17 aug 2013
Haifa mayoral candidate files complaint after Facebook threats
Dr. Itay Gilboa, a mayoral election challenger in the city of Haifa, filed a complaint with police after death threats written in his campaign's Facebook page. Gilboa attached to the complaint the name of the person who posted the comment. "I have no intention of giving in to fringe elements of society," said Gilboa.
Dr. Itay Gilboa, a mayoral election challenger in the city of Haifa, filed a complaint with police after death threats written in his campaign's Facebook page. Gilboa attached to the complaint the name of the person who posted the comment. "I have no intention of giving in to fringe elements of society," said Gilboa.
16 aug 2013
Seaman's response to a demand by the Palestinian chief negotiator for an end to new settlements read: 'Is there a diplomatic way of saying ‘Go F*** yourself’?'
Daniel Seaman, in charge of promoting Israel's image online, ordered to stop posting 'unacceptable' comments
A senior government official responsible for promoting positive images of Israel on social media networks has been ordered to stop posting offensive statements on his Facebook page.
The gagging order followed a series of trenchant comments made by Daniel Seaman, who recently took up the post of head of Israeli public diplomacy on the internet, over the past few months.
They included a response to a demand by the Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, for an end to new settlement expansion that read: "Is there a diplomatic way of saying 'Go F*** yourself'?"
At the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset, Seaman posted: "Does the commencement of the fast of the Ramadan means that Muslims will stop eating each other during the daytime?"
In response to a Church of Scotland report that argued that Jews do not have a divine right to the land, he wrote: "Why do they think we give a flying F*** what you have to say?"
Japanese diplomats complained about comments Seaman made on commemorations for the victims of the 1945 atomic bombs. "I am sick of the Japanese, 'Human Rights' and 'Peace' groups the world over holding their annual self-righteous commemorations for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims," he wrote. "Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the consequence of Japanese aggression. You reap what you sow..."
According to the Jerusalem Post, Seaman's superiors issued several warnings over his Facebook postings.
In a statement, the National Information Directorate said: "Danny Seaman's statements on Facebook are unacceptable and do not express the view of the Israeli government. The directorate instructed Seaman to immediately refrain from making such statements."
Seaman was known for his abrasive approach to the foreign media when he was director of the government press office. Among his initiatives in his new role is a programme to pay university students to post pro-Israel comments on Facebook, Twitter and other internet sites and forums.
Daniel Seaman, in charge of promoting Israel's image online, ordered to stop posting 'unacceptable' comments
A senior government official responsible for promoting positive images of Israel on social media networks has been ordered to stop posting offensive statements on his Facebook page.
The gagging order followed a series of trenchant comments made by Daniel Seaman, who recently took up the post of head of Israeli public diplomacy on the internet, over the past few months.
They included a response to a demand by the Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, for an end to new settlement expansion that read: "Is there a diplomatic way of saying 'Go F*** yourself'?"
At the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset, Seaman posted: "Does the commencement of the fast of the Ramadan means that Muslims will stop eating each other during the daytime?"
In response to a Church of Scotland report that argued that Jews do not have a divine right to the land, he wrote: "Why do they think we give a flying F*** what you have to say?"
Japanese diplomats complained about comments Seaman made on commemorations for the victims of the 1945 atomic bombs. "I am sick of the Japanese, 'Human Rights' and 'Peace' groups the world over holding their annual self-righteous commemorations for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims," he wrote. "Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the consequence of Japanese aggression. You reap what you sow..."
According to the Jerusalem Post, Seaman's superiors issued several warnings over his Facebook postings.
In a statement, the National Information Directorate said: "Danny Seaman's statements on Facebook are unacceptable and do not express the view of the Israeli government. The directorate instructed Seaman to immediately refrain from making such statements."
Seaman was known for his abrasive approach to the foreign media when he was director of the government press office. Among his initiatives in his new role is a programme to pay university students to post pro-Israel comments on Facebook, Twitter and other internet sites and forums.
After being exposed by the Electronic Intifada, the Israeli army issued an apology for an image it published of a lavish mall, allegedly in the besieged Gaza Strip, admitting that the Mall is actually in Malaysia, and claiming that what happened was “an honest mistake”.
The image, with a caption, alleged the huge and extravagant shopping mall is in Gaza. It was published on the English page of the Israeli Army blog.
In its blog, the army said; “Despite what you hear from the media, Gaza is not an open air prison”.
The statement by itself proves there was no “honest mistake’ in the post, and that it was intentional.
Israeli daily, Haaretz, has reported that the blog post of the Israeli military included pictures of fancy hotels, and pictures of Palestinians in Gaza allegedly “enjoying the nightlife scene”.
The Electronic Intifada website exposed issue and revealed that the mall picture Israel is trying to pass as being in Gaza, is actually the Suria KLCC Mall, in Pentronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
After the Electronic Intifada exposed the misleading caption, Haaretz contacted the Israeli army spokesperson unit on its official Twitter account, and the army admitted that the image is not from Gaza, and claimed that what happened was “a mistake made in good conscience”. The army then removed the picture.
Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada, and author of One country; A Bold-proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse, said that before this image was published by the army on its English-Language Website on August 12, the army published the same image on its French language post on August 4.
Abunimah added that the image was then published by the Tribune Juive anti-Palestinian website on the same day; in addition to the fact that other Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian website have also circulated the false image.
Abunimah stated that Israel is trying to distort fact and delude the international public to cover the dire situation in Gaza, and the deadly effects of its illegitimate siege on the coastal region.
He said that, right now, more than %70 of the population in Gaza is dependent on international humanitarian aid, compared with one third of the population in the year 2000.
“The Israeli army’s cynical propaganda is supposed to distract people from the fact that the vast majority of people in Gaza live in deep poverty and a very precarious economic situation, without electricity for 8-12 hours per day, and depend on humanitarian aid, due to Israel.
Gaza’s per capita annual GDP is just over $1,000 dollars. Compare that with $32,800 for Israel.
The lesson: learn the facts and don’t be taken in by Israeli army fabrications.” Abunimah said.
Full Electronic Intifada Article below
Israel army publishes fake image of huge “Gaza shopping mall”
Ali Abunimah – Electronic Intifada
The image, with a caption, alleged the huge and extravagant shopping mall is in Gaza. It was published on the English page of the Israeli Army blog.
In its blog, the army said; “Despite what you hear from the media, Gaza is not an open air prison”.
The statement by itself proves there was no “honest mistake’ in the post, and that it was intentional.
Israeli daily, Haaretz, has reported that the blog post of the Israeli military included pictures of fancy hotels, and pictures of Palestinians in Gaza allegedly “enjoying the nightlife scene”.
The Electronic Intifada website exposed issue and revealed that the mall picture Israel is trying to pass as being in Gaza, is actually the Suria KLCC Mall, in Pentronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
After the Electronic Intifada exposed the misleading caption, Haaretz contacted the Israeli army spokesperson unit on its official Twitter account, and the army admitted that the image is not from Gaza, and claimed that what happened was “a mistake made in good conscience”. The army then removed the picture.
Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada, and author of One country; A Bold-proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse, said that before this image was published by the army on its English-Language Website on August 12, the army published the same image on its French language post on August 4.
Abunimah added that the image was then published by the Tribune Juive anti-Palestinian website on the same day; in addition to the fact that other Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian website have also circulated the false image.
Abunimah stated that Israel is trying to distort fact and delude the international public to cover the dire situation in Gaza, and the deadly effects of its illegitimate siege on the coastal region.
He said that, right now, more than %70 of the population in Gaza is dependent on international humanitarian aid, compared with one third of the population in the year 2000.
“The Israeli army’s cynical propaganda is supposed to distract people from the fact that the vast majority of people in Gaza live in deep poverty and a very precarious economic situation, without electricity for 8-12 hours per day, and depend on humanitarian aid, due to Israel.
Gaza’s per capita annual GDP is just over $1,000 dollars. Compare that with $32,800 for Israel.
The lesson: learn the facts and don’t be taken in by Israeli army fabrications.” Abunimah said.
Full Electronic Intifada Article below
Israel army publishes fake image of huge “Gaza shopping mall”
Ali Abunimah – Electronic Intifada
15 aug 2013
A Facebook post made by Daniel Seaman on August 8th, via Haaretz
Following Israeli media reports on a “covert” government program to pay students for spreading pro-Israel messages on social media, the program director Daniel Seaman’s own social media posts became the subject of unwanted scrutiny—and may end up costing him his job.
His offensive postings have also created a diplomatic incident between Israel and Japan.
As Ali Abunimah reported for the Electronic Intifada on Tuesday, the program itself, which is coordinated through student unions at Israel’s seven universities and structured in a “semi-military” fashion, is not entirely new.
The Electronic Intifada has previously reported on other versions of the program, including an effort run in partnership with the National Union of Israeli Students, in which participants would be awarded stipends of up to $2,000.
At the time, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Jillian C. York compared the program to similar efforts by China, Syria, Bahrain, and Russia. “When a state — be it Bahrain, Israel, Syria or China - needs to stoop to the level of paying citizens to fight its public relations wars, it has already lost,” York wrote.
Attempt to conceal ‘covert’ program leads to exposure The newest iteration of the program apparently came to the attention of the Israeli media as the result of a letter written by program director Daniel Seaman, who works out of the prime minister’s office, to Israel’s public tender committee. In the letter, Seaman, a former head of the Government Press Office, sought to exempt the initiative from the government’s standard public tender process as a means of concealing the astroturfing nature of the program.
According to the Times of Israel, Seaman explained that “the project requires the state’s role to be under the radar, making it appear as if the students are working independently under the auspices of the students’ union.” The article went on to explain that although the “advocacy units” will be convended under the auspices of Israel’s student unions, “they will take their orders from the Prime Minister’s Office advocacy apparatus”.
How not to help Israel’s image on Facebook
Following these initial reports, Haaretz columnist Barak Ravid posted an article questioning the choice of Seaman, outgoing deputy director of the prime minister’s office, to lead the program. Ravid denounced Seaman as an “abusive racist” whose personal Facebook postings revealed a lack of good judgement.
Among the posts cited by Ravid:
Does the commencement of the fast of the Ramadan mean that Muslims will stop eating each other during the daytime?
and
I am sick of the Japanese, ‘Human Rights’ and ‘Peace’ groups the world over holding their annual self righteous commemorations for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the consequence of Japanese aggression. You reap what you sow.
Of the various remarks cited, it was the latter which landed Seaman in the hot seat once publicized by Ravid. The Japanese embassy in Tel Aviv complained about Seaman’s “Hiroshima” remark, and were apparently assured that this reflected only Seaman’s personal views.
Early this morning, Haaretz reported that Seaman had been suspended from his official position.
Israel-Japan gas, construction deals jeopardized
Following Israeli media reports on a “covert” government program to pay students for spreading pro-Israel messages on social media, the program director Daniel Seaman’s own social media posts became the subject of unwanted scrutiny—and may end up costing him his job.
His offensive postings have also created a diplomatic incident between Israel and Japan.
As Ali Abunimah reported for the Electronic Intifada on Tuesday, the program itself, which is coordinated through student unions at Israel’s seven universities and structured in a “semi-military” fashion, is not entirely new.
The Electronic Intifada has previously reported on other versions of the program, including an effort run in partnership with the National Union of Israeli Students, in which participants would be awarded stipends of up to $2,000.
At the time, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Jillian C. York compared the program to similar efforts by China, Syria, Bahrain, and Russia. “When a state — be it Bahrain, Israel, Syria or China - needs to stoop to the level of paying citizens to fight its public relations wars, it has already lost,” York wrote.
Attempt to conceal ‘covert’ program leads to exposure The newest iteration of the program apparently came to the attention of the Israeli media as the result of a letter written by program director Daniel Seaman, who works out of the prime minister’s office, to Israel’s public tender committee. In the letter, Seaman, a former head of the Government Press Office, sought to exempt the initiative from the government’s standard public tender process as a means of concealing the astroturfing nature of the program.
According to the Times of Israel, Seaman explained that “the project requires the state’s role to be under the radar, making it appear as if the students are working independently under the auspices of the students’ union.” The article went on to explain that although the “advocacy units” will be convended under the auspices of Israel’s student unions, “they will take their orders from the Prime Minister’s Office advocacy apparatus”.
How not to help Israel’s image on Facebook
Following these initial reports, Haaretz columnist Barak Ravid posted an article questioning the choice of Seaman, outgoing deputy director of the prime minister’s office, to lead the program. Ravid denounced Seaman as an “abusive racist” whose personal Facebook postings revealed a lack of good judgement.
Among the posts cited by Ravid:
Does the commencement of the fast of the Ramadan mean that Muslims will stop eating each other during the daytime?
and
I am sick of the Japanese, ‘Human Rights’ and ‘Peace’ groups the world over holding their annual self righteous commemorations for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the consequence of Japanese aggression. You reap what you sow.
Of the various remarks cited, it was the latter which landed Seaman in the hot seat once publicized by Ravid. The Japanese embassy in Tel Aviv complained about Seaman’s “Hiroshima” remark, and were apparently assured that this reflected only Seaman’s personal views.
Early this morning, Haaretz reported that Seaman had been suspended from his official position.
Israel-Japan gas, construction deals jeopardized
A woman displays radiation burns suffered in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima (Source)
The potential diplomatic row comes at a sensitive time in Israel-Japan relations. Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida had visited Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan only three weeks prior to the exposure of Seaman’s remarks, meeting with Israeli and Palestinian Authority leaders to discuss a variety of issues.
Prominent in Kishida’s itinerary had been discussions of Japan’s plan for an agro-industrial park in the West Bank, known as the “Corridor of Peace and Prosperity.” The USAID-funded project, a highly problematic effort, has been the subject of previous reporting for The Electronic Intifada by Adri Nieuwhof.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Israel’s talks with Kishida also included the potential involvement of Japan in natural gas exploration off the Israel/Gaza coast, and in the construction of a high-speed railway between Tel Aviv and Eilat.
With Israel deeply concerned about its growing political and economic isolation, the loss of such projects would be a major blow.
The fact that the potential row was set off by the Facebook posts of the very diplomatic official tasked with bolstering the country’s image on social media lends further creedence to York’s obervation: In the global battle for hearts and minds, both online and off, Israel has already lost.
The potential diplomatic row comes at a sensitive time in Israel-Japan relations. Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida had visited Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan only three weeks prior to the exposure of Seaman’s remarks, meeting with Israeli and Palestinian Authority leaders to discuss a variety of issues.
Prominent in Kishida’s itinerary had been discussions of Japan’s plan for an agro-industrial park in the West Bank, known as the “Corridor of Peace and Prosperity.” The USAID-funded project, a highly problematic effort, has been the subject of previous reporting for The Electronic Intifada by Adri Nieuwhof.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Israel’s talks with Kishida also included the potential involvement of Japan in natural gas exploration off the Israel/Gaza coast, and in the construction of a high-speed railway between Tel Aviv and Eilat.
With Israel deeply concerned about its growing political and economic isolation, the loss of such projects would be a major blow.
The fact that the potential row was set off by the Facebook posts of the very diplomatic official tasked with bolstering the country’s image on social media lends further creedence to York’s obervation: In the global battle for hearts and minds, both online and off, Israel has already lost.
An Israeli border guard officer has been discharged following a complaint to Israeli police by Arab member of Knesset Ahmad Tibi, the lawmaker said.
The complaint cited racist anti-Arab comments on the Facebook page of Melvin Bar Sheshet Aboudarham, a statement from Tibi's office said.
Among other racist remarks on Aboudarham’s Facebook page were “Death to Arabs” and “Jewish dies - funeral. Arab dies - hopefully”, the statement explained.
Aboudarham was also known for racist verbal attack against a female Israeli leftwing activist who he described as a “backward leftist” because she was defending a Palestinian family.
According to Tibi, the police responded to his complaint.
“After examining the complaint, the commander of border guards decided to discharge the officer because his remarks were unacceptable and foreign to the values which each police officer should enjoy.”
Commenting on the decision, Tibi said: “We will never yield to racism which has become a major trend in the Israeli street supported by Knesset members and racist ministers who have been trying to legalize racism through draft laws they propose.”
The complaint cited racist anti-Arab comments on the Facebook page of Melvin Bar Sheshet Aboudarham, a statement from Tibi's office said.
Among other racist remarks on Aboudarham’s Facebook page were “Death to Arabs” and “Jewish dies - funeral. Arab dies - hopefully”, the statement explained.
Aboudarham was also known for racist verbal attack against a female Israeli leftwing activist who he described as a “backward leftist” because she was defending a Palestinian family.
According to Tibi, the police responded to his complaint.
“After examining the complaint, the commander of border guards decided to discharge the officer because his remarks were unacceptable and foreign to the values which each police officer should enjoy.”
Commenting on the decision, Tibi said: “We will never yield to racism which has become a major trend in the Israeli street supported by Knesset members and racist ministers who have been trying to legalize racism through draft laws they propose.”
Army had initially included the photograph of the fancy mall in Malaysia in order to show there's no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The IDF on Thursday removed from its blog a photograph of a Malaysian mall that it had incorrectly labeled as the Gaza Mall in Gaza City.
“It was an innocent mistake,” the IDF said in response. “The picture was removed when we learned [of the error].
It added that 17 other accurate photographs were posted on the website.
The IDF initially included a photograph of an upscale mall in Malaysia in a post on life in Gaza, designed to show that there is no humanitarian crisis in the strip.
“Despite what you may hear from the media, Gaza is not an ‘open-air prison.’ This summer, Gazans are out in force, enjoying themselves in beautiful beaches and hotels, and doing their shopping in pristine grocery stores and markets heaving with fresh produce. Gaza even boasts an Olympic-size swimming pool,” the IDF wrote in a blog post on Monday.
The IDF on Thursday removed from its blog a photograph of a Malaysian mall that it had incorrectly labeled as the Gaza Mall in Gaza City.
“It was an innocent mistake,” the IDF said in response. “The picture was removed when we learned [of the error].
It added that 17 other accurate photographs were posted on the website.
The IDF initially included a photograph of an upscale mall in Malaysia in a post on life in Gaza, designed to show that there is no humanitarian crisis in the strip.
“Despite what you may hear from the media, Gaza is not an ‘open-air prison.’ This summer, Gazans are out in force, enjoying themselves in beautiful beaches and hotels, and doing their shopping in pristine grocery stores and markets heaving with fresh produce. Gaza even boasts an Olympic-size swimming pool,” the IDF wrote in a blog post on Monday.
“Here are some of the places you can visit in Gaza on an ordinary summer’s day,” it continued, showcasing small slideshows with pictures of Gazan beaches, hotels, shops and night life venues.
The photo on the blog of a multi-story Malaysian mall in Kuala Lampur bore a caption that identified the structure as being in Gaza and stated, “The shopping mall, for the latest fashion from overseas.”
The incorrect post was first publicized on Wednesday in a blog by Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian American who is the the co-founder of the Electronic Intifada. In his blog on the Electronic Intifada website, he showed a photograph of the mall from Kuala Lampur, so that readers could see how it matched the IDF photograph.
On Thursday, the IDF removed the photograph from its site, but kept in place the blog post depicting life in Gaza.
At the top of the post, the IDF wrote a correction which stated, “A photo previously included in this article was incorrectly sourced. It has been removed.” It also posted the same message on Twitter.
The photo on the blog of a multi-story Malaysian mall in Kuala Lampur bore a caption that identified the structure as being in Gaza and stated, “The shopping mall, for the latest fashion from overseas.”
The incorrect post was first publicized on Wednesday in a blog by Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian American who is the the co-founder of the Electronic Intifada. In his blog on the Electronic Intifada website, he showed a photograph of the mall from Kuala Lampur, so that readers could see how it matched the IDF photograph.
On Thursday, the IDF removed the photograph from its site, but kept in place the blog post depicting life in Gaza.
At the top of the post, the IDF wrote a correction which stated, “A photo previously included in this article was incorrectly sourced. It has been removed.” It also posted the same message on Twitter.
14 aug 2013
An enormous shopping mall the Israeli army claims is in the Gaza Strip. Source: IDF Blog
In one of its periodic efforts to deny the devastating effects of its siege of Gaza, the Israeli occupation army published a blog post on 12 August claiming that Palestinians in Gaza are “out in force, enjoying themselves in sparkling new malls, beautiful beaches and hotels, and doing their shopping in pristine grocery stores and markets heaving with fresh produce.” (screenshot of entire “IDF blog” post).
The “IDF blog” includes the impressive photo above of a shopping mall where Palestinians in Gaza are supposedly shopping for the latest imported fashions.
I showed the photo to The Electronic Intifada’s correspondent in Gaza, Rami Almeghari. His reaction: “I can assure you that there is no such a mall in Gaza.” Rami is quite right.
Fake image If you do a Google Image search using the image from the “IDF” blog post, the same image turns up associated with the Metro Plaza shopping mall in Kolkata, India as well as several other places.
In one of its periodic efforts to deny the devastating effects of its siege of Gaza, the Israeli occupation army published a blog post on 12 August claiming that Palestinians in Gaza are “out in force, enjoying themselves in sparkling new malls, beautiful beaches and hotels, and doing their shopping in pristine grocery stores and markets heaving with fresh produce.” (screenshot of entire “IDF blog” post).
The “IDF blog” includes the impressive photo above of a shopping mall where Palestinians in Gaza are supposedly shopping for the latest imported fashions.
I showed the photo to The Electronic Intifada’s correspondent in Gaza, Rami Almeghari. His reaction: “I can assure you that there is no such a mall in Gaza.” Rami is quite right.
Fake image If you do a Google Image search using the image from the “IDF” blog post, the same image turns up associated with the Metro Plaza shopping mall in Kolkata, India as well as several other places.
A Google image search turned up many examples, like this one, of the image associated with other malls.
Where is it really? But the “Gaza mall” photo published by the Israeli army is actually an image of the Suria KLCC Mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as numerous user-generated photographs on the travel review site TripAdvisor.com attest.
You can also see many people shopping at the mall – in Malaysia – in this video:
Where is it really? But the “Gaza mall” photo published by the Israeli army is actually an image of the Suria KLCC Mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as numerous user-generated photographs on the travel review site TripAdvisor.com attest.
You can also see many people shopping at the mall – in Malaysia – in this video:
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Israeli army sources: anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic blogs Before publishing it on 12 August on its English-language website, the Israeli army published the same post in French on 4 August.
It was then published by the anti-Palestinian website Tribune Juive the same day. But some of the material had already circulated on many other Islamophobic websites long before. For example, the same Kuala Lumpur mall photo, purportedly in Gaza, appeared on a virulently Islamophobic blog called “Barenaked Islam” in April 2012, and was disseminated on Facebook by “Geert Wilders supporters,” a page dedicated to the Islamophobic Dutch politician. |
It also appeared on “Religion of Peace,” another anti-Muslim hate site.
It would appear that the Israeli army gets its information about Gaza from Islamophobic hate sites.
Forced dependency The Kuala Lumpur shopping mall is vastly bigger than any commercial facility anywhere in Gaza.
But another image, the supermarket shown on the “IDF” blog, appears to be the Metro supermarket in Gaza. I didn’t visit it, but I did visit the Abu Dallal supermarket in Nuseirat refugee camp.
I was told that Abu Dallal is one of largest supermarkets in Gaza. By American, European, or Jordanian standards it is not very big, smaller than an average CVS or Boots drugstore.
More important than its size, however, is that like other stores in Gaza, it is packed full of Israeli goods.
That’s one of the ways the Israeli blockade creates dependency: While Gaza industry and agriculture are devastated by the siege, Israel is happy enough to see its own companies profiting from people in Gaza, siphoning off what little income they have, whether from work, humanitarian aid or remittances abroad, by selling them Israeli goods.
Poverty and dependency are the real effects of siege But Israel is much more restrictive when it comes to supplies that meet basic needs and could allow Gaza to move out of dependency. There is, for example, a shortage of 250 schools for Gaza’s children, which cannot be built due to the lack of building supplies.
And the reality is that while there is food in Gaza, “severe poverty has increased over years of closure and because of travel restrictions,” Gisha, an Israeli nongovermental organization that monitors the siege, noted in a recent factsheet. [PDF]
More than 70 percent of the Gaza population receives some form of humanitarian aid, compared with one third in the year 2000.
For imports of raw materials and many basic goods, Gaza’s economy remains heavily dependent on underground tunnels to Egypt, as I saw myself during my visit, and as Gisha also documents.
Since the Egyptian military coup on 3 July, the Egyptian army, which works closely with Israel, has been instensifying its effort to destroy the tunnels.
Exports crushed Israel continues to crush Gaza’s export industries. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israel has allowed a total of 94 trucks out of Gaza in 2013 – that’s about a dozen a month from a population of almost 1.7 million people. Insignificant.
By contrast, in 2007, the year before the siege began to bite, more than 5,000 trucks were allowed out of Gaza. In 2001 it was 15,000.
Cynical propaganda The Israeli army’s cynical propaganda is supposed to distract people from the fact that the vast majority of people in Gaza live in deep poverty and a very precarious economic situation, without electricity for 8-12 hours per day, and depend on humanitarian aid, due to Israel.
Gaza’s per capita annual GDP is just over $1,000 dollars. [PDF] Compare that with $32,800 for Israel.
The lesson: learn the facts and don’t be taken in by Israeli army fabrications.
With thanks to Twitter user @sallyidwedar who initially spotted “IDF” fakery, and Omar Ghraieb for answering my queries about Gaza’s supermarkets.
It would appear that the Israeli army gets its information about Gaza from Islamophobic hate sites.
Forced dependency The Kuala Lumpur shopping mall is vastly bigger than any commercial facility anywhere in Gaza.
But another image, the supermarket shown on the “IDF” blog, appears to be the Metro supermarket in Gaza. I didn’t visit it, but I did visit the Abu Dallal supermarket in Nuseirat refugee camp.
I was told that Abu Dallal is one of largest supermarkets in Gaza. By American, European, or Jordanian standards it is not very big, smaller than an average CVS or Boots drugstore.
More important than its size, however, is that like other stores in Gaza, it is packed full of Israeli goods.
That’s one of the ways the Israeli blockade creates dependency: While Gaza industry and agriculture are devastated by the siege, Israel is happy enough to see its own companies profiting from people in Gaza, siphoning off what little income they have, whether from work, humanitarian aid or remittances abroad, by selling them Israeli goods.
Poverty and dependency are the real effects of siege But Israel is much more restrictive when it comes to supplies that meet basic needs and could allow Gaza to move out of dependency. There is, for example, a shortage of 250 schools for Gaza’s children, which cannot be built due to the lack of building supplies.
And the reality is that while there is food in Gaza, “severe poverty has increased over years of closure and because of travel restrictions,” Gisha, an Israeli nongovermental organization that monitors the siege, noted in a recent factsheet. [PDF]
More than 70 percent of the Gaza population receives some form of humanitarian aid, compared with one third in the year 2000.
For imports of raw materials and many basic goods, Gaza’s economy remains heavily dependent on underground tunnels to Egypt, as I saw myself during my visit, and as Gisha also documents.
Since the Egyptian military coup on 3 July, the Egyptian army, which works closely with Israel, has been instensifying its effort to destroy the tunnels.
Exports crushed Israel continues to crush Gaza’s export industries. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israel has allowed a total of 94 trucks out of Gaza in 2013 – that’s about a dozen a month from a population of almost 1.7 million people. Insignificant.
By contrast, in 2007, the year before the siege began to bite, more than 5,000 trucks were allowed out of Gaza. In 2001 it was 15,000.
Cynical propaganda The Israeli army’s cynical propaganda is supposed to distract people from the fact that the vast majority of people in Gaza live in deep poverty and a very precarious economic situation, without electricity for 8-12 hours per day, and depend on humanitarian aid, due to Israel.
Gaza’s per capita annual GDP is just over $1,000 dollars. [PDF] Compare that with $32,800 for Israel.
The lesson: learn the facts and don’t be taken in by Israeli army fabrications.
With thanks to Twitter user @sallyidwedar who initially spotted “IDF” fakery, and Omar Ghraieb for answering my queries about Gaza’s supermarkets.
Read story on the link...
13 aug 2013
(L. to R.): Avi Mayer, Brian Thomas and Barak Raz, the three hasbarateers.
by Richard Silverstein
David Lange and his Israellycool partner in crime, Brian Thomas, have been cooking with gas lately. Not content merely to shill for Israel, they’ve outdone themselves in a few recent heroic acts of service to the “Jewish fatherland.”
Thomas recently tweeted that the IDF should’ve killed a 17-year-old Palestinian boy who the NYT’s Jodi Rudoren portrayed as someone who threw stones to resist Israeli Occupation:
“I am pissed off that he’s being arrested by soldiers in the middle of the night for the umpteenth time. Because he should have been shot and killed already.”
But we’re not surprised because in January 2012, he tweeted that I should be killed:
Is there a way to excommunicate a Jew…Does it involve firearms?
by Richard Silverstein
David Lange and his Israellycool partner in crime, Brian Thomas, have been cooking with gas lately. Not content merely to shill for Israel, they’ve outdone themselves in a few recent heroic acts of service to the “Jewish fatherland.”
Thomas recently tweeted that the IDF should’ve killed a 17-year-old Palestinian boy who the NYT’s Jodi Rudoren portrayed as someone who threw stones to resist Israeli Occupation:
“I am pissed off that he’s being arrested by soldiers in the middle of the night for the umpteenth time. Because he should have been shot and killed already.”
But we’re not surprised because in January 2012, he tweeted that I should be killed:
Is there a way to excommunicate a Jew…Does it involve firearms?
Ironically, Twitter has taken recent urgent action to protect British women who received Twitter death threats by suspending accounts of the knuckleheads who posted them. The UK police have also launched investigations of some of the perpetrators.
Twitter, however, doesn’t find that homicidal discourse by pro-Israel advocates merits the same level of concern. It refused to take any action against Thomas when he threatened me, and will no doubt refuse to take action for his death-wish tweet concerning the Palestinian boy.
What’s interesting about Abunimah’s post is that he’s found a photo of three pro-Israel chums, Brian Thomas, Avi Mayer, chief social media flack for the Jewish Agency and Barak Raz, one of the IDF’s major social media flacks. Frankly, I can’t figure out what Mayer does for his pay except shill for the bloated, mismanaged JA and its political boss, Natan Sharansky. Raz’s job I understand better: the IDF is one of the most lethal armies in the world and it sure needs the sort of flackery that Raz offers.
Twitter, however, doesn’t find that homicidal discourse by pro-Israel advocates merits the same level of concern. It refused to take any action against Thomas when he threatened me, and will no doubt refuse to take action for his death-wish tweet concerning the Palestinian boy.
What’s interesting about Abunimah’s post is that he’s found a photo of three pro-Israel chums, Brian Thomas, Avi Mayer, chief social media flack for the Jewish Agency and Barak Raz, one of the IDF’s major social media flacks. Frankly, I can’t figure out what Mayer does for his pay except shill for the bloated, mismanaged JA and its political boss, Natan Sharansky. Raz’s job I understand better: the IDF is one of the most lethal armies in the world and it sure needs the sort of flackery that Raz offers.
Alicia Keys with Thank Israeli Soldiers’ Rachel Greenberg
But placing the three of them together indicates a level of social intimacy few were aware of previously. It makes perfect sense because while Mayer and Raz possess a bit more polish than the salivating, uncouth Thomas, they’re extensions of him. They are the smiling face of Likudism and the national security state, while Thomas is the ugly, racist, homicidal dark side. One wonders whether either Mayer or Raz feel any sense of shame or embarrassment for being associated with Thomas’ vileness; or whether they’ve expressed any disapproval of him.
Last September, when another pro-Israel cyberwarrior, Semion Kras, hacked and defaced my site, Thomas wrote proudly that he’d sought out Kras and doubtless drank a few beers to celebrate this act of sophomoric pro-Israelism. That makes Thomas an aider and abettor of Israeli cyber-war. Not exactly the sort of cyber-warfare that Raz promotes from his perch as IDF spokes-flack. But close enough. A nod is as good as a wink for the hasbarafia.
Now for Thomas’ partner in crime: Alex Kane exposed the lies Lange spun concerning Alicia Keys’ recent BDS-busting appearance in Israel. Keys wasn’t satisfied merely with performing in Israel. She allowed herself to be co-opted by the Israel advocacy machine. She met Rachel Greenberg, who’s affiliated with Thank Israeli Soldiers, a pro-military NGO. Greenberg got a photo of herself escorting Keys on a guided tour of the group’s Jerusalem office, located in the home of a prominent Republican American-Jewish couple in Occupied East Jerusalem.
Lange was so pleased to be able to trumpet this example of co-opting an international celebrity on behalf of the IDF that he plastered the news (and photo) all over his blog:
“I have it on good authority that the photo was taken in the old city of Jerusalem, at the Thank Israeli Soldiers office, a group that mostly sends care packages to, and hosts Shabbat meals for, IDF soldiers,” reported “Aussie Dave.”
You won’t be able to find the post at his blog because he deleted it. Apparently, either Greenberg or more likely Thank Israeli Soldiers (or perhaps the PM himself) was pissed that Keys might be placed in an embarrassing predicament having, in effect, semi-publicly endorsed an army that kills Palestinians regularly. The hasbara machine went into overdrive, and in no time Lange was back-pedalling from his previous story.
At first, he confirmed the photo’s authenticity, but explained he was asked to remove it (presumably to protect Keys’ reputation and the chance that the hasbara apparatus might be able to exploit her fame at some later date):
“It was from Facebook and was genuine. I can’t go into details as to why I was asked to take it down, but I acceded to the request once I realize there was an issue.”
This comment too disappeared. The next thing we know, Lange is claiming the photo was not authentic and that this was why he deleted the post:
“I was led to believe she visited there and then my source was told this was not the case. So I could not leave my post up… What I can tell you is I was under no pressure to pull it, not from Alicia Keys nor anyone connected with her. As much as I would have loved it to be true, once I was told my initial info was wrong, I had to pull the post for credibility’s sake.”
Don’t ya just love it when an inveterate liar tells you he did something commendable in order to protect his good name and reputation? Alex Kane was too polite to say so in his post, but I’ll say it here: Lange is a liar. Perhaps Lange lied to protect Rachel Greenberg and her job. So it’s not a lie out of a malignant motive. But it’s a lie nonetheless. He’s not the only liar here. The NGO staffer who told Alex Kane Keys hadn’t been to the office likely lied too. They’re all tied up in a knot of lies. Isn’t that just like the hasbara machine in general?
Do you remember the time Lange discovered a “David Silverstein” from Seattle was prosecuted for welfare scam? Lange trumpeted that news too on his site, based on his review of personal photos online which show that I have a relative named “David.” From there it was only a hop, skip and a jump to claiming my brother was the same David Silverstein. Only problem is he got it wrong, dead-wrong. I have no brother named David. Neither have I or anyone in my family been accused of any crime including welfare fraud. Tant pis for poor Duvidel. He’ll have to continue his crawl through the sewers till he finds something more suitable.
Returning to Keys’ visit with the troops, her management released a statement which, when read carefully, doesn’t deny that Keys’ was in the NGO’s office though it appears to (unfortunately Kane didn’t notice the nuance when he wrote his post):
“There was no planned visit with any group Israeli or Palestinian.”
The key here is “planned visit.” It’s entirely possible that Keys met Greenberg in the run-up to her concert, that Greenberg invited her spontaneously to visit to cheer the troops, and Keys did so in an unplanned manner. As far as I’m concerned, this is a non-denial denial from Keys’ folks.
Lange and Thomas are the vanguard of the Israeli propaganda machine. They’re cheap knock-off representations of hasbara, but they’ll do.
Yesterday, Haaretz publicized another disgusting iteration of the hasbara apparatus. This one concerned Danny Seaman, whose prior claim to fame was working in the government press office, where he bullied foreign journalists who didn’t toe the party line. He threatened not to renew their work permits.
After failing to enter Knesset on the Likud party list, Seaman’s been rewarded by Bibi with a seat in the prime minister’s office. Seaman will direct a new social media initiative which will partner with the Israeli university student union. He will recruit student leaders at each of Israel’s seven universities. They in turn will recruit a cadre of Israel advocates who will monitor online sites and post paid propaganda on Israel’s behalf. The kicker is that these hasbara flacks will not identity themselves as being associated with this project nor will they admit they are being paid to flack for Israel.
The seven student leaders will receive full scholarships to be paid from a $750,000 fund the prime minister is setting aside for this purpose. Let’s hear it for debasing Israeli academia by co-opting it on behalf of the propaganda apparatus. Not to mention that this will be music to the ears of those supporting BDS and academic boycott. Once Israel’s universities become part of the government’s nationalist agenda it becomes that much easier to label them political tools rather than legitimate and independent in their pursuit of knowledge.
There are several important elements in this development. First, it signals the further corruption of online discourse regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Instead of championing Israel’s cause in the online world as the government believes it is doing, it’s generating disgust among those who populate that world.
Frankly, I will warn the pro-Israel commenters who publish here that henceforth I will consider all of them either paid shills or potential paid shills for Israel’s Likudist government. If you’re disturbed by the short-shrift and disrespect I accord you, you don’t have to go far to look for the reason. Your own prime minister. He’s the one who’s made you all suspect. Take it up with Bibi and his hasbarafioso, Danny Seaman.
The second element that’s important is that Israel is displaying its desperation in believing that such a propaganda operation will have any material positive impact on Israel’s status in the world. In fact, this will further lower Israel’s status. Instead of investing its energy in pursuing peace, Israel provokes a propaganda war in the social media outlets. It’s a sad, sordid thing.
The final element that is important to note is that the Israeli government is increasingly co-opting willing NGOs to become semi-official extensions of the government itself in its propaganda wars. Groups like Im Tirzu, StandWithUs, The Israel Project, MEMRI, NGO Monitor, and now the Israel Student Union have lost their standing (if they ever had one) as independent groups. They are cogs in the machine and fighting a dirty war.
Of course, it would be helpful to find a smoking gun indicating the government funded the groups directly. But there are more than enough far-right Jewish donors to substitute for official government funding. Besides, the government, while not sophisticated, is slick enough to understand the damage that could be done by directly funding such groups (not to mention that they’d have to register as foreign agents here in the U.S.).
But placing the three of them together indicates a level of social intimacy few were aware of previously. It makes perfect sense because while Mayer and Raz possess a bit more polish than the salivating, uncouth Thomas, they’re extensions of him. They are the smiling face of Likudism and the national security state, while Thomas is the ugly, racist, homicidal dark side. One wonders whether either Mayer or Raz feel any sense of shame or embarrassment for being associated with Thomas’ vileness; or whether they’ve expressed any disapproval of him.
Last September, when another pro-Israel cyberwarrior, Semion Kras, hacked and defaced my site, Thomas wrote proudly that he’d sought out Kras and doubtless drank a few beers to celebrate this act of sophomoric pro-Israelism. That makes Thomas an aider and abettor of Israeli cyber-war. Not exactly the sort of cyber-warfare that Raz promotes from his perch as IDF spokes-flack. But close enough. A nod is as good as a wink for the hasbarafia.
Now for Thomas’ partner in crime: Alex Kane exposed the lies Lange spun concerning Alicia Keys’ recent BDS-busting appearance in Israel. Keys wasn’t satisfied merely with performing in Israel. She allowed herself to be co-opted by the Israel advocacy machine. She met Rachel Greenberg, who’s affiliated with Thank Israeli Soldiers, a pro-military NGO. Greenberg got a photo of herself escorting Keys on a guided tour of the group’s Jerusalem office, located in the home of a prominent Republican American-Jewish couple in Occupied East Jerusalem.
Lange was so pleased to be able to trumpet this example of co-opting an international celebrity on behalf of the IDF that he plastered the news (and photo) all over his blog:
“I have it on good authority that the photo was taken in the old city of Jerusalem, at the Thank Israeli Soldiers office, a group that mostly sends care packages to, and hosts Shabbat meals for, IDF soldiers,” reported “Aussie Dave.”
You won’t be able to find the post at his blog because he deleted it. Apparently, either Greenberg or more likely Thank Israeli Soldiers (or perhaps the PM himself) was pissed that Keys might be placed in an embarrassing predicament having, in effect, semi-publicly endorsed an army that kills Palestinians regularly. The hasbara machine went into overdrive, and in no time Lange was back-pedalling from his previous story.
At first, he confirmed the photo’s authenticity, but explained he was asked to remove it (presumably to protect Keys’ reputation and the chance that the hasbara apparatus might be able to exploit her fame at some later date):
“It was from Facebook and was genuine. I can’t go into details as to why I was asked to take it down, but I acceded to the request once I realize there was an issue.”
This comment too disappeared. The next thing we know, Lange is claiming the photo was not authentic and that this was why he deleted the post:
“I was led to believe she visited there and then my source was told this was not the case. So I could not leave my post up… What I can tell you is I was under no pressure to pull it, not from Alicia Keys nor anyone connected with her. As much as I would have loved it to be true, once I was told my initial info was wrong, I had to pull the post for credibility’s sake.”
Don’t ya just love it when an inveterate liar tells you he did something commendable in order to protect his good name and reputation? Alex Kane was too polite to say so in his post, but I’ll say it here: Lange is a liar. Perhaps Lange lied to protect Rachel Greenberg and her job. So it’s not a lie out of a malignant motive. But it’s a lie nonetheless. He’s not the only liar here. The NGO staffer who told Alex Kane Keys hadn’t been to the office likely lied too. They’re all tied up in a knot of lies. Isn’t that just like the hasbara machine in general?
Do you remember the time Lange discovered a “David Silverstein” from Seattle was prosecuted for welfare scam? Lange trumpeted that news too on his site, based on his review of personal photos online which show that I have a relative named “David.” From there it was only a hop, skip and a jump to claiming my brother was the same David Silverstein. Only problem is he got it wrong, dead-wrong. I have no brother named David. Neither have I or anyone in my family been accused of any crime including welfare fraud. Tant pis for poor Duvidel. He’ll have to continue his crawl through the sewers till he finds something more suitable.
Returning to Keys’ visit with the troops, her management released a statement which, when read carefully, doesn’t deny that Keys’ was in the NGO’s office though it appears to (unfortunately Kane didn’t notice the nuance when he wrote his post):
“There was no planned visit with any group Israeli or Palestinian.”
The key here is “planned visit.” It’s entirely possible that Keys met Greenberg in the run-up to her concert, that Greenberg invited her spontaneously to visit to cheer the troops, and Keys did so in an unplanned manner. As far as I’m concerned, this is a non-denial denial from Keys’ folks.
Lange and Thomas are the vanguard of the Israeli propaganda machine. They’re cheap knock-off representations of hasbara, but they’ll do.
Yesterday, Haaretz publicized another disgusting iteration of the hasbara apparatus. This one concerned Danny Seaman, whose prior claim to fame was working in the government press office, where he bullied foreign journalists who didn’t toe the party line. He threatened not to renew their work permits.
After failing to enter Knesset on the Likud party list, Seaman’s been rewarded by Bibi with a seat in the prime minister’s office. Seaman will direct a new social media initiative which will partner with the Israeli university student union. He will recruit student leaders at each of Israel’s seven universities. They in turn will recruit a cadre of Israel advocates who will monitor online sites and post paid propaganda on Israel’s behalf. The kicker is that these hasbara flacks will not identity themselves as being associated with this project nor will they admit they are being paid to flack for Israel.
The seven student leaders will receive full scholarships to be paid from a $750,000 fund the prime minister is setting aside for this purpose. Let’s hear it for debasing Israeli academia by co-opting it on behalf of the propaganda apparatus. Not to mention that this will be music to the ears of those supporting BDS and academic boycott. Once Israel’s universities become part of the government’s nationalist agenda it becomes that much easier to label them political tools rather than legitimate and independent in their pursuit of knowledge.
There are several important elements in this development. First, it signals the further corruption of online discourse regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Instead of championing Israel’s cause in the online world as the government believes it is doing, it’s generating disgust among those who populate that world.
Frankly, I will warn the pro-Israel commenters who publish here that henceforth I will consider all of them either paid shills or potential paid shills for Israel’s Likudist government. If you’re disturbed by the short-shrift and disrespect I accord you, you don’t have to go far to look for the reason. Your own prime minister. He’s the one who’s made you all suspect. Take it up with Bibi and his hasbarafioso, Danny Seaman.
The second element that’s important is that Israel is displaying its desperation in believing that such a propaganda operation will have any material positive impact on Israel’s status in the world. In fact, this will further lower Israel’s status. Instead of investing its energy in pursuing peace, Israel provokes a propaganda war in the social media outlets. It’s a sad, sordid thing.
The final element that is important to note is that the Israeli government is increasingly co-opting willing NGOs to become semi-official extensions of the government itself in its propaganda wars. Groups like Im Tirzu, StandWithUs, The Israel Project, MEMRI, NGO Monitor, and now the Israel Student Union have lost their standing (if they ever had one) as independent groups. They are cogs in the machine and fighting a dirty war.
Of course, it would be helpful to find a smoking gun indicating the government funded the groups directly. But there are more than enough far-right Jewish donors to substitute for official government funding. Besides, the government, while not sophisticated, is slick enough to understand the damage that could be done by directly funding such groups (not to mention that they’d have to register as foreign agents here in the U.S.).
In a campaign to improve its image abroad, the Israeli government plans to provide scholarships to hundreds of students at its seven universities in exchange for their making pro-Israel Facebook posts and tweets to foreign audiences.
The students making the posts will not reveal online that they are funded by the Israeli government, according to correspondence about the plan revealed in the Haaretz newspaper.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, which will oversee the programme, confirmed its launch and wrote that its aim was to “strengthen Israeli public diplomacy and make it fit the changes in the means of information consumption”.
The government’s hand is to be invisible to the foreign audiences. Daniel Seaman, the official who has been planning the effort, wrote in a letter on 5 August to a body authorising government projects that “the idea requires not making the role of the state stand out and therefore it is necessary to adhere to great involvement of the students themselves, without political linkage or affiliation”.
According to the plan, students are to be organised into units at each university, with a chief co-ordinator who receives a full scholarship, three desk co-ordinators for language, graphics and research who receive lesser scholarships and students termed “activists” who will receive a “minimal scholarship”.
Mr Netanyahu’s aides said the main topics the units would address related to political and security issues, combating calls to boycott Israel and combating efforts to question Israel’s legitimacy. The officials said the students would stress Israeli democratic values, freedom of religion and pluralism.
But Alon Liel, the doveish former director-general of the Israeli foreign ministry, criticised the plan as “quite disgusting”. “University students should be educated to think freely. When you buy the mind of a student, he becomes a puppet of the Israeli government grant,” he said. “You can give a grant to do social work or teach but not to do propaganda on controversial issues for the government.”
The students making the posts will not reveal online that they are funded by the Israeli government, according to correspondence about the plan revealed in the Haaretz newspaper.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, which will oversee the programme, confirmed its launch and wrote that its aim was to “strengthen Israeli public diplomacy and make it fit the changes in the means of information consumption”.
The government’s hand is to be invisible to the foreign audiences. Daniel Seaman, the official who has been planning the effort, wrote in a letter on 5 August to a body authorising government projects that “the idea requires not making the role of the state stand out and therefore it is necessary to adhere to great involvement of the students themselves, without political linkage or affiliation”.
According to the plan, students are to be organised into units at each university, with a chief co-ordinator who receives a full scholarship, three desk co-ordinators for language, graphics and research who receive lesser scholarships and students termed “activists” who will receive a “minimal scholarship”.
Mr Netanyahu’s aides said the main topics the units would address related to political and security issues, combating calls to boycott Israel and combating efforts to question Israel’s legitimacy. The officials said the students would stress Israeli democratic values, freedom of religion and pluralism.
But Alon Liel, the doveish former director-general of the Israeli foreign ministry, criticised the plan as “quite disgusting”. “University students should be educated to think freely. When you buy the mind of a student, he becomes a puppet of the Israeli government grant,” he said. “You can give a grant to do social work or teach but not to do propaganda on controversial issues for the government.”
Screenshot shows Israelis in an organized digital “war room” posting tweets against the flotilla to Gaza in the summer of 2011.
The Israeli prime minister’s office is organizing Israeli students in “covert” and “semi-military” style units to tweet and post pro-Israel messages on social media without revealing they are doing it as part of an organized government campaign, Israeli media reports today.
But as The Electronic Intifada has previously revealed, this effort is not entirely new.
Haaretz reports today:
The Prime Minister’s Office is planning to form, in collaboration with the National Union of Israeli Students, “covert units” within Israel’s seven universities that will engage in online public diplomacy (hasbara).
The students participating in the project, who would post on social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter on Israel’s behalf, will be part of the public diplomacy arm of the PMO [prime minister’s office], but would not identify themselves as official government representatives.
It is clear that the Israeli government views universities and students as tools in its international propaganda, as a government document, cited by Haaretz, reveals:
“In light of the success in the battle for awareness during the Pillar of Defense Operation [the Israeli military operation against the Gaza Strip in November of last year] and the experience gained in activating a large number of situation rooms on university campuses and work with students in general, it was decided to establish a permanent structure of activity on the Internet through the students at academic institutions in the country.”
Haaretz adds that it is apparent from the document “that a diplomacy group will be set up at each university and structured in a semi-military fashion.”
Israel’s covert use of social media not new
But this effort is not new. Last year, The Electronic Intifada revealed that the National Union of Israeli Students was already a full-time partner in Israeli government propaganda and set up a project to pay Israeli university students up to $2,000 to spread propaganda online.
As The Electronic Intifada also reported, the National Union of Israeli Students sent its members for government propaganda training and described students as Israel’s “pretty face,” to be deployed as a propaganda auxiliary force.
The union set as one of its organizational goals, working “in cooperation with government ministries and additional organizations, to improve the explanation [hasbara] of Israel’s position around the world.”
At the time, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Jillian C. York compared Israel’s online propaganda efforts to those of China, Syria and Bahrain.
“I have seen considerable efforts, both by Israeli companies like Ahava and–apparently–government-supported groups, to utilize some of the same techniques as Syria and Bahrain, particularly on Twitter,” York also previously wrote.
Such Israeli government efforts, which attempt to disguise official propaganda as the work of ordinary concerned citizens and students, date back at least to December 2008, during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead assault on Gaza.
Every computer user is a “kind of soldier”
At that time Israeli social media strategist Niv Calderon wrote that he was hired by the foreign ministry for a first of its kind effort to create a digital “war room” to promote Israel’s propaganda message internationally.
Calderon was later involved in similar organized social media efforts to discredit the Gaza flotillas, and in one report on Israeli TV from June 2011, Calderon can be seen managing a social media “war room” working against that summer’s flotilla to Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister’s office is organizing Israeli students in “covert” and “semi-military” style units to tweet and post pro-Israel messages on social media without revealing they are doing it as part of an organized government campaign, Israeli media reports today.
But as The Electronic Intifada has previously revealed, this effort is not entirely new.
Haaretz reports today:
The Prime Minister’s Office is planning to form, in collaboration with the National Union of Israeli Students, “covert units” within Israel’s seven universities that will engage in online public diplomacy (hasbara).
The students participating in the project, who would post on social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter on Israel’s behalf, will be part of the public diplomacy arm of the PMO [prime minister’s office], but would not identify themselves as official government representatives.
It is clear that the Israeli government views universities and students as tools in its international propaganda, as a government document, cited by Haaretz, reveals:
“In light of the success in the battle for awareness during the Pillar of Defense Operation [the Israeli military operation against the Gaza Strip in November of last year] and the experience gained in activating a large number of situation rooms on university campuses and work with students in general, it was decided to establish a permanent structure of activity on the Internet through the students at academic institutions in the country.”
Haaretz adds that it is apparent from the document “that a diplomacy group will be set up at each university and structured in a semi-military fashion.”
Israel’s covert use of social media not new
But this effort is not new. Last year, The Electronic Intifada revealed that the National Union of Israeli Students was already a full-time partner in Israeli government propaganda and set up a project to pay Israeli university students up to $2,000 to spread propaganda online.
As The Electronic Intifada also reported, the National Union of Israeli Students sent its members for government propaganda training and described students as Israel’s “pretty face,” to be deployed as a propaganda auxiliary force.
The union set as one of its organizational goals, working “in cooperation with government ministries and additional organizations, to improve the explanation [hasbara] of Israel’s position around the world.”
At the time, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Jillian C. York compared Israel’s online propaganda efforts to those of China, Syria and Bahrain.
“I have seen considerable efforts, both by Israeli companies like Ahava and–apparently–government-supported groups, to utilize some of the same techniques as Syria and Bahrain, particularly on Twitter,” York also previously wrote.
Such Israeli government efforts, which attempt to disguise official propaganda as the work of ordinary concerned citizens and students, date back at least to December 2008, during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead assault on Gaza.
Every computer user is a “kind of soldier”
At that time Israeli social media strategist Niv Calderon wrote that he was hired by the foreign ministry for a first of its kind effort to create a digital “war room” to promote Israel’s propaganda message internationally.
Calderon was later involved in similar organized social media efforts to discredit the Gaza flotillas, and in one report on Israeli TV from June 2011, Calderon can be seen managing a social media “war room” working against that summer’s flotilla to Gaza.
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“There is a media war here,” Calderon explains, “and every citizen, every computer user, is a kind of soldier.”
“Equipped with laptops and iPhones,” the report says, government social media propagandists go to war using “tweets as their weapons.” The report even shows social media propagandists being trained to find random images of market places in Gaza to post online to obscure the fact that Israel’s siege has caused severe hardship to the civilian population there. Calderon has also previously worked on the social media campaigns of the anti-Palestinian group StandWithUs. |
Desperate
The new “covert” social media push comes as surveys confirm Israel’s status as one of the most negatively viewed countries in the world.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shrugged off these findings, declaring, “it’s not about the facts, it’s about the defamation of Israel and our portrayal as peace rejecters, war mongers instead of an enlightened nation that is fighting against aims to destroy us.”
Netanyahu, like the Israelis behind these various covert schemes, seems to think Israel can still market, sell, cheat and tweet its way out of being seen, rightly, as an apartheid-practicing, colonizing occupier, violently depriving millions of Palestinians of their most fundamental rights.
One obstacle the Israeli campaigns must overcome is the fact that Israel’s biggest social media hits have been entirely negative – a result of the tendency of many Israelis, especially soldiers, to post violent, hateful and outright racist material on their social media accounts, especially on Facebook and Instagram.
Strengthens case for academic boycott
The recruitment of universities and their complicity in government propaganda efforts aimed at justifying Israeli violations of Palestinian rights will likely strengthen arguments in favor of the Palestinian call for the boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
This call received a boost this week – unrelated to these social media campaigns – from dozens of international faculty calling on their peers to boycott an upcoming conference on oral history at the Hebrew University.
The new “covert” social media push comes as surveys confirm Israel’s status as one of the most negatively viewed countries in the world.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shrugged off these findings, declaring, “it’s not about the facts, it’s about the defamation of Israel and our portrayal as peace rejecters, war mongers instead of an enlightened nation that is fighting against aims to destroy us.”
Netanyahu, like the Israelis behind these various covert schemes, seems to think Israel can still market, sell, cheat and tweet its way out of being seen, rightly, as an apartheid-practicing, colonizing occupier, violently depriving millions of Palestinians of their most fundamental rights.
One obstacle the Israeli campaigns must overcome is the fact that Israel’s biggest social media hits have been entirely negative – a result of the tendency of many Israelis, especially soldiers, to post violent, hateful and outright racist material on their social media accounts, especially on Facebook and Instagram.
Strengthens case for academic boycott
The recruitment of universities and their complicity in government propaganda efforts aimed at justifying Israeli violations of Palestinian rights will likely strengthen arguments in favor of the Palestinian call for the boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
This call received a boost this week – unrelated to these social media campaigns – from dozens of international faculty calling on their peers to boycott an upcoming conference on oral history at the Hebrew University.
12 aug 2013
This video, lately posted on Facebook, is said by our source to be a leaked Israel Defense Forces video that shows the killing of a Palestinian civilian carrying a white flag during the assault on Gaza in December '08-January '09.
While it is not clear to us that the target of the killing is carrying a white flag, the video soundtrack includes Israelis observing the killing and laughing at the brutality of the attack-- something like the famous Collateral Murder video from Baghdad in 2007 leaked by Wikileaks.
Our source forwarded an email in Arabic from the person who uploaded it, stating:
his message translates into: the incident took place in an unspecified location of eastern Gaza in the Cast Lead war. it has recently been leaked.
Here is a translation from Ofer of the Hebrew soundtrack on the video at about :50, which he assumed was of soldiers:
First soldier: Now pay close attention to what happens in 3 seconds
Second soldier: his head gets severed First soldier: And...beautiful! His head lands [on the ground]
The one-minute-long Facebook post contains two videos. The first is of two people in the doorway of a house; a woman waves a white flag. The second shows two figures walking in a field. One appears to carry a white flag that flutters when he or she is struck down. It is unclear whether the two videos in the Facebook post are from the same incident.
The Goldstone Report to the UN Human Rights Commission [PDF] on the Gaza conflict documented several instances of Israelis firing on and killing Palestinians holding up white flags. Note especially Chapter XI, Deliberate Attacks against the Civilian Population, beginning on page 158. In a couple of cases, that investigation documented women emerging from houses waving white flags and being shot at.
The famous "Collateral Murder" video of a US Apache gunship attack in 2007 in Baghdad that killed 11, including a Reuters employee, was documented in a military video released by Wikileaks in 2010. The video includes this exchange:
Oh, yeah, look at those dead bastards.
Nice.
Good shoot.
While it is not clear to us that the target of the killing is carrying a white flag, the video soundtrack includes Israelis observing the killing and laughing at the brutality of the attack-- something like the famous Collateral Murder video from Baghdad in 2007 leaked by Wikileaks.
Our source forwarded an email in Arabic from the person who uploaded it, stating:
his message translates into: the incident took place in an unspecified location of eastern Gaza in the Cast Lead war. it has recently been leaked.
Here is a translation from Ofer of the Hebrew soundtrack on the video at about :50, which he assumed was of soldiers:
First soldier: Now pay close attention to what happens in 3 seconds
Second soldier: his head gets severed First soldier: And...beautiful! His head lands [on the ground]
The one-minute-long Facebook post contains two videos. The first is of two people in the doorway of a house; a woman waves a white flag. The second shows two figures walking in a field. One appears to carry a white flag that flutters when he or she is struck down. It is unclear whether the two videos in the Facebook post are from the same incident.
The Goldstone Report to the UN Human Rights Commission [PDF] on the Gaza conflict documented several instances of Israelis firing on and killing Palestinians holding up white flags. Note especially Chapter XI, Deliberate Attacks against the Civilian Population, beginning on page 158. In a couple of cases, that investigation documented women emerging from houses waving white flags and being shot at.
The famous "Collateral Murder" video of a US Apache gunship attack in 2007 in Baghdad that killed 11, including a Reuters employee, was documented in a military video released by Wikileaks in 2010. The video includes this exchange:
Oh, yeah, look at those dead bastards.
Nice.
Good shoot.
8 aug 2013
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Press TV has created a new YouTube page weeks after Google disabled the alternative channel's access to its official YouTube page without giving explanation.
"Press TV viewers can now watch our videos at www.youtube.com/user/PresstvNewsCast ," said Press TV newsroom director, Hamid Reza Emadi, adding that tens of thousands of Press TV subscribers had been unable to watch the videos on the popular video sharing site since July 25. YouTube's parent company Google "disabled our official page's account citing a violation of terms of services, but clarified neither the nature of the so-called violation nor did it mention the services in question," Emadi added, stressing that Press TV will continue its |
efforts to get back on its official page on the popular video sharing site.
Last week, YouTube told Press TV that the channel's account had become reactivated.
"The account appears to be active (now) and you should be able to access it," wrote The YouTube Team in response to Press TV's online queries. However, Press TV's YouTube team was unable to access the channel's official YouTube page, whose Google account remained "disabled".
Meanwhile, an article on the official website of the Israeli-American Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused Press TV of bypassing the West's sanctions by broadcasting live via Youtube and other internet and mobile platforms.
"ADL has contacted Youtube regarding concerns about Press TV," reads the article, further noting that the station's "broadcast on Youtube comes at the a time when the United States, the European Union and others in the international community are seeking to isolate Iran."
"Press TV has yet to find out whether there's a link between the ADL statement and the blocking of its official YouTube page," Emadi said.
Last week, YouTube told Press TV that the channel's account had become reactivated.
"The account appears to be active (now) and you should be able to access it," wrote The YouTube Team in response to Press TV's online queries. However, Press TV's YouTube team was unable to access the channel's official YouTube page, whose Google account remained "disabled".
Meanwhile, an article on the official website of the Israeli-American Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused Press TV of bypassing the West's sanctions by broadcasting live via Youtube and other internet and mobile platforms.
"ADL has contacted Youtube regarding concerns about Press TV," reads the article, further noting that the station's "broadcast on Youtube comes at the a time when the United States, the European Union and others in the international community are seeking to isolate Iran."
"Press TV has yet to find out whether there's a link between the ADL statement and the blocking of its official YouTube page," Emadi said.
3 aug 2013
Facebook administration has removed al-Aqsa TV channel page, although its Facebook fan page was available and had grown by 116,000 fans. Al-Aqsa TV channel condemned this arbitrary measure that came without any justification or real explanation, stressing that it will not succeed to undermine its voice.
The ban came two days after Hamas' news conference during which it exposed documents that prove the involvement of Fatah and members of the Palestinian Authority in a malicious campaign to tarnish Hamas’s image.
The ban came two days after Hamas' news conference during which it exposed documents that prove the involvement of Fatah and members of the Palestinian Authority in a malicious campaign to tarnish Hamas’s image.
2 aug 2013
Press TV has been unable to access its YouTube account since July 25 despite the video sharing site's claim that the alternative TV channel's account has become reactivated.
"The account appears to be active (now) and you should be able to access it," said The YouTube Team in response to Press TV's weeklong queries about why the Google account it has been using for years to access its YouTube page has suddenly become disabled.
Press TV's YouTube team were unable to access the channel's popular page, which remained "disabled" by the time this report was being filed.
A large number of viewers and subscribers have emailed Press TV "to see why it's YouTube page hasn't been updated and whether the channel's been censored on the video sharing site," said Press TV newsroom director, Hamid Reza Emadi.
"We have not been able to upload any new videos since (last) Thursday. Google has disabled the channel's account without giving any explanation," Emadi said, adding that people can only see videos published a week ago on the channel's YouTube page.
Meanwhile, an article on the official website of the Israeli-American Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused Press TV of bypassing the West's satellite sanctions by broadcasting live via YouTube and other internet and mobile platforms.
"ADL has contacted YouTube regarding concerns about Press TV," reads the article, further noting that the station's "broadcast on YouTube comes at the a time when the United States, the European Union and others in the international community are seeking to isolate Iran."
Emadi said Press TV "has yet to find out whether there was a link between the ADL statement and the blocking of the channel's access to its page."
"The account appears to be active (now) and you should be able to access it," said The YouTube Team in response to Press TV's weeklong queries about why the Google account it has been using for years to access its YouTube page has suddenly become disabled.
Press TV's YouTube team were unable to access the channel's popular page, which remained "disabled" by the time this report was being filed.
A large number of viewers and subscribers have emailed Press TV "to see why it's YouTube page hasn't been updated and whether the channel's been censored on the video sharing site," said Press TV newsroom director, Hamid Reza Emadi.
"We have not been able to upload any new videos since (last) Thursday. Google has disabled the channel's account without giving any explanation," Emadi said, adding that people can only see videos published a week ago on the channel's YouTube page.
Meanwhile, an article on the official website of the Israeli-American Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused Press TV of bypassing the West's satellite sanctions by broadcasting live via YouTube and other internet and mobile platforms.
"ADL has contacted YouTube regarding concerns about Press TV," reads the article, further noting that the station's "broadcast on YouTube comes at the a time when the United States, the European Union and others in the international community are seeking to isolate Iran."
Emadi said Press TV "has yet to find out whether there was a link between the ADL statement and the blocking of the channel's access to its page."
29 july 2013
Google has prevented Press TV from accessing its Youtube page since Thursday, causing a large number of viewers and subscribers to contact the channel to find out what has happened.
"We have not been able to upload any new videos since early Thursday," said Press TV newsroom director, Hamid Reza Emadi, adding that Google has disabled the channel's account without giving any explanation.
"Viewers keep emailing Press TV asking why the page is not being updated," he said.
Emadi said Press TV "has yet to find out whether its Youtube account was blocked on political grounds or there were technical issues that could be resolved and the channel could get back on Youtube very soon."
"We have not been able to upload any new videos since early Thursday," said Press TV newsroom director, Hamid Reza Emadi, adding that Google has disabled the channel's account without giving any explanation.
"Viewers keep emailing Press TV asking why the page is not being updated," he said.
Emadi said Press TV "has yet to find out whether its Youtube account was blocked on political grounds or there were technical issues that could be resolved and the channel could get back on Youtube very soon."
10 july 2013
US surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden
Fugitive US surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden says the United States and Israel created the Stuxnet computer virus to sabotage Iran’s nuclear energy program.
In an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel published on Monday, Snowden, who has been holed up in a Moscow airport since June, said the US National Security Agency and Israel “co-wrote” the malware to infiltrate Iran’s nuclear facility networks in 2009 and 2010.
The whistleblower said that the virus was used to change the speed of thousands of gas-spinning centrifuges.
Snowden said that the NSA has a “massive body” called the Foreign Affairs Directorate, through which it cooperates with other entities like Israel on security matters.
Earlier in March 2013, a research by a group of independent legal experts at the request of NATO described the cyber attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities as an “act of force.”
“Acts that kill or injure persons or destroy or damage objects are unambiguously uses of force” and likely violate international law, the research read.
Iranian experts detected and neutralized the malware in time, averting any extensive damage to the country's industrial sites and resources.
In June 2012, The New York Times revealed that US President Barack Obama had secretly ordered the cyber attack with the Stuxnet computer virus.
In addition, a report published by the Washington Post in the same month said that the US and Israel had jointly created the computer virus Flame -- a Stuxnet-like espionage malware -- to spy on Iran.
The United States, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program and have used the unfounded accusation as a pretext to impose illegal sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.
Fugitive US surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden says the United States and Israel created the Stuxnet computer virus to sabotage Iran’s nuclear energy program.
In an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel published on Monday, Snowden, who has been holed up in a Moscow airport since June, said the US National Security Agency and Israel “co-wrote” the malware to infiltrate Iran’s nuclear facility networks in 2009 and 2010.
The whistleblower said that the virus was used to change the speed of thousands of gas-spinning centrifuges.
Snowden said that the NSA has a “massive body” called the Foreign Affairs Directorate, through which it cooperates with other entities like Israel on security matters.
Earlier in March 2013, a research by a group of independent legal experts at the request of NATO described the cyber attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities as an “act of force.”
“Acts that kill or injure persons or destroy or damage objects are unambiguously uses of force” and likely violate international law, the research read.
Iranian experts detected and neutralized the malware in time, averting any extensive damage to the country's industrial sites and resources.
In June 2012, The New York Times revealed that US President Barack Obama had secretly ordered the cyber attack with the Stuxnet computer virus.
In addition, a report published by the Washington Post in the same month said that the US and Israel had jointly created the computer virus Flame -- a Stuxnet-like espionage malware -- to spy on Iran.
The United States, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program and have used the unfounded accusation as a pretext to impose illegal sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.
7 july 2013
Spokesman for the Gaza government Ihab Al-Ghussain has said that premier Ismail Haneyya had no accounts on any of the social networking websites. He said in a press release on Sunday that Haneyya had no accounts on Facebook or Twitter or any other similar websites.
Ghussain asked the press and citizens to beware and not to interact with any page carrying the name of Haneyya on those websites.
He said that any statements quoting the premier on such pages are not correct and are baseless.
Ghussain asked the press and citizens to beware and not to interact with any page carrying the name of Haneyya on those websites.
He said that any statements quoting the premier on such pages are not correct and are baseless.
1 july 2013
Following a move by the Europeans satellite provider Eutelsat SA to take Press TV off the air in a flagrant violation of freedom of speech, Press TV viewers can continue to watch the news channel via the following satellites or by visiting the following websites:
You can watch Press TV by visiting the following websites:
Press TV watch live services (Worldwide)
OHTV Box (internet Set-top box) (Worldwide)
Livestation (internet platform. Supports PC MAC, Linux and all tablet PCs and smartphones)
Windows Mobile app
Press TV Mobile Page
You could also view our broadcast in Europe through the following satellites:
IntelSat 19 (166E)
12527
30000
3/4
H
Intelsat 902 (62E)
11555
27500
3/4
V
Paksat 1R (38E)
4060
23000
5/6
H
Badr 5 (26E)
11881
27500
5/6
H
Badr 5 (26E)
12303
27500
3/4
H
Badr 4 (26E)
12054
27500
3/4
V
Nilesat 201 A (7W)
11823
27500
5/6
V
Arabsat 5C (20E)
3964
27500
3/4
V
ST-2 (88E)
10979
12500
2/3
V
Thaicom (78.5E)
3600
26667
3/4
H
Express AM44 (11W)
11461
4740
3/4
H
Telstar 12 (15E)
12167
45000
3/4
H
You can watch Press TV by visiting the following websites:
Press TV watch live services (Worldwide)
OHTV Box (internet Set-top box) (Worldwide)
Livestation (internet platform. Supports PC MAC, Linux and all tablet PCs and smartphones)
Windows Mobile app
Press TV Mobile Page
You could also view our broadcast in Europe through the following satellites:
IntelSat 19 (166E)
12527
30000
3/4
H
Intelsat 902 (62E)
11555
27500
3/4
V
Paksat 1R (38E)
4060
23000
5/6
H
Badr 5 (26E)
11881
27500
5/6
H
Badr 5 (26E)
12303
27500
3/4
H
Badr 4 (26E)
12054
27500
3/4
V
Nilesat 201 A (7W)
11823
27500
5/6
V
Arabsat 5C (20E)
3964
27500
3/4
V
ST-2 (88E)
10979
12500
2/3
V
Thaicom (78.5E)
3600
26667
3/4
H
Express AM44 (11W)
11461
4740
3/4
H
Telstar 12 (15E)
12167
45000
3/4
H
27 june 2013
Youtube has removed on Monday a video featuring Palestinian women protesting Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian Territory following a protest by singer Alicia Keys citing “copyright infringement,” a statement by the US Campaign to End Israeli Occupation said on Wednesday. It said Keys has taken legal action to remove the popular video from Youtube that depicted the women’s protest to the tune of Keys’ song “This Girl Is on Fire.”
According to a Youtube notification, the video, that echoed widespread calls for Keys to cancel her July 4 concert in Tel Aviv, was removed due to a claim by “Alicia Keys c/o Ziffren Brittenheim LLP” of “copyright infringement.”
The video had been featured on MSNBC’s Grio, the Atlanta Black Star, and many other websites.
Rana Hamadeh, a Palestinian protester featured at the beginning of the removed video standing atop an Israeli military vehicle waving a Palestinian flag (video from that protest), explained, “It is enough that we face physical and emotional violence and restrictions on our daily lives. But now we are also being silenced on the internet.”
She said that “I think if Alicia Keys understood the call to boycott, she would agree to honor it.”
She added: “Alicia Keys should protect Palestinian children's rights, and listen to the message from Palestinian women, rather than silencing them.”
The makers of the video also expressed dismay at Keys’ removal of the empowering video. A number of parody videos of “This Girl Is on Fire” have not been removed from Youtube.
The video’s removal came amidst mounting calls for Keys not to play in Israel. The Palestinian branch of an international organization focusing on children’s rights, Defense for Children International Palestine, urged Keys to uphold the mission of her non-profit “Keep A Child Alive” and cancel her concert due to Israel’s abuse of Palestinian children’s rights.
French human rights advocates held protests at Keys’ concerts in Lyon, Marseille and Paris, where they managed to directly ask both Keys’ musicians and Keys herself to cancel the concert in Israel.
More than 50 US organizations working with the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation also sent Keys’ publicist and “Keep a Child Alive” a letter asking her to cancel her July 4 show.
According to a Youtube notification, the video, that echoed widespread calls for Keys to cancel her July 4 concert in Tel Aviv, was removed due to a claim by “Alicia Keys c/o Ziffren Brittenheim LLP” of “copyright infringement.”
The video had been featured on MSNBC’s Grio, the Atlanta Black Star, and many other websites.
Rana Hamadeh, a Palestinian protester featured at the beginning of the removed video standing atop an Israeli military vehicle waving a Palestinian flag (video from that protest), explained, “It is enough that we face physical and emotional violence and restrictions on our daily lives. But now we are also being silenced on the internet.”
She said that “I think if Alicia Keys understood the call to boycott, she would agree to honor it.”
She added: “Alicia Keys should protect Palestinian children's rights, and listen to the message from Palestinian women, rather than silencing them.”
The makers of the video also expressed dismay at Keys’ removal of the empowering video. A number of parody videos of “This Girl Is on Fire” have not been removed from Youtube.
The video’s removal came amidst mounting calls for Keys not to play in Israel. The Palestinian branch of an international organization focusing on children’s rights, Defense for Children International Palestine, urged Keys to uphold the mission of her non-profit “Keep A Child Alive” and cancel her concert due to Israel’s abuse of Palestinian children’s rights.
French human rights advocates held protests at Keys’ concerts in Lyon, Marseille and Paris, where they managed to directly ask both Keys’ musicians and Keys herself to cancel the concert in Israel.
More than 50 US organizations working with the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation also sent Keys’ publicist and “Keep a Child Alive” a letter asking her to cancel her July 4 show.
25 june 2013
Israeli data showed that the information technology sector and computer systems in Israel were heavily damaged due to cyber attacks by international activists supporting the Palestinian cause. Globes Website said the Israeli companies operating in the field of information systems have incurred during the first quarter of this year economic losses of nearly two hundred million shekels (about U.S. $ 55.4 million), as a result of a series of cyber attacks.
According to the data, the total losses of the Israeli technology companies has doubled over this year, as the same period last year recorded a loss of one hundred million shekels (about 27.7 million U.S. dollars).
Globes quoted Shai Blitzblau, the General Manager of Mglan Information Defense & Intelligence Group, as saying that "the heavy losses primarily stem from the electronic intrusions which resulted in losing transactions and leaking trade secrets."
According to the data, the total losses of the Israeli technology companies has doubled over this year, as the same period last year recorded a loss of one hundred million shekels (about 27.7 million U.S. dollars).
Globes quoted Shai Blitzblau, the General Manager of Mglan Information Defense & Intelligence Group, as saying that "the heavy losses primarily stem from the electronic intrusions which resulted in losing transactions and leaking trade secrets."
22 june 2013
Palestinian police on Saturday detained two suspected hackers of a Facebook account in Ramallah, authorities said.
Police said the owner of the hacked account filed a complaint at the electronic crimes department in the public prosecution. Prosecutors in cooperation with detectives in Ramallah followed up and detained two suspects.
The suspects were not identified and it was not clear if they had lawyers. They were transferred to public prosecution.
Police also seized a computer that the suspects allegedly used to hack the accounts.
In a statement, police said that they would continue to follow up on electronic crimes, and they called on the public not to hesitate to report such crimes to the authorities.
Police said the owner of the hacked account filed a complaint at the electronic crimes department in the public prosecution. Prosecutors in cooperation with detectives in Ramallah followed up and detained two suspects.
The suspects were not identified and it was not clear if they had lawyers. They were transferred to public prosecution.
Police also seized a computer that the suspects allegedly used to hack the accounts.
In a statement, police said that they would continue to follow up on electronic crimes, and they called on the public not to hesitate to report such crimes to the authorities.
6 june 2013
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A group of female Israeli soldiers have posted half-naked photos of themselves on the social networking website Facebook after they were punished for a similar act last week.
One picture showed the soldiers removing their fatigue uniforms to expose their underwear and back sides. In another photo, five women posed in what appeared to be a barracks room, dressed only in helmets and a small amount of combat equipment. |
Israeli news website Walla reported that the women were fresh recruits, who were stationed on a base in southern Israel.
Israeli military officials the women have been disciplined for the racy shots.
"The commanding officers disciplined the soldiers as they saw fitting," the Israeli army said in a statement.
The statement did not provide any further information about the identity of the soldiers, or any details about the punishments.
Over the past few years, the Israeli military has on occasions disciplined soldiers for improper posts in social media networks.
Earlier this year, an Israeli soldier was criticized for posing naked with a gun and writing anti-Palestinian tweets.
In a video posted to YouTube in 2010, another male Israeli soldier was filmed dancing suggestively around a blindfolded Palestinian woman.
The incident came after photos of a female Israeli soldier posing in front of Palestinian prisoners were discovered earlier that year.
Israeli military officials the women have been disciplined for the racy shots.
"The commanding officers disciplined the soldiers as they saw fitting," the Israeli army said in a statement.
The statement did not provide any further information about the identity of the soldiers, or any details about the punishments.
Over the past few years, the Israeli military has on occasions disciplined soldiers for improper posts in social media networks.
Earlier this year, an Israeli soldier was criticized for posing naked with a gun and writing anti-Palestinian tweets.
In a video posted to YouTube in 2010, another male Israeli soldier was filmed dancing suggestively around a blindfolded Palestinian woman.
The incident came after photos of a female Israeli soldier posing in front of Palestinian prisoners were discovered earlier that year.
1 june 2013
Different Hebrew newspapers said that Israel has taken precautionary steps to confront a new spate of cyberattacks that may hit its computer networks on Saturday. An Israeli newspaper named Yisrael Hayom reported on Friday that different Israeli institutions received threats from hackers about planned intentions to penetrate their computer systems as of Saturday, the first of June.
The newspaper added that a military cybercrime unit started a preventive campaign in preparation for the cyberattacks that may target governmental and financial institutions, noting that the measures taken would halt some online services temporarily.
A hacking group named "Anonymous" had launched last April a massive wave of cyberattacks on Israel's websites in protest at its crimes against the Palestinians.
The newspaper added that a military cybercrime unit started a preventive campaign in preparation for the cyberattacks that may target governmental and financial institutions, noting that the measures taken would halt some online services temporarily.
A hacking group named "Anonymous" had launched last April a massive wave of cyberattacks on Israel's websites in protest at its crimes against the Palestinians.
6 may 2013
Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Asks Google to Change 'Palestine' Tagline
Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Ze'ev Elkin accused Google Inc. of recognizing a Palestinian state when it decided on May 1 to include Palestine in its list of options for national pages.
Previously, it had used the tagline Palestinian territories.
In a letter to Google CEO Larry Page, Elkin wrote that by doing so Google is in essence the existence of a Palestinian state.
He added that Google's decision is not only mistaken but could also negatively impact efforts to have peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
According to the Jerusalem Post, he added that Google has brought about so many positive changes in the world by promoting connections between people and between peoples.
This decision, however, is in contradiction to such aims, and distances the parties from real dialogue.
He asked Page to meet with Israeli representatives to discuss the issue.
According to the report, Google spokesman Nathan Tyler had last week told the BBC that they were changing the name 'Palestinian Territories' to ' Palestine ' across their products.
Previously, it had used the tagline Palestinian territories.
In a letter to Google CEO Larry Page, Elkin wrote that by doing so Google is in essence the existence of a Palestinian state.
He added that Google's decision is not only mistaken but could also negatively impact efforts to have peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
According to the Jerusalem Post, he added that Google has brought about so many positive changes in the world by promoting connections between people and between peoples.
This decision, however, is in contradiction to such aims, and distances the parties from real dialogue.
He asked Page to meet with Israeli representatives to discuss the issue.
According to the report, Google spokesman Nathan Tyler had last week told the BBC that they were changing the name 'Palestinian Territories' to ' Palestine ' across their products.
2 may 2013
“Google” Recognizes Palestinian State
The International web search engine "Google" recognized the Palestinian state after it was referring to Palestine as "The Palestinian Territories" since its establishment.
When writing the link related to Palestine (www.google.ps) the word google is showed at the page and the word Palestine comes beneath it.
This comes after Palestine was recognized as a non-member state at the United Nations in November 2012.
When writing the link related to Palestine (www.google.ps) the word google is showed at the page and the word Palestine comes beneath it.
This comes after Palestine was recognized as a non-member state at the United Nations in November 2012.
