Israelis fight back via Facebook and Twitter
Following the IDF raid on the Gaza aid flotilla on Monday, Israeli surfers brandished their keyboards and went to war, fighting to save Israel's image.
By Ayala TsorefWhen the Israel Defense Forces Spokesman's Office and the Foreign Ministry were fiddling while the deck of the Marmara burned, metaphorically speaking, at dawn on Monday, it was the public that stepped into the breach. Israeli surfers brandished their keyboards and went to war, fighting to save Israel's image on facebook, twitter and other Internet-based social networks.
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Noa Tishby and Queen Rania of Jordan. |
| Photo by: AP |
Starting in Hebrew, for what that's worth in the battle of the blurb, they protested Israel's bad image following the raid of the aid ships that took a deadly turn. But it didn't take long for the local community of Web surfers to realize the pointlessness of communicating in a language that only friendly readers would understand anyway, and they began sending tweets and facebook posts in English.
Twitter is a popular instant messaging system. Members can send messages of up to 140 characters each to anyone signed up to follow them.
With about 63,500 followers, Oudi Antebi, an expatriate living in Seattle, may be the most popular Israeli Tweeter. Formerly a high-ranking executive at Microsoft's headquarters in Seattle, for the past year and a half he has headed a startup called OffiSync, which is developing technology for online document collaboration through Google Apps. Antebi (a "die-hard Metallica fan" ) tweets in English to a mainly American and European following.
"Interesting: Israel offered the ships to transfer the humanitarian goods to Gaza but #flotilla declined the offer. Why?," Antebi tweeted. A little later he sent another tweet: "The Israeli official statement - regardless of your opinion and side it is worth reading," he wrote.
His tweets triggered a great number of responses around the world. Twitter is a great way to reach thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people when the original recipients use "reTweet," and forward the message to their own followers.
"The moment I grasped how bad Israel's image was, I enlisted," Antebi says. "I collated pieces of information from the Internet and distributed them by tweets, which I phrased objectively, in order to rouse interest at the other end. My purpose was for as many people as possible to access the links, and they did. I got a lot of responses from people who evidently realize I was Israeli, and who said I was right, and there was food for thought here."
Noa Tishby vs. Queen Noor
Another Israeli who stood out for her social-networking activism, hoping to change Israel's bad image, was Noa Tishby, an actress and producer working in Los Angeles. She too communicated mainly in English. Many of her 2,300 followers on Twitter are Americans in the television and movie industry. "Everyone RT - IDF Navy soldiers attacked on board the flotilla. WAKE UP WORLD, they are not playing by the same rules!!!," she tweeted, providing a link to an IDF video clip. In Twitterese, RT means "reTweet."
In other tweets, Tishby wrote: "TurkishTV 5-30-10 Organizers of the #flotilla announce their intention to use violence against Israeli forces" and '"Peace activists" Use extreme Violence Against Israeli Navy Soldiers Attempting to Board Ship Flotilla.'
It was a public-relations ambush, wrote Tishby.
When Queen Noor of Jordan tweeted to her 8,500 followers, "Time for Israelis to choose betwn life in a rogue pariah state defying international &humanitarian law or to commit to a future of peace," Tishby tweeted a rebuttal: "@QueenNoor We are trying! We are really trying! Please tell me what we should do about this [link] we need to do something!" The link was to a video clip showing an attack on Israeli soldiers.
Queen Rania, Noor's daughter-in-law, also posted pro-Palestinian tweets. She has 1.3 million followers and tends to stick to environmental issues (she has some choice words on the BP fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico ), education in the Third World and the like. Yesterday she tweeted, "Shocked by killing of civilians in int'l waters. Humbled by courage & sacrifice of those on board in name of justice."
Later Rania tweeted, "Every ship that tries to break the blockade is a Ship of Hope for the people of Gaza." She then released a series of tweets giving her view of the humanitarian situation in Gaza. With 1.3 million followers, some of whom forward to their own followers, her messages must have reached millions of people. "Fact1:HEALTH-95% of Gaza's water fails WHO [World Health Organization] standards leaving thousands of newborns at risk of poisoning. PLZ RT!" she wrote - please retweet. "Fact3: POVERTY - 80% of people in Gaza live below the poverty line; 95% of private businesses have closed. PLZ RT!"
Writer and media consultant Gadi Shimshon, who has 1,200 followers, responded, noting that the "peace activist" looked to be mighty handy with a knife. He appended a link to a video clip.
He also wrote, "FACT: the soldiers were armed mainly with paint guns (! ) and had guns for use as a last resort."
"We are losing the public relations war," says Tishby. She for one feels it her duty as an Israeli to try to do something about that.
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It is quite shocking that how liberally and widely Israelis are using "terrorists" and "terrorism" to label whoever they perceive that is not with them. If someone tries to defy Israeli siege on Gaza by means of riding a boat to there he/she automatically become a terrorist and as a results deserves to die!! You guys need to change your mentality, if you really care about the future of your state.
This is bad news, you have no truth to defend anymore, you are just relying on recycling the same old lies and you still hope that people will believe you! Take a look at the international stage during the last few years: you are loosing it Israel, and the writing is on the wall!
Here comes the megaphonies waging their war to save the image of Israel. One word - lame. Facts are facts, no matter how many liars post boilerplate pro Israel comments in forums online. Calling those bringing aid terrorists? Really? This is the best you have? You call anyone and everyone you don't like, or anyone you want the US to oppose, terrorists. It's really old, maybe Israel needs to plan another 9-11 to wake all of us up in the US, huh? We seem to have forgotten who the enemy is...or maybe it's that more Americans are finding out who the real enemy is - Israel. I'm just waiting for someone to say that Ahmadinejad himself was on one of the boats, carrying yellowcake uranium in his back pocket with an index card reading "death to Israel".
Go ahead, tweet and drop bird poops all you want, in the end, see if the world gives a s#it about anything you say....... You can put all of the Israeli population to tweet that makes you a society of BIRDS with bird brains
People were not killed by paint guns! Please lets alla agree that the killing, beating and detention were way over the top. These were not criminals to be transported to some kind of israeli Guantanamo.
Twitter all you want, the blood and bodies are not going away. It's the same story in repeat mode: kill and spin...
easy, if a Israeli politician's lips are moving.
Interesting, Queen Rania knows how to speak out regarding the Israelis and how they should conduct themselves, but fails to mention that her country Jordan admanently refuses hospice to the Gazans and will shoot to kill should they try to enter their borders. And these are her brothers!!!
Alex, should I have the single-minded intent to get rid of you and your family, you wouldn't mind be entering your house unimpeded, would you?
You don't have to be Israeli to see how the spiteful anti-semites climb out the woodwork to bash Israel everytime theres an incident, but they have no argument this time - they're all clinging on to this shakey notion of Israel breaking maritime law (pathetic how they're all now experts in this field). Israel, you have PLENTY of support out here in the WWW.. Ignore the bashers and the racists and NEVER take your eye off the ball.
Countries that don't discriminate against people based on their ethnicity/religion don't need to constantly worry about their "image". wouldn't that be nice? why don't you israelis let the palestinians return to their homes and make them full equal citizens? think of all the free-time you would have if you didn't have to devote so much of your life to propaganda.
I wonder why this need arose?
We in the rest of the world who are outraged by this latest act of barbarism are doing the same thing! :)
Film proves this flotilla was neither peaceful or honest. The savage pre-planned attacks on the Israeli troops moves malice aforethought = murderous intent. Now, after screaming "massacre' the Turkish PM insists on more of the same, is he freakin nuts? Why start a war and have film showing exactly what happened, making him a liar, filmed, recored and preserved for history? Typical Pal Pr......
welcome to the middle east mess
Isreal is fully exposed to the world , no matter what you do on FB/Twitter
Keyboard warriors, facebookers etc etc there are very few citizens of planet earth who will believe a word you say now. Make peace with your neighbours, it's the only way out of your mess.
Why do the Israelis always sound like a broken record. The Israelis say that the flotilla was organized by terrorist. Fact: It had European politicians and Holocaust survivors on board. Stop the settlements, stop the siege of Gaza and stop exploiting the Palestinians and leave the occupied land before its too late and the only option left would be a one state solution.
>"FACT: the soldiers were armed mainly with paint guns (! ) and had guns for use as a last resort."< Sure and if the IDF commandos were armed with paint guns, then where were the images of the ship's passengers covered in paint? Does anyone else see a pattern here? 1. On Monday, the IDF were armed with paint ball guns. 2. Yesterday it was passengers using lethal force armed with sling shots and marbles. 3. Today they passengers are terrorists linked to Al Qaeda. I guess tomorrow the IDF will find evidence of nuclear weapons.
The paint is in the whitewash. From The Financial Times today: "Desperate to counter a mounting diplomatic backlash, the Israeli government and army sought to flood the airwaves with their version of events, bolstered by heavily edited footage depicting scenes from the assault".
Sure, it makes a lot of sense to use paint when you are being linched! and they even waited before using their G-d given right of self defense until receiving an order that they may engage! we
If you watched the video, the paintball guns are really obvious
you mean WMD on the peace flotila
Can someone please tell me if a leftist liberal exists in the arab world or anywhere else for that matter! for one, I have never ever in my life seen it. Why....??? please some educate me ...! I'm dying for some real knowledge. Maybe a leftist Israeli can give some aid??
I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you asking if there are leftist arabs? if so, then yes, i have many leftist friends who are arabs. the real question should be, are there any zionists who aren't fascists?
HAMAS! So, dear queen noor, you of all people should know, that the true enemies of peace loving palestinians and the obstacle to peace and the real oppressors of the palestinians are HAMAS!
The truth is that armed soldiers violently attacked unarmed European civilians aboard a humanitarian flotilla sailing in international waters. This is not going away, whatever right-wing Israelis twit.
Just as Israel habitually underestimates it's opponents, they are underestimating the online crowd. Nobody is going to swallow Israeli propaganda whole cloth. The very fact that they are being propagandaized will alienate many people. Israelis need to get over the idea that they are more clever than anybody else. That idea should be put to rest forever. Embracing the truth with their opponents and finding a way forward would gain them much more respect. Aggressive propaganda, meant to deceive, is the worst thing Israelis could do. it is the same old tired strategy we have seen for decades.
How ironic... attacking propaganda with propaganda. What's next, planting a bomb in the name of pacifism?
You wringe your hands and you conclude that the only thing wrong with this event was that it created some bad press for Israel, and that can be fixed by a Big Ol' Dollop of propaganda? How self-deluded can a country get? How about discussing wether there was ANY POINT AT ALL in storming a ship at sea in order to protect an immoral and illegal blockade whose sole purpose is the collective punishment of one and a half million people?
if today a referendum were to occur in e.u for a total embargo against israel , what do you think would have been the results? israel war crimes ,have rooted the oppinion that israel is the new apartheid, and a moral responcibility of any descent human being to stretch his solidarity to the daily tortured 5 millions palestinians. none hates israel more, than its own leaders that are keen to drag it down the same path as the apartheid.
Why are these people bothering. Thanks to the terrorist massacre by the IDF of the aid workers, the world can see what an evil terrorist organisation the IDF is. Aid and trade sanctions need to be imposed on Israel until it denounces terrorism.
The queen of jordan seems to be an enemy of Israel. How can this powerful (at least in jordan) woman say ridiculous comments about a neigboring country that is ONLY trying to protect its citizens from Tirany, thugs, and known terrorist. Furthermore, HOW IN THE HELL, DID TURKEY ALLOW THESE KNOWN TERRORIST LEAVE THEIR COUNTRY, TO COME AND TEMPT, TEASE AND HARM ISRAELIS. Looks like there may be a fox in the chicken coop/pen. EXCELLENT WORK IDF MEN AND WOMEN. YOU GUYS AND GALS ARE THE BEST OF THE BEST.
Why?
you do a very good job of parroting your governments propaganda. you're right though, the israeli terrorist forces (ITF) are definitely the best terrorists in the region.
Yes you are loosing the "war" but not the war in your own heads! The reason why is that you are totally out of sync with reality! No amounts of IDF edited clips, "security murders", hateful statement and rightwing propaganda will change that! How stupied are you that you do not see that it is YOUR ACTIONS, MURDERS and IDEOLOGY that creates this!?? Then again this is history repeating itself. Last time around was where?
your mind is always made up. defending a people whose leadership is always looking for ways to destroy Israel and overlooking how they impoverish their own people for their political gain is COLD BLOODED MURDER OF FACTS AND HONESTY. YOUR TAKE ON THE SITUATION DISPLAYS BIASED LEFTIST INDOCTRINATION WHICH UNFORTUNATELY UNDERMINES ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO EXIST!!! 1 hour from the time Hamas and the other equally deceiving pals decide to stop fighting Israel and they commit to constucting and stop destroying, all the fences fall down and you will never hear of the 'poor gazans' You have been duped dear. Wizen up!
The events of the past few days are indeed troubling, Israel seemingly bumbling into a boatload of terrorists ill prepared. We should all ask ourselves if just maybe Israel should be ashamed of itself: http://bit.ly/cCp1PA
That they intercepted on International Waters. They should be ashamed that Gaza remains blockaded. But should they be ashamed that their commandos were beaten with iron bars, stabbed and shot at?. No, but you who think that's OK should damned well be ashamed.
Israel brought painball guns so as tio minize injury to peace ful protesters. The actions of teh protesters have now assured that every subsequent boarding will be with troops armed to the teeth. Too bad . The protesters sullied their cause when they started this fight
and as a result pays the price. cynicism aside, what great hope there was to conquer potentially agitated sailers with paintball guns. what a colorful and humane plan of attack. Obviously, the sailors were off color and not so peaceful peace activists and without taking out the proper tolls of defense and offense, the peacenuts would have killed our boys. Let the world of Jew haters have their moments of victory in defeat and let us Jews carry on in protecting our heritage and land!