Filed under: opinion | Tags: eretz, eretz nehederetan12, hip-hop, Israel, posted by beanieman, satire
The Israeli politcal satire show Eretz Nehederet (think The Daily Show in Hebrew) has released a song detailing (and/or mocking) the Israeli government’s PR campaing in support of the war in Gaza. I’m curious to hear what people think.
Filed under: movies/television, opinion, politics | Tags: Facebook, Israel, posted by aklionsky
War is absurd. But never has it been more absurd than today, than the war that enveloped Gaza and Israel, and their supporters worldwide, for over twenty days. Because this war has spilled into the lives of everyone who owns a TV, who listens to the radio, who has access to the internet.
This war has called on reservists from the Internet Armies to donate their Facebook statuses, to post videos, to delve deeply into charters and and pamphlets, to enter debates on Youtube. Essentially, this war has incited pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian sentiments among the millions of people who use social networking sites, like Facebook, to share their concerns and opinions.
When I searched “Operation Cast Lead” in facebook, I got 53 group results, ranging from “We oppose Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Palestine!!!” to “Support Israel’s ‘Cast Lead’ operation to stop Palestinian Hamas terrorism.” The groups have sprung up, and every discussion board has intense debates. Israel-supporters join pro-Palestinian groups, and vice-versa, to try to diminish the effect that the group’s “sincere” members have in the discussion boards and wall-posts.
The groups are everywhere, and not just in America. Facebook is used as a political outlet the world-round, as documented by the New York Times last week. Samantha Shapiro focuses on the use of Facebook in Egypt to create civic participation in politics, and on the diversity of grassroots Facebook groups that have resulted from the current conflict. In Egypt, where so much of the public media and activism is regulated, political participants have focused their efforts in an unregulated medium: Facebook. Via Facebook, they have been able to organize a variety of groups from the basic ones calling for an end to the war in Gaza, to ones criticizing President Hosni Mubarak’s response (or lack thereof) on behalf of the Palestinians living in Gaza.
(more…)
Filed under: opinion | Tags: israeli, Lebanon, movie, oscar, posted by beanieman12, waltz with bashir
The highly acclaimed Israeli animated feature “Waltz With Bashir” has been nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category. To help do education about the movie’s difficult subject matter (the 1982 war in Lebanon and Sabre and Shitla), the Jewish Agency in partnership is Makom has put out a great movie guide that can be found here
As I was taking part in my daily reading of the Jerusalem Post the other day, I came by a very troubling article titled “Habayit Hayehudi assails National Union for ‘desecrating religious Zionism.’” For those who are unaware, the National Union is a coalition of far-right wing knesset parties. The base of this political faction mainly involves West Bank and former Gaza settlers. This extremist movement gained ground after the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. More gas was thrown on the fire when, most recently, settlers were removed from certain segments of the West Bank. As many read in the newspapers, that only resulted in attacks on IDF soldiers and Arab civilians. This movement’s up and coming stars are referred to as the “hilltop youth.”
In the article I was reading, MK Zevulun Orlev referred to the hilltop youth stating that “those who throw rocks at soldiers, and those who refuse IDF orders are not a part of religious Zionism.”
Filed under: opinion, politics | Tags: cease-fire, gaza, Hamas, Israel, peace, posted by zionismlives, Rockets, war
This is going to be more of a controversial post. Bear with me. And, keep in mind, I love Israel with all my heart. It just needs to be put in its place every now and again, especially with so many Jews spewing blind, pro-Israel propaganda these days.
I will not deny the suffering of Southern Israel. And I do not believe the world should deny it either, although it does on a daily basis. The physical damage the daily rockets, that now endanger over one million lives, inflict is nothing compared to the mental damage they inflict. I just saw a report that said more than 75% of children in Sderot and surrounding areas suffer from various forms of trauma.
However, I am fundamentally against any full out war, especially one that has caused 920 deaths—43% of them, according to CNN, civilians. That is just short of 400 innocent Palestinian men, women, and children that have died so far. Yes, we must be amazed at the precision of the IDF’s campaign in making the other 57% of the casualties Hamas. But, that previous number is still astounding, and makes the costs of this War too much. Israel has claimed that a much higher percentage of the deaths are Hamas—an obvious discrepancy that comes from different meanings of the term “civilian.” To Israel, anyone that is in some way related to Hamas is considered a militant. That means all the people working in the government and all the people working for the social branch of Hamas are considered militants. A secretary in a government office and a social worker should never be considered militants. Israel sends flyers and makes calls to the civilians that there is going to be a bombing, but, where do the civilians go when their movement is greatly restricted by IDF ground troops and the simple fact that none of them can leave the country? In addition, Israel has made a few mistakes about civilians.
The example of the Samouni family is a good one. They were living in a Hamas-controlled area, and were told by the IDF to move themselves into one house for their safety. That night, the building was shelled, killing 30 members of the family. The wounded were not able to be helped for days even though IDF soldiers and tanks were just 50 meters from the building, because the army said it was too dangerous for aid workers to enter the scene. (The article about the incedent)
For anyone questioning Israel’s actions against Hamas’s continual rocket fire (6,500 at the moment, and growing)… watch this.
Filed under: movies/television, opinion, politics | Tags: Hamas, humanitarian, media, Pallywood, posted by ron, youtube
It is no doubt that Israel’s war is against the media. Israel always wants to protect its PR, because it is the one country in the entire world under the most scrutiny of the bigest magnifying glass. This “magnifying glass” which blows stories out of proportion is the reason why Hamas gains sympathy from the Western World.
When Hamas uses its people as human shields, it forces Israel to fight back, which leads to its condemnation. For example, Hamas fired rockets from a UN school, and then when Israel fired back, Hamas shielded itself with civilians. They spun the story to make Israel look like villains, exploding a school full of civilians.
The group that Israel is fighting is western media-viewers, that try to sympathize for Palestinians. They support the “humanitarian-crisis” because they’ve seen video’s of crises. Hamas then takes this money, filters it back towards its terrorist activities, and even blocks humanitarian aid from its citizens. Currently, humanitarian aid in some areas of Gaza is being halted because the warehouses are FULL. Hamas doesn’t even allow the food, medicine, and blood units to get to its civilians. It even turns patients away from hospitals as part of its propoganda against Israel.
Posted below is a segment on how some of these videos of “humanitarian crises” are generally fake and made up. It is definitely worth watching.
What Israel needs the most, is a media program that shows the humanitarian crisis that HAMAS IS CAUSING. Segments on popular TV shows that examine the wonders of the IDF, combined with the terror that Hamas causes, would show the Western World that Israel is truly the one that is looking for peace. Debates that are planned for pro-Palestinian arguments to fail or show the truth in Gaza would also explain what is truly going on in the region.
Filed under: opinion
Two thousand and eight went down as one of the worst years in history: a global recession jerked international stock markets at unpredictable rates while nuclear powerhouses were on the rise in the eastern hemisphere. In the final days of the year especially, the messy Middle East cracked under the pressing tensions between Israel and Gaza, giving way to yet another climax in the age old story.
Palestinian residents of Gaza have been firing rockets into Israel since 2001. In 2005, the Israeli disengagement from Gaza removed Jewish settlers and military forces from the area and gave the land in Gaza to the Palestinians; in the nearly three and a half years since, over 6500 rockets have been fired into Israel by Hamas, the Islamist terrorist organization that democratically gained control of Gaza’s government in 2006 elections. Its victory in the 2007 Palestinian civil war secured its power; Hamas has been threatening the safety of moderate Palestinians and Israelis alike.
Filed under: arts/culture, opinion, politics | Tags: advocacy, AIPAC, bias, CAMERA, Facebook, Federation, Honest Reporting, posted by a, posted by aklionsky, rally, Stand With Us, UPenn
My email has been flooded every time I check it.
Which is a good thing, considering the situation in Israel and the nature of the emails.
Earlier this year I put myself on the listerv for the Penn Israel Coalition (UPenn’s pro-Israel organization.) While they get a lot of their information–especially now–from Stand With Us, the organization is a great resource for updates on what’s going on in Israel, policies, and also pro-Israel events.
I get similar emails from the Jewish Federation, although those are more specifically related to Chicago and Chicago area events.
But perhaps the best tool since the most recent und of fighting began is facebook. Facebook has a plethora of pro-Israel groups (and, unfortunately, many groups that are full of hate against Israel). Facebook’s ability to communicate quickly with people around your school and around the country makes it the ideal location for sharing information about the situation, news updates, and announcements about pro-Israel rallies and events going together. Especially since many of the rallies have been put together very quickly, the high turnout is astonishingly impressive, and much of it is due to Facebook.
Other organizations to check out are AIPAC, The Israel Project.
If you encounter bias in the media (which there’s a lot of), please DO NOT hesitate to report it to CAMERA and/or HonestReporting.
Please feel free to check out my two blog posts relating to Israel for a class I’m taking.
B’hatzlacha, good luck, in your advocacy!
Filed under: opinion, politics | Tags: gaza, Israel, kassams, media, posted by joshman91, pr, press, Rockets, war
Throughout the past year, the world has witnessed many unnecessary, bloody incursions. The UN hardly opened an eye when the genocide in Darfur erupted. When peaceful, innocent Burmese Monks were being slaughtered, the world’s leaders were posing for the cameras. And most recently, everyone was enjoying the Olympics while China was conquering Tibet.
Apparently, those issues were unfortunate, yet unimportant. However, when we JEWS decide to defend ourselves, the rest of the world suddenly stands up and shouts “STOP.” When Israel retaliates to terrorists that shoot rockets at innocent women and children, there is suddenly a “humanitarian crises.” Funny, this is the most active the UN has ever been.
The riots that are occurring in the Arab world are to no surprise. Contrary to that, many Jews, myself especially, are quite disturbed by the anti-Israel rallies that are presently taking place throughout Europe, most notably in Britain, France, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands, and Turkey. As you watch youtube or the news, you will notice that the protesters consist of all Europeans, not just Arabs. The protests in Amsterdam are particularly alarming, for it was the Dutch that risked their lives hiding and protecting us during the Holocaust. The protests in London will have a profound impact, for they are being led by politicians and celebrities alike. As much as we hate to say it, anti-semitism is once again very well a part of Europe.
