The blast is different from those Israelis were so used to in the late 90′s. There was no suicide bomber who got on a bus, but rather a medium sized explosive was placed next to the bus by someone, most likely in a passing car.

On Twitter, Gidi Kleiman says:

@Gidikleiman: #TelAvivBlast, reports of witnesses who saw a man leave bomb on the bus. According to emergency services all wounded taken to hospital.

Ahuvah Berger Burcat shares a photograph of the bombed bus, and notes:

@ahoova: a picture of the exploded bus … no graphic images RT @yoelisaak pic.twitter.com/YUIZWMM1

A photograph of the bombed bus shared on Twitter by @yoelisaak

Debbie Randle tweets from the scene of the bus bomb, where there's evidence that a man climbed onto the bus and threw a bomb on board:

@DebsR: At scene of bus bomb in #TelAviv #israel Witnesses say man climbed on bus and threw bomb on board lockerz.com/s/263124301

Joseph Dana reinforces what Israeli TV and Police are saying:

@ibnezra: Let me state this again: The target of this Tel Aviv bus bombing was Israeli civilians. There is no doubt.

Paul Danahar, BBC Middle East Bureau Chief is in Gaza, and describes the response in Gaza:

@pdanahar: celebratory gunfire going off in Gaza after bus reports of bus attack in Tel Aviv

He continues:

@pdanahar: Mosque loud speakers in #Gaza described Tel Aviv bus bomb as a ‘victory from God’ #Israel

While Howard Kirsh jumps to conclusions about the difference between Gazans and Israelis:

@HKirsh1: Israel avoids the death of Gaza civilians; Gazans celebrate the death of Israeli civilians. And that is the difference in cultures.

Others try to add perspective. Ayelet writes:

האנשים שצועקים כל שניה “לשטח את עזה” הם גם אלו שהכי מתפלאים וכועסים כשהחמאס מחלק סוכריות אחרי פיגועים. הסתכלתם לאחרונה במראה?

@a_Daydreamer: The people (in Israel) who shout “flatten Gaza” every second are those that are the most angry when Hamas distributes candy after (successful) terror attacks. Have you looked in the mirror lately?

As more terrorists are suspected to be in Tel Aviv, Shira Abel tweets recommendations:

@shiraabel: Terrorist in TLV: look out for ppl in esp warm clothes on warm day. Look at ppls eyes. Avoid buses: 10, 25, 5, 66. Stay away from windows

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Assaf Farhadian is a student in Be'er Sheva, Israel's largest city in the south, which has been continuously targeted by missiles. As the sirens are activated, Assaf takes shelter in stairway hall, which is said to be the most secure part of the apartment building.

Ashdod, the sixth largest city in Israel situated just 20 miles south of Tel Aviv, has been targeted by missiles since the last operation in Gaza, Cast Lead, in 2008. Numerous videos have been uploaded to Youtube showing scenes of siren going off and the aftermath of missiles hitting:

The Shadadi's home after a Hamas attack. Photograph shared on Twitter by @JewishAgency

@JewishAgency: Damage in the Shadadi family home. Virtually all of the daughter's belongings were destroyed. #IsraelUnderFire pic.twitter.com/3YoEFa7A

The Iron Dome is an Israeli created air-defense system that has been intercepting over 90 per cent of all missiles shot from Gaza. The following video shows the Iron Dome intercepting 12 Hamas missiles in the skies above Be'er Sheva.

Amir Kdomi shot the following video from his apartment in the Tel-Aviv region. You can hear the sirens going off and then the interception of the missile by the Iron Dome system:

Ronny, creator of Israel-Loves-Iran, a Facebook movement with over 100,000 followers, was in bed in Tel Aviv when the sirens went off this morning. He describes his experience during the missile attack:

‎10 minutes ago , another attack on telaviv. i was in bed when the siren went off. Michal and the kids are at a friends house for the day. i was a bit sleepy, didn't find my shirt, just put my trouser took my phone and went for the stairs. there is this spot in the middle of the building witch is the safest, it s just between 1and 2 floor. then Tiki (she s our neighbor, mother of Shira, friend with Ela) just rush out her apartment. she was in th middle of morning shower when the siren started ..so she was all wet in a big towel. we look at each other, the siren was still on and we just start laughing..
wasn't funny. but… it was funny. we heard a big boom, i can tell now that the missile was intercepted in the air, and we keep laughing 2 minute till the stress blow off.
ronny. tel aviv

Over the past couple of years, this has become the norm in cities across the Israeli south. Now the missile reach has expanded to the Tel-Aviv region. Many worry that as long as Hamas is in power, this will never stop.

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The latest exchange of fire between Hamas and Israel started on November 14, when Israeli drones targeted and killed Hamas military leader Ahmed Al-Jabari in the Gaza enclave.

The following 10-second video shows part of the anti-war protest:

Roni More posts a photograph from the protest to Twitter:

I shall not hate, reads a sign carried during an anti-war protest in Tel Aviv. Photograph shared by @RoniMore1 on Twitter

More photos can be found here.

Many have been critiquing the politics behind this operation. In a popularly shared Facebook post, Lior Bakalu writes:

ארבע שנים כמעט לא עשו כלום, ופתאום נזכרו. ליבי עם תושבי הדרום ותושבי עזה שממשלת ישראל הפכה את המצוקה שלהם לתפאורת רקע לקמפיין בחירות

Four years and they've done nothing, and all of a sudden they've remembered. My heart is with the citizens of the south and the citizens of Gaza who's misery the Israeli government has turned into their elections campaign.

He adds an image outlining military operations from the past 15 years, and their timing in relation to elections. Translated below:

Alaa Younis critiques the politics behind the war:

החמאס עושה בשם האיסלאם את מה שביבי עושה בגלל הבחירות. שניהם שקרנים. לשניהם לא אכפת מהאזרח. ושניהם לא מייצגים אותי.

ובתור רופא שיניים אני אומר לכם: את שניהם צריך לעקור.

Joseph Dana is reporting today from Ashkelon, a city that's been hit hard by missiles. He tweets a reaction to the possibility of a ground operation:

@ibnezra: Ppl I am speaking with in Ashkelon amidst air sirens tell me that they don't want a ground invasion b/c it will harm Israel's legitimacy

While there is some opposition amongst Israelis, these opinions and protests are rarely highlighted by mainstream media. Elizabeth Tsurkov posted the following tweet:

@Elizrael: Israeli papers avoid reporting on Palestinian casualties and also don't report on the fact that some Israelis oppose this operation.

She continues:

@Elizrael: If you only receive news on the suffering of Israelis and successful assassinations of terrorists, why would you oppose this operation?

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Reports claim the attack was most likely carried out by a suicide bomber, who was either next to the bus or who got on the bus. According to nrg, a female suicide bomber stood next to the front of one of the buses and activated the bomb.
UPDATE:
@BarakRavid:

Bulgarian FM spoke with FM Lieberman and told him the investigation found the explosion was caused by a bomb hidden in the trunk of the bus

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu stated that “all signs point to Iran” and that Israel will respond fiercely.

@ruslantrad:

bTV showing photos from attack against Israeli tourists in Bulgaria

Shoshi, Israeli who witnessed the blast said:

We passed immigration and got onto bus #4 outside the airport. We placed our bags, and after two minutes bus #2 went up in flames. We were evacuated into a secure room.

Her son added:

Survivors from the bus had to jump out of the bus so as not to step on bodies. We saw the bus, one Israeli took a photo of it. We saw its trunk explode. We were quickly rushed into the terminal.

On his Facebook page, foreign minister Avigdor Liberman posted:

I just spoke with Bulgaria's foreign minister, Nikolay Mladenov, about the blast. Mladenov is heading to the location and will give me updates when he gets there.

A tweet from @MokedNews claims:

One of the killed in the Bulgarian attack – a Bulgarian tour guide who was with the Israeli tourists as the blast happened. (source: Bulgarian TV)

Excellent live blog coverage on Haaretz in Hebrew (more frequent updates) and in English.

Tweeps to follow for live updates:
@BarakRavid – diplomatic correspondent, Haaretz newspaper
@ruslantrad – Syrian-Bulgarian blogger & MENA analyst
@MokedNews – Israeli news feed

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The #J14 official website called on its supporters to assemble at Habima square Saturday evening:

On Friday, June 22nd, children, women, elderly and worried citizen were violently beaten because they executed the most basic right – the right to protest. Bleeding legs and many arrested protesters was the outcome of our attempts to place a tent in the boulevard. The disproportionate use of power and the oppression that we, the citizens of Israel, received today is a violent attempt of the Israeli regime to crush us. They took our apartments, our jobs, our right to live in dignity, our future, hope – and now they're trying to take away our freedom. Get up from your sofa, from the television, A/C's and shopping malls. Come out from your cars, break the walls, and rise with us – proud and determined for the struggle for our future.

In response, thousands hit the streets of Tel Aviv. More than 80 protesters were arrested after heavy violence erupted between protesters and cops. Bank windows were shattered and hundreds blocked two major roads and the Ayalon highway. Slogans such as “the people demand social justice”, “all the people are the opposition” and “the people demand democracy” were chanted throughout the evening.

Here are some tweets and images from Tel Aviv. Orly Barlev writes [heb]:

עשרות עצורים. ביצים נזרקו על העיריה קודם. איילון, אבן גבירול ודרך בגין נחסמו בו זמנית. 3 בנקים הושחתו. אלפים מול העירייה עכשיו #j14

— Or-ly Barlev (@OrLyBarlev) June 23, 2012

Nitay Peretz comments:

במדינה שבה בעלי ההון, הבנקים, הממשלה, המשטרה והמתנחלים רומסים ברגל גסה כל יום את החוק – מה אתם מתרגשים פתאום מזה שעוברים על החוק? #J14

— Nitay Peretz (@nitayp) June 23, 2012

The photograph below shows protesters taking over Ayalon Highway:

wow! Ayalon highway in Tel-Aviv is totally blocked by protestors #occupy #j14 #israel twitpic.com/9zqp65

— Gilad Lotan (@gilgul) June 23, 2012

The following tweet was posted two days ago but heavily retweeted during the height of the violence:

שים אוהל בשדרות רוטשילד ויעצרו אותך באלימות. שים קראוונים על קרקע פרטים בשטחים ויממנו לך בית #j14

— m l (@Tooltop) June 22, 2012

And in closing, someone posted an image of a tagged police car. The word written on the back of the police car reads “Mishta-ra'al”. “Mishtara” means police, “Mishtar” means regime, and “ra'al’ means poison. Effective word play references both the government and police as toxic.

“משטרעל”…. #j14 twitter.com/bneibraki/stat…

— דוס מחמד ® (@bneibraki) June 23, 2012

Here are some useful feeds for those of you who want to follow the Israeli social justice movement:
- Elian's excellent livestream
- #J14 on Twitter
- J14 on public Facebook status updates
- The official J14 website

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This past year has been eventful to say the least in our merry little Middle East and North Africa region. As a part of our end-of-year coverage we look back at some of the major events we covered during 2011. The following post highlights the role of the Global Voices Online community in spreading information on Twitter during the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions.

The data that feeds this visualization is taken from “The Revolutions were Tweeted“, an International Journal of Communication article mapping out prominent information flows during the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions. The study uses two datasets of tweets. The first includes 168,663 tweets posted between January 12 and 19, 2011, containing the keyword ‘#sidibouzid’ or ‘tunisia'. The second includes 230,270 tweets posted between January 24 and 29, 2011, containing the keyword ‘egypt’ or ‘#jan25′.

As a part of the study, the authors classified users into actor types, with the goal of tracing the prominent paths in which information spread, along with inherent preferences between user types. Unsurprisingly, the authors found homopholy playing a dominant role in retweet behavior (journalists tend to retweet other journalists, bloggers retweet bloggers, etc…).

If we zoom into the the network, we can see the intricate relationships and connections between users tweeting and retweeting content. For example, the image below is a screenshot taken when the graph focus is on @ircpresident (our very own Mohamed El Gohary). The other nodes that light up and display names represent El Gohary's immediate “neighborhood” – folks that either he retweeted or who had retweeted him.

The larger a node is, the more times it was retweeted. The thicker an edge, the more retweets that connection generated. The green nodes are Global Voices contributors. Light blue are journalists employed by Mainstream Media organizations, dark blue are bloggers and purple colored nodes are activists.

Nasser Weddady (@weddady) is central to this graph in terms of both number of times he was retweeted, but also the wide array of users who reposted his content (over 800 times within this dataset, which represents a tiny fraction of the actual content posted during the events).

The graph has 71,525 nodes representing the different Twitter users posting content about Egypt and Tunisia, with 190,814 edges – configurations of who retweeted whose content. Amongst the users, there are 140 Global Voices contributors, posting and retweeting content relevant to the events in both Egypt and Tunisia.

When we take all of the Global Voices author nodes and places them outside the main cluster, how they interconnect with the rest of the network becomes much clearer.

It has been an intense and inspiring year. Global Voices has been doing a phenomenal job tracking and covering perspectives highlighted in blogs and within social media across the globe and it is an absolute honor to be part of the team.

For our full coverage on the Tunisian Revolution, check out our Special Coverage page and for a snapshot of the ongoing revolution in Egypt, tune into our Egypt Revolution Special Coverage page.

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011 and Tunisia Revolution 2011.

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On December 4, 2008, Blau published a report based on these documents which stated that the IDF senior command planned and executed targeted killings of three people in violation of a 2006 ruling of the Israeli Supreme Court limiting the circumstances in which such a tactic could be used. I couldn't find a working link to the original article by Uri Blau, “License to Kill”, but here's a link to a blog post that reposted the original text.

Image by mish

Kamm is reported to have said during her interrogation: “There were some aspects of the IDF's operations procedures in the West Bank that I felt should be public knowledge… When I was burning the CDs I kept thinking that history tends to forgive people who expose war crimes.”

The Israeli police secured a gag order prohibiting Israeli media from reporting on Kamm's arrest. On February 6, 2010, Anat was convicted of espionage and providing confidential information without authorization and placed under house arrest. After almost two years under house arrest, on October 30, 2011, Kamm was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

While this story is not new, the court decision on Kamm's sentence this week drew a wide array of Israeli netizen reactions. Noam Lester reposts thoughts [he] he published when the story was first publicized in 2010, protesting the lack of media focus on the reported IDF crime that surfaced from this leak:

We witness again the ritual of concealment, censorship, foreign publishing, leaks to blogs and finally a tiring day of non-stop blabbering media. Once again we sacrifice a victim in order to teach us all not to deal with the security forces, especially not to embarrass and show their wretchedness (and crimes). Everyone is focusing on the emissary (Anat) and not the news she surfaced: the IDF has committed crimes directly violating a court order from the Israeli Supreme Court. For this no one will be tried and certainly no one will sit in prison. But the one who exposed the atrocity – she can be presented as a traitor and sent for life imprisonment.

Anat Balint sarcastically writes:

The severe verdict of four and a half years in prison, given by the Tel-Aviv district court to Anat Kamm is a harsh blow to the 24-year-old whistleblower, and a calming pill to many of the public who followed the evolution of this story since April 2010. The process of turning Kamm to a modern-day witch who is threatening the existing social order has been completed successfully. She was caught, removed away from us, thank god, and now all can be sure that we've returned to believe in the holy values: there's nothing more important than the security of our country and its protection from enemies, there's no holier entity than the military, and there's nothing more severe than trying to hurt either of these.

She continues:

Every person whose part of the complex relationship between government entities, security forces and journalists in Israel understands the sheer irony wrapped in the Kamm affair. Leaks of the same sort are the bread and butter of these relationships, a daily affair. Messages that don't come out through the formal channels, or through an authorized interview, are in effect a type of “leak”, which is, according to the law, a crime. These leaks many times include confidential or top secret documents that somehow find their way to journalists and serve as a basis to their articles.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are many who believe that Kamm's sentence should be more severe. Moshe Goldbladt writes:

I hope that the State Attorney will not accept this absurd punishment that Anat Kamm received. In opposition to the judge ruling in the given verdict, the punishment reflects disrespect towards the state security.

Anat Kamm received the support of the left due to exposing “war crimes” – the claim is total babble – and glorified her for her motivation and ideology. When Kamm's lawyers saw that this heartens left wingers but doesn't help her, she started presenting herself as a young, confused girl who doesn't really understand the judges.

It is now time to stop playing hide-and-seek with Uri Blau and with Haaretz. The journalist, editor and everyone involved in receiving this classified material from Anat Kamm must stand before trial and pay a heavy price for their action. Also in this case we need to be talking about an active prison term for many years. Their claim for regularly having access to classified materials (as Raviv Druker suggests as a witness Kamm's trial) is exactly why they need to learn the consequences of breaking military field security laws in this country.

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While the Israeli economy is strong, unemployment is low, the shekel is powerful, foreign investment high and economic growth steady, Israelis from across the board have come together in protest against a higher ideal – not political and not necessarily demanding for a change in government.

This is a protest against what Israel has become, in the name of what it once was. It is an effort by the young Israelis to recapture an older, more egalitarian, more idealistic country that their parents lost. – Michael Walzer

Social justice protest, Tel Aviv, Israel. Image by tamirsher, copyright Demotix (06/08/11).

The J14 movement was initiated by a young Israeli woman named Daphni Leef who pitched a tent in the center of Tel Aviv three weeks ago (July 14th) in protest of the unaffordable cost of housing. It is one of the first prominent movements in recent times, that manages to bridge across political gaps within Israeli society. Ran cohen explains in a Tweet:

#j14 is a collective process of examining, discussing and challenging power structures within Israeli society.

In the following video Dafni is seen preaching to an enthusiastic crowd, at the early days of the protest. (translation from Hebrew below)

You (directed at Bibi/Israeli gov't) made this Facebook generation who sits on its ass all day, come out to the sizzling streets. We will make sure that this summer you will also feel the heat like in Spain, in Madrid. And if you won't be careful, we promise to protest like in Cairo. You can still fix. If you will not fix and continue to ruin, as far as I am concerned, you are fired. Friends, let's be strong, united and full of hope. We came to take our country back!

Israelis from all walks of life took to the streets too. Main narratives focus on restraining capitalism, and shifting the country back to a welfare state. Many claim that they give so much to the country without seeing returns.

Israelis chant: "Bring back the welfare state."

Elizabeth Tsurkov:

“Bring back the welfare state”. Many of the chants tonight called for a return to Israel's socialist days http://yfrog.com/z/h83w8kaj #j14

Although started by a group of politically left-leaning youth, its leaders are making an effort that the protests maintain a non-political character. Michael Waltzer offers a different perspective:

The uprising is a collective effort to escape the constraints and divisions of the Israeli debate about security, the nonexistent “peace process,” and the occupation. When the emerging leaders of the uprising insist that their protest is “non-political,” they mean that it's not about war and peace. They know, of course, that everything is connected, and that the difficulties they are experiencing are partly caused by massive state investment in the occupied territories. But they have their own dream of Zionist normality: they want to focus on their own lives and on the quality of domestic society…

The movement prides itself in its peaceful nature. We've seen little to no violence, which in the leader's opinion, highlights the power of the public involved. @ASoldiersMother posts:

I glory in the protests in Israel because they prove our democracy. Hundreds of thousands – no violence; police there to protect

There's been growing criticism against the movement for not having concrete demands. Social justice represents a multitude of issues, and one of their biggest struggles has been to come out with a clear, united voice. The following snippet is taken from a video interview where Dafni describes the movement's initial motivation:

We are left without homes. The goal is to bring prices back to the right proportions so that people can afford to rent or buy. This is not only an issue in Tel Aviv.
This is an optimistic protest. We want to be here. Don't want to leave the country. But its become impossible. At this rate, only the wealthy can stay here.

With the exponential growth in support across Israeli public, the J14 movement has utilized the social web as a means to host a public discussions. The main J14 website has updates and media from protests across the country, while its sister site, ohel.org.il is an interactive platform that encourages people to submit and vote up proposals and solutions. A variety of Facebook event pages send updates on current events, as well as a number of Twitter handles: @TLV_Revolution in Hebrew, @j14ar in Arabic, and @J14eng in English.

As a dual US-Israeli citizen, Idan Gazit shares his perspective:

Next time a Republican tells you about how the free market sorts everything out, next time they try to sell you on the evils of governmental “interference” in ensuring that no part of society ends up impoverished, tell them to look at Israel: it is their crystal ball.

There is nothing unpatriotic about thinking that our government should make sure that the lowest standard of living in our country is a standard that people can live with. There is nothing that says we must choose between what we have now and the 50+ percent tax rate of true socialist countries like Sweden.

Israel was born a socialist country, and to this day, we still enjoy vestiges of socialism in the form of universal healthcare which costs less every month than what I pay for my internet. The past decade has seen Israel's leaders discarding that legacy and importing the worst of America: materialism, unchecked capitalism, power as a function of money. I remember when cable TV first brought the outside world to Israel. I am old enough to have seen the changes wrought by Israeli's thirst for “America.”

This is the result. A government which is peopled with the worst criminals and liars our society has to offer, one of the fastest-growing, largest gaps between the wealthy and poor in history, and a population burnt out on the adrenaline jitters of a steady parade of security crises.

Sound familiar, right-wing America? Your crystal ball. We are it.

The following video montage includes scenes of the tent cities and protests sweeping throughout Israel, overlayed with the crowd chanting: “the people demand social justice”:

Finally, two Tweets worth highlighting:

David Harris-Gershon:

The question everyone on Twitter seems to be asking: how long can the #j14 protests go without explicitly addressing settlements/occupation?

Elizabeth Tsurkov:

Signs from Jaffa. Other chants: “Arabs & Jews refuse to be enemies” & “Arabs & Jews oppose house demolitions” http://yfrog.com/z/h8k2zwdj #j14

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@Strange_Sanum: Here we go again… lets blame Muslims for everything that goes wrong in the world.

She continued on to post a number of tweets using the #blamethemuslims hashtag:

@Strange_Sanum: I don't have a job. #blamethemuslims

The hashtag was adopted amongst her friends and followers, reaching high levels of participation which eventually caused the term to trend locally in the UK, and later globally. As we tend to see with topics that reach such a wide array of audiences, it was wholly taken out of context, leading to a plethora of frustrated users.

Some users sent Sanum hate messages and even death threats, while others took the hashtag seriously, and posted accusations towards Muslims. Conversation spun out of control, keeping the topic trending, as more users posted their thoughts and frustrations.

On her blog, Clare Neruda describes the irony of how people misinterpreted Sanum's original motivation:

Unfortunately it seems as though rather a lot of people just aren’t getting the joke. There have been many calls for twitter to ban the TT (and a strange amount of people who consider twitter’s allowing of the trend to be particularly unfair in relation to the recent banning of #justinbieber) and a number of people have voiced fears concerning possible repercussions. However the majority of the people who have utilised the hashtag seem to have done so purely to vent their anger about the perceived racism of the trend, without researching its origins before forming an opinion. Irony upon irony; the very thing Sanum seems to have been satirising has been replayed by millions in their misguided attempts to rid the (twitter)world of an ‘evil’ that is no more than a product of misinterpretation.

And here's a quote from Nabeela Zahir‘s interview of Sanum:

Sanum articulated that the popularity of the trend highlighted an underlying need to discuss the way in which Muslims are portrayed, as well as the rising popularity of right wing extremism throughout Europe. The reporting around the Oslo attacks, were part of a wider trend of portraying Muslims as aggressors and religious fundamentalists
“After 9/11 there was a shift in the way Muslims were referred to in the media, and how they were reported on. It became an issue about Islam, rather than deranged individuals who justify violence with religion. It’s continued ever since.”
Sanum hopes through comedy and satire she is able to show that there is more to Muslims than terrorism, by showing that Muslims can be funny too she believes people can begin to overcome misunderstandings about Islam.

Twitter has become an indispensable tool for information dissemination. But as we talk about the need for information verification, we must remember that context, or lack thereof, is another critical attribute that can easily get lost. #blamethemuslims is an example of an information cascade that starts with good intentions, and ends up being counterproductive. That said, it did a great job at maintaining people's attention on the topic.

@Strange_Sanum: this trending topic is bigger than me. its highlighting a growing prejudice against the muslim community.

Keep posting hashtags. But whatever you do, think twice before you #blamethemuslims.

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While Israeli media and politicians have jumped on the bandwagon, inviting Goldstone to Israel and amplifying certain aspects of the op-ed, there have been a plethora of interpretations disagreeing with the interpretation of Goldstone's intentions, and overall, the op-ed's implications on the validity of the UNHRC report.

Idan Landau questions the hypocricy in Israeli society, and the media “spin” the story has been receiving across Israeli mainstream media:

Whatever Goldstone writes, Israelis do not understand him. When he discussed witnesses of Israeli war crimes in his report, he was called an antisemite. Now, when he takes specific claims back, he is embraced as if a long lost son coming back to the motherland.

Idan urges his audience to read the actual op-ed and not second hand media “spins”. He continues:

Goldstone regrets one thing and favors another. He regrets blaming Israel for intentionally attacking civilians in Gaza, and supports the internal investigations conducted by the IDF…
The joyous calls this report aroused within Israels critics, will turn into victory cries by its supporters. All this media noise is missing the key point: the crimes themselves. The television studios will continue to discuss if there were intentions to harm citizens, or not. At the same time, Israel will continue to kill civilians in Gaza, without intent of course, kill fishermen in front of the Gaza shore, without intent of course, kill farmers in their fields, without intent of course, kill sick by delaying them, without intent of course, kill elderly in their bed while under arrest, without intent of course, and continue the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, with no one making any effort to come against it.

The common Israeli and American Jewish reaction was extremely supportive of judge Goldstone's retraction, though many claim that the “damage is already done”. Rick Moran writes:

If the Judge wants to do some good, he can start an international tour to make the points he does in his new article in venues around the world where the hatred of Israel only intensified as a result of his initial one sided report. That report created a moral equivalence between a civilized nation state defending its civilian population, and a murderous death cult fueled by Islamic extremism and anti-Semitism, whose rocket firing supported a long time goal of indiscriminate killing of Jews.

On a similar note, David Merhave writes:

Goldstone crossed the line. He gave international legitimacy to the fascist regime in Gaza. Although in Jewish spirit, giving respect for those with an answer not necessarily those who are righteous, we can forgive him. Question is if he takes one more step forward and declares his regret for “grazing in the enemy's fields”. Whats clear, is that this evil initiative – the Goldstone Report – has collapsed and disappeared.

David's post spawned a series of reactions.
Dan responds:

Maybe we should begin with the endless, repetitive stupidity of the Israeli government. Lack of strategic thought; reactionist instead of being pro-active. Lack of cooperation yields a heavy price in international relations. And then self-righteousness. One cannot run a country this way!

Meriap adds:

Goldstone is only one of the committee members. After it was published, Goldstone's opinion is a personal one. After you hear witnesses from Shovrim Shtika, you have no need for an int'l report. The operation's policy was to kill many Palestinians so that the rest will be deterred from shooting missiles… Its enough that a soldier thinks that a child in front of him can kill him, that he can shoot, justifying his fear at a later investigation. In the beginning of the operation, Israeli forces waited for Palestinian police to gather in order to kill as many as possible with one explosion.

Jerry Haber composes an insightful post on the +972 blog describing the Goldstone op-ed as misrepresented and misleading:

It is the unfortunate fate of Judge Richard Goldstone to be condemned and praised for what he doesn’t write. The responses to his op-ed in Washington Post from the Israel advocates are laughable. Even a superficial reading of the op-ed shows that he has not retracted a single comma in the Goldstone Report, nor does he express any regret for having written the report the way it was written. He simply says that had he known then what he knows now, the report would have been different.

A highly retweeted post by @NaomiAKlein engaged over 100 Twitter users to repost the same text:

About #Goldstone backtrack: the reason bullies bully is because it often works. Entire operation was collective punishment. #Gaza

The organization Im Tirtzu published a post titled “throwing the Goldstone Report into History's trash” – a call to action, for people to gather in front of Naomi Chazan‘s home (President of the New Israel Fund) in Jerusalem and demand Naomi Chazan and the Keren to publically apologize for taking part in Goldstone's fraudulent tales.

Dahlia Scheindlin asks if Israelis are missing the point? That even the best of “hasbara” (a.k.a “PR”) won't end their international woes. It's the policy:

The fetishization of the Goldstone episode won’t help a single soldier who saw combat in Gaza erase what he did or saw.
Nor will Israel’s Goldstone obsession make the world any more sympathetic to its failed policies. Just as the report did not cause Hamas to become suddenly circumspect about its terrible civilian attacks, the reservations about the report will not suddenly whitewash Israel’s behavior.
But maybe this latest development will finally prove something Israelis keep missing: even the most vindicating “hasbara” in the world won’t end Israel’s international trouble. It’s the policy, stupid.

Perhaps Goldstone will offer his explanation, and help the world understand his intent in publishing this op-ed. But until then, we'll be trying to makes sense of the discussions happening on blogs and in social media spaces.

Written by Gilad Lotan · comments (2)
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A man thanks Facebook and the Egyptian youth

In a post from early August, Hani writes a thoughtful critique of Rami Khouri's NYT op-ed in which Rami claims that, while we see a substantial rise in young bloggers from Morocco, Iran and Egypt, they have not triggered any significant signal or lasting change in Arab or Iranian political culture. He continues, blaming technology for “shifting the individual from the realm of participant to the real of spectator, from what would otherwise be an act of political activism, to an act of passive, harmless personal entertainment.”

Hani argues against this claim, providing the April 6 Youth Movement in Egypt and the Iranian Green Revolution as prime examples of political activism movements that heavily relied on social media to mobilize, publicize and organize almost all aspects of their activities. He continues to talk about the incremental form of change brought on by social media:

Did “tangible change” come about as a result of these social media-fueled movements? Depends on how you define “tangible change”, but my answer would be yes. Khouri’s definition of change seems to be about the immediate form of it,  that of traditional coups and revolutions, and in assuming this to be his definition, it is not difficult to see why he is disappointed.

Technology-driven activism is not necessarily about short-term, abrupt change (which, histrionically, has been seen to do more harm than good), but rather about the incremental form of change. It is about the dissemination of ideas and the stirring active and inclusive societal dialogue about the requisite form of change and the means by which it should be brought about.

In a post from February 15th, Hani brings up Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker post “Does Egypt need Twitter?” in which Gladwell makes an argument that social media is not necessary for revolutions. Hani asks if Gladwell is answering the wrong question (Is social media necessary for popular uprising?) while missing the more important question: Is digital activism a true catalyst for social change?

He continues:

Indeed, the revolt of the oppressed is inevitable, notwithstanding the availability of social media tools, but it is not a question of necessity, but one of effect.

In other words, perhaps it could be argued that the current wave of uprisings and protests  in the Middle East would have eventually happened given the aging, coercive non-democratic patriarchal regimes that dominate the region. Nonetheless, to use a Gladwellian term, the “tipping point” of this dominos effect (Tunisia, Egypt, now Algeria, Bahrain  and Jordan in progress) would have been much further down the road. These uprisings would have been disconnected and far between if social media tools were to be taken out of the equation. Strangely, Gladwell posits that social activism requires “strong ties“, then dismisses the role of social media in fostering and enriching such ties not only within nations, but across borders as is the case with the Middle East right now.

In a follow up post, Hani describes a coercive regime's fear of open dialogue:

One of any coercive regime’s worst fears is a rich, open public dialogue on change and reform. When people start candidly discussing and debating their concerns, hopes and dreams, they begin to be aware of their true priorities and rights, and what must be done to reclaim those rights. Walls of fear begin to crumble. The regime’s cautionary myth of trading security and stability for freedom shatters.

Hani continues to talk about the role social media played in reviving a dormant public consciousness into a dynamic social discourse in Egypt. He describes the long-term influence of social media, since the faux presidential elections of 2005:

The assumption that social media’s largest influence was during or shortly before the 18 days in which Mubarak’s regime was brought down is very naive. This has been simmering under the surface of the Egyptian political scene for a while, particularly since the Presidential “elections” of 2005. The boiling point was reached on January 25th 2011. What I refer to here as the virtualization of dissent is what happened when the popular desire for change was shifted from real space, where it was in long somnolence, and cultivated it in a space that the Patriarchs do not understand: virtual space. Faced with something they could not yet comprehend neither the workings nor the effects of, the best the regime could do was detain and intimidate, and ultimately completely shut down the medium when the revolution broke out (a move which only betrayed how weak they have become and added fuel to the fire). They never really attempted to understand this medium and instigate their own countermeasures in “virtual space”, much to their own peril.

This virtualization of dissent from real space to virtual space is key to understanding impact of Social Media in Egypt. According to Hani, the old patriarchs did not attempt to understand this new digital medium, and thus did not instigate countermeasures as they do in “physical space.”

Finally, Hani notes that the instigators of the Egyptian riots are not particularly representative of the vast majority of Egyptians. These are young, educated, tech-savvy, upper-middle class individuals. They are not the truly oppressed masses, but rather speak for all of Egypt. They do this by taking the war for reform to their virtual turf, away from the regime's clamp down on political action, and then funneling it back to the physical world in the form of a mighty wave of revolt.

To understand what this means, take a quick look at the demographics of a random sample of Egyptian “net activists”: young, educated, tech-savvy middle/upper-middle class (as compared to a country with a 42% illiteracy rate, for instance). In other words, those are not the truly oppressed masses, especially from an economic sense. This minority, however, spoke for all of Egypt…
They have  reclaimed Egypt!

Photo made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Generic license (CC by 2.0) by Monasosh

Written by Gilad Lotan · comments (6)
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This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.

Image by Antonio Ordóñez Forero CC By

Twitter has played an instrumental role in keeping the world abreast of the latest developments in Egypt, where demonstrations against the 30-year rule of president Hosni Mubarak have entered their fourth day.

The following widget shows Twitter content mentioning the hashtag #jan25 over the last three days, and are all related to terms mentioned in people's Twitter messages:

One of the most commonly shared terms ‘Tear Gas’ spiked earlier today when the armed forces utilized tear gas bombs, along with rubber bullets, against the crowds in the streets:

Al Jazeera has been playing a key role in covering the events as they unfolded, broadcasting live from Cairo:

The United Arab Emirate's @sultanalqassemi is one of the key Twitter users spreading realtime updates from across Egypt:

As the effects of the demonstrations spread across the region, we see a huge spike in Twitter data because of an unconfirmed claim that Internet has been blocked in Syria:

Stay tuned for more stories, reactions and analysis from Egypt.

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.

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The blackout on the Internet in Egypt was supposed to thwart efforts to let the world know what was happening on the ground, as massive demonstrations against president Hosni Mubarak enter their fourth day. This attempt has failed as the tweets covering the unfolding events in Egypt continued to dominate our Twitterfeed.

As the situation across Egypt intensifies, here's a round up of updates streaming in from Twitter.

A roundup of Twitter posts coming in from sources in Cairo

@alaa: this is the biggest test for the revolution now, will people be able to ignore the curfew? #Jan25

@alaa: police withdrawing and army deploying I'm worried no one knows what this really means #Jan25

@SultanAlQassemi: BREAKING: AL Jazeera Curfew now in Greater Cairo, Alexandria & Suez. #Jan25

@Jan25voices: Live Phonecall: Nile Bridge Closed, El Gamaa bridge closed, Abbas Bridge closed. Trying to divide apart city. #jan25 #jan28 #Egypt

@jonjensen: Things have changed in Cairo. Tens of thousands, maybe 20, have taken midan Galaa in Dokki across from Sheraton. #Jan25 #Egypt

@jonjensen: Cairo smells like tear gas today. My colleagues are reporting severe police beatings, rubber bullets fired. I have not seen this. #Jan25

@Jan25voices: Live Phonecall: reports that powerful, painful water canons are in wide use at Syeda Zainab (poorer neighborhood)#jan25 #jan28 #Egypt

@Jan25voices: Live Phonecall: Balconies filled with people watching. People are going down into the street left and right. #jan25 #jan28 #Egypt

A roundup of Twitter posts coming in from Suez:

@BreakingNews: Egyptians carry the dead body of a protester through Suez after clashes with police, shouting ‘They have killed my brother’ – Reuters

@Dima_Khatib: protesters in Suez have taken control of downtown Army Street. They carry arms that they got from police who pulled out #egypt #jan25

@SultanAlQassemi: Al Jazeera breaking: Protesters take control of parts of Suez & Egyptian security forces are retreating. #Jan25

Updates from Alexandria:

@SultanAlQassemi: Amazing development: Al Jazeera reports that a police officer unit refused orders to fire tear gas bombs at protesters in Alexandria. #Jan25

@AngryArabNews: Alexandria has been liberated: Aljazeera is reporting that police and army withdrew from streets of Alexandria a… http://bit.ly/gu7idh

Protests Spreading Around the Region:

@SultanAlQassemi: Breaking Al Arabiya: Syria suspends internet services

@Esperanza82: Protest in Jeddah #Saudi start by a Woman chanting: “Al-Saud is the Greatest Demon” Riot police surrounding area #Jan25 #Arab #Solidarity

@nmoawad: Protest tomorrow in front of the Egyptian embassy in Beirut at 3pm #Lebanon – send to all groups

@zainalabidean: Started from Tunisia, Yemen and now Egypt…like virus .. who next ???

@rolandsiebelink: Protests in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt… It sounds exactly like Eastern Europe in 1989. Is the Arab world on its own wave of democratization?

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.

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This is a summary of Israeli perspectives, blog posts, and media shared online over the last two days, in reaction to the unrest in Egypt. Referenced by Israeli sources as the ‘Egypt Intifada', bloggers are looking closely at the spread of the violence into Sinai and the possibility of igniting violence in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank.

The recent JCPA post by Zvi Mazael describes Tunisia's domino effect and its spread in the region:

Egypt has a strong and stable government. Every political analyst starts with those words. This is true until the circumstances change, and they have. We are seeing a wholly new condition in Egypt and the Arab world. Tunisia's domino effect is alive and kicking. Tunisia's people's revolution is spreading like fire in a thorn field through the region.

Tzvi continues, describing the hesitant Egyptian opposition:

The large opposition parties have not called out to join the demonstrations and have not backed them. The Muslim Brotherhood announced that “a few of their leaders” will participate in riots in a symbolic way. It is known that the Egyptian security forces have warned the Brotherhood's leaders around the country from calling their supporters to join the riots. However it seems like the Muslim Brotherhood leadership is motivated by a different set of considerations, and estimate that it is not yet time to confront the leadership.

How does all this affect Israel and the US? Tzvi writes:

What does this mean for Israel and the USA, who have been worriedly following the turn of events, and are fearing for the stability of Egypt? It is still difficult to predict.
With that, it is important to state that up until now, neither Israel nor the USA have been mentioned in the demonstrations. Egyptians took the streets for democracy, human rights and to improve their living conditions. A new gov't will need to make economic and social reforms. American support will be more necessary than ever.
Additionally, there's no reason for Egypt to harm the existing peace agreement with Israel. I may be wrong, but it is without a doubt that the Tunisian revolution changed the Arab world. We will see the outcomes in the upcoming months.

The popular forum site, rotter.net, has been hosting a number of discussions about the events in Egypt.
As the fighting in the Sinai Peninsula spreads, an unconfirmed post claims protesters have taken over gov't facilities in Northern Sinai:

The link mentioned in the Tweet above, hosts a conversation describing the possibility that riots may fuel an uprising in Gaza:

Spread of the riots into sinai can bring the fire of demonstrations into the Gaza strip. Hamas might be tempted to think that it can help the people in their resistance towards the central gov't. It is also possible that terrorists operating under Al-Quaeda will try to send armed forces to operate in Sinai to add to the chaos in Egypt. I have no doubt that in this case, the Egyptians will react mercilessly. It it clear to them and to Hamas.
Hamas will allow itself to operate only if it is sure that the Egyptian wheel has turned, and that the gov't is dying.

In that same forum thread, a number of users portray their thoughts:

If he'd use even a little bit of the force that his army is capable of, the demonstrations would have stopped. I'm not trying to discount the riots, but only when the army switches to the opposition, will it be the beginning of the end of Egypt's current regime.
We're not there yet.

Another post describes recent actions the Egyptian religion ministry has taken in preparation for tomorrow's planned demonstrations:

- the religion ministry will postpone the Friday prayers to Sunday
- the Egyptian gov't is planning to disconnect internet connectivity in the whole of Egypt if the situation deteriorates tomorrow
- unverified information states Mubarak has taken command over the Egyptian security forces. In preparation for tomorrow he commanded that the army is ready to replace police forces across cities in Egypt.
- Egyptian gov't ordered media blackout tomorrow. Communications, water and electricity will be shut off.

Video footage posted on the Israeli video sharing site flix:

Two Israelis on holiday in Egypt who were caught in the heat of events reported by +972 Magazine:

When we suggested to an Egyptian friend affected by teargas that he buy onions and use it to diminish the affect of the gas, as we do in Israel and the Occupied Territories, he laughed. He then explained his salary is about 300 Egyptian pounds, and one kilo of onions is three pounds.
We got back to our hotel after being at the demonstrations all through the day. During the night, we could hear the protest continuing – people screaming and police vehicles driving through the streets.
This morning we woke up to find  the streets were quiet and full of policemen, but the Facebook page of the anti-government movement was very much alive.

We would be lying if we said we did not envy the Egyptian people: Seeing masses of people out on the streets to protest for what they believe in is something we, as Israelis, can only dream of now. And it is truly frightening to think that similar masses of Israelis will act only when have experienced the levels of oppression and rage that people are experiencing here.

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.

Written by Gilad Lotan · comments (3)
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