammad who started the viral spread concludes: ”I took the photo down (even though that type of thing DOES happen in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict)”. In response, Shani Yaakov posted a collage of pictures titled “this is the true picture of the IDF” (below) in which soldiers are seen in positive and friendly interactions with Palestinians. As for the truth, as always, it's probably somewhere in the middle.