Stories about Israel from January, 2009
Czech Republic: Relations With Israel and the EU
The Reference Frame writes about the Czech PM's stance on the situation in the Middle East: “The Czech politicians have clearly come under fire from the self-proclaimed exclusively politically correct European politicians who effectively sleep with the terrorists in Hamas.”
Israel, Palestine: A Bosnian Refugee's View
Amila Bosnae is wondering if “a state of Palestine [will be] established somewhere in Europe or the USA in the near future.”
Israel: IDF Operating a Moral War in Gaza?
Bloggers have been defending the IDF which has been highly criticized for operating an unjust war in Gaza. Many choose to highlight facts which are not necessarily presented in mainstream news on its fighting techniques - minimizing civilian casualties by using precise missile technology, calling homes and dropping warning leaflets, while focusing on the target: weakening Hamas, destroying their artillery and ability to fire missiles into Israeli territory.
Israel: Unilateral “Ceasefire” Goes Into and Out of Effect
Israel declared operation ‘Cast Lead' a success and announced that its security cabinet has voted in favor of a unilateral ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Although the ceasefire has since been broken, with Hamas sending missiles into Sderot, here are some reflections of Israeli bloggers on developments on the ground.
Indonesia: Bloggers Vs mainstream media on Israel-Palestine issue
Global Voices author Martin Manurung analyzes the media coverage of the Palestine-Israel conflict in Indonesia. He notes that Indonesian bloggers seem to be more mature and informed than most of the Indonesian mainstream media.
Palestine: Lies & Murder
Mohammad of the Arab-American blog KABOBfest questions the intentions of Israel's latest ceasefire.
Poland, Israel: “Using the Holocaust to Beat the Israelis”
The beatroot wrote on Jan. 8: “When protestors – who know little of either Gaza or Warsaw – shout slogans involving ‘holocaust’, or ‘genocide’ or ‘Warsaw ghetto’ they degrade all those terms and memories, and put off one person – me – who would like to join them in condemning...
Russia, Israel: Gaza War Online
IZO reports that “a blog in support of the current Israeli military action in Gaza on the super-popular social site odnoklassniki.ru (27 million members) was hacked and destroyed after it entered into polemics with an anti-Israel site on Facebook”; and comments on the controversial post by Anton Nossik/LJ user dolboeb,...
Russia, Israel: “Chechnya and Gaza”
A Step At A Time quotes a piece by Ben Cohen, comparing Israel's military actions in Gaza to those employed by Russia in Chechnya: “Oleg goes on to explain in his broken Hebrew that if Russian soldiers were sent into Gaza they would take care of things in three or...
Turkish PM: Should Israel be allowed in the UN?
Au début était le Blog writes about the Turkish prime minister, who, referring to Israel recently asked “how a country that does not put into effect Security Council resolutions can be allowed to enter UN headquarters” [FR].
Israeli newspaper Haaretz: Free speech or hypocrisy?
Parole de democrate posts a screenshot from the Haaretz website, a left-leaning Israeli newspaper, which features an editorial with the headline “The IDF has no mercy for the children of Gaza nursery schools” alongside an IDF advertisement urging readers to “Support the soldiers today”. Parole thinks, “This attitude casts strong...
Israel: Voices against the violence
The Hebrew blogosphere is battling over right and wrong, support vs. opposition and what it means to be patriotic to your own country, while at the same time condemning its actions. In this post, Gilad Lotan translates four different entries which highlight their writers' struggle with the grave outcomes of a war. A war where news is biased; where one side is considerably more powerful than the other; where innocent civilians are used as human shields and where the death toll is steep.
Palestine: “Everything is in vain in Gaza – breathing, running, hoping”
In this roundup of blogs from Gaza, we hear in detail about the attacks on Al Quds hospital in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City from an Australian activist who was in it at the time, and an Italian activist describes a man lying injured in hospital, unaware that...
Syria: Israel & The US
Rime Allaf of the blog Mosaics posts an editorial which questions just how intertwined the Israeli and US governments are.
Israel: Loving and Hating Yonit Levi
Yonit Levi is the beloved anchorwoman for Israel's Channel 2. Over the past few days, however, she has become a pariah in the blogosphere for her reactions to the current crisis in Gaza, deemed as sympathetic to Palestinians. Jillian York has the story.
Morocco: A Country Divided Over Gaza
As a quorum of Arab leaders convene in Doha today, the world is wondering how their meeting might bring about a cessation of hostilities in Gaza. Yesterday, the news broke that King Mohammed VI of Morocco would not be attending the Doha or any other summit. Blogger react to that, and to the division of public opinion within Morocco, in this piece from Jillian York.
Palestine: Israeli Troops Enter Residential Areas of Gaza City
Thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing from Gaza City as IDF troops have entered residential areas. A number of the foreign activists in Gaza were helping at Al Quds hospital when it came under attack, and managed to get out reports of what was going on. We hear from them and other bloggers in this roundup of Gaza blogs by Ayesha Saldanha.
Israel/Palestine: Sderot Woman Speaks Out
The Villages Group: Cooperation in Israel and Palestine posts an entry called “Sderot War Diary,” in which a Sderot resident calls the conflict “not in my name and not for me you went to war.”
Syria: Arab Leaders Can't Come Together, Not Even into a Room
As the aggression on Gaza enters its third week, Arab Leaders fail to agree on the need of holding an emergency summit for the member countries of the Arab League which Qatar and Syria have called for. Syrian bloggers are outraged at the political ping-pong going on that highlights what could be described as the greatest political divide in recent Arab history.
Israel: Arab parties banned from participating in elections
Elections will be held in Israel on 10 February 2009, and the Central Elections Committee has voted to ban two Palestinian (Arab) political parties from participating. In this post we hear the reaction from bloggers within Israel and outside.
Morocco: The Mendacity of Hope
A Moroccan About the World Around Him analyzes the actions of US President-Elect Barack Obama in regard to Israel's attacks on Gaza.
