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With Gaza Under Attack, #TerroristIsrael Trends on Twitter

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Israel, Palestine, Digital Activism, War & Conflict

On Twitter, Palestinians and Palestine activists have been spreading the news about #GazaUnderAttack [1] nonstop since March 9, 2012, provoked by ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip that have so far killed 23 Palestinians [2] 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 [3].

The new hashtag went viral on Twitter, became a trending topic around the world, and even became a top story on the Twitter Discover [4] page.

TerroristIsrael Story

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

[5]

The content of the tweets with this hashtag varied.

Some tweets included information and statistics:

@MadeInNablus [6]: #TerroristIsrael [7] 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 [8]: 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 [9]: Could be Your sister, my sister ! #TerroristIsrael Take pictures & intimidate students in #Palestine #Gaza

Israeli soldiers posing with a young Palestinian hostage.

Israeli soldiers posing with a Young Palestinian hostage.

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

@Nortencabronado [10]: 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 [11]: 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 [12]. 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 [13], now on her 24th day of hunger strike.