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Gaza Videos Take Over YouTube Charts
VIDEO: High on impact, low on context
'News' unfiltered.
Viral video has taken a serious turn in the last few weeks, as rocket attacks, tanks and Israeli forces supplant piano-playing cats and laughing babies on the charts. As the professional media complains that it does not have enough access to Gaza, others are stepping in to fill the gap. The volume of material is overwhelming. A YouTube search for "Gaza" brings up nearly 13,000 videos posted in the last seven days alone.
Many have focused on the Israeli Defense Forces' (IDF) controversial YouTube channel. And the IDF's most recent video, apparently showing a booby-trapped school in Gaza, was one of the web's current top 10 viral videos at the time of publication.
But there's no shortage of pro-Palestinian vids. Take this clip from Korean television, which shows a young woman staring down the rifles of IDF forces.
The images are affecting, wherever your sympathies lie, which is probably why this clip has been widely viewed over the last week, alongside more direct messages, like this slideshow of photos, juxtaposing injured children, protests around the world and a smiling Condoleezza Rice.
The trouble with all this material is that it is even lighter on context than cable news. Take the above video, which only offers an explanation of the video's context in Korean. Bloggers have identified the woman in the video as Huwaida Arraf, an American activist and lawyer.
Arraf, profiled some time ago with her husband in the Guardian, is one of the founders of the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian activist group. They distribute aid, organize protests and serve as human shields in the occupied territories, at house demolitions and in ambulances. (You might remember news stories about one of their members, Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an IDF bulldozer during a protest in Gaza in 2003.)
Many viewers probably assume that they are seeing a regular citizen of Gaza, or at least something filmed during the current invasion, since the video was posted this January, but bloggers have suggested that it was probably filmed earlier this year. We don't know why or who the soldiers are shooting at, or whether their bullets are rubber or lead. Though it seems unlikely, this clip and many others could be entirely fabricated.
I don't think this detail takes away from the impact of video -- even though there is nothing like watching a human shield to make me wonder why I'm wasting your life on YouTube -- but it does make me long for the clarifying filter of a BBC anchor who provides context, background and checked facts. Thanks to the web, we're getting every side of the current Gaza story, but I am not sure we get to understand any of them.
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- ...while on the streets, pirates and ninjas put aside mutual animosity to join student protests
5
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yasmar
3 years ago
I don't think it matters
I don't think it matters whether the video is real or fabricated. What this video illustrates is that war zones like Gaza (or wherever this clip takes place) are hellish, dangerous, and very serious places to be.
This woman is doing something more of us should be doing; she is standing up for her beliefs in a non-violent way. She believes what is happening is unjust, so she is voicing her opinion, loud and clear.
Regardless of the context, this video shows one group of people antagonising another. If that isn't enough to make us realise just how ridiculous we look and how small our disagreements really are, then I don't what is.
Her action is very brave and could have very dire consequences. Just look at what she is doing, the impact she is having. The soldier with the gun is confused; he doesn't know what to do. There in front of him is an unarmed human being who means him absolutely no harm. Everything she is doing is stirring up his emotions, making him re-think his current situation.
It doesn't matter whether the video is placed in context or not. It's a pro-peace video either way.
Jeffrey J.
3 years ago
Good discussion
As a result of US imperialsim and their fateful decision to conquer the oil rich Middle East, it has become a significant flash point for conflict. This is critical to understand. Without the US investment, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would likely have resolved many years ago. But now, we have a convergence of US military and financial backing of a regime that has used it to defeat its enemy. Age old consequences of intermeddling with other nation states. Now, Israel is dominated by neocon governments and policies which moderates are unable to oppose. Much like the last 8 years in the US (and now under Canada's Harper).
The population of those who identify themselves as Jewish is modest (under 20 million). Without the backing of the US empire, Israel would operate under very different circumstances.
The strategy of accusing critics of Israel foreign policy as anti-semites is growing, sadly. But this is truly a red herring, albeit used ruthlessly by those who seek to support the current regime. The most articulate critics of Israeli foreign policy are the many Jewish peace movements, the most respected of which is Gush Shalom, headed by former Knesset member and former military officer Uri Avnery.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/index_en.html
Probably the best analysis of the relationship between US imperialism and right wing Israel is "The Israel Lobby" by noted academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. Like many, many critics of Isreal foreign policy, Mr. Mearsheimer is Jewish, and accusations of anti-semitism fall flat.
The propensity of accusing everyone and their dog oif anti-semitism is weighed, measured and found wanting in the superb "Politics of Anti-Semitism", a collection of well written essays, half of which are penned by, yes, Jewish authors. It can be found via the Counterpunch website.
http://www.counterpunch.org/
It is IMPERATIVE that the public understand the rhetoric which is promulgated daily in support of the US-Israeli neocon policies. It's not about Jewishness. Its about war and imperialism and intolerance and fear. Its wrong. It needs to stop.
Great coverage of a pivotal issue effecting all of us.
Lefty
3 years ago
What an incredibly useless article
I seems that to be against massacring civilians, blowing up hospitals, testing new weapons on civilian populations, against the ghetto of Gaza, against war and assassinations is to be pro-palestinian we don't need this bullshit.
Why is this nonsense released on this site?
check out
www.alternativenews.org/
aleksandra
3 years ago
the context in gaza
This article makes some points - that with the closure of Gaza's borders to journalists, it is hard to get reliable information out. But while you critique the inherent lack of context offered by YouTube videos, I'm saddened you offer very little context yourself.
Yes, the woman in the clip is Huwaida Arraf. Did anyone really think a woman with a perfect American accent arguing with an Israeli soldier in English was a native Gazan? She is an American of Palestinian origin.
But if you want context, why don't you explain how she got into Gaza when even the UN Special Rapporteur on the Israeli Palestinian conflict (Richard Falk) has been denied entry? She was part of the Free Gaza missions (see www.freegaza.org) - the first civilian ships to enter or leave the Port of Gaza in 41 years. Isn't this significant?
More context - why has no one entered or left in 41 years? Because despite claims of a disengagement, Israel still controls all the borders and fishermen cannot even go out in their own territorial waters for food. UN trucks cannot enter. This is still an occupation.
What about the fact that the image you showed - Israeli soldiers hurling tear gas, and firing rubber bullets and live ammunition against unarmed protestors happens EVERY DAY in the West Bank and Gaza. Look up villages like Nilin and Bilin.
Also, there are still some journalists like Al-Jazeera, and Ramattan News Agency inside Gaza. It's just that not many westerners are left.
If your piece really wanted to do some research, you'd see that Western journalists have been relying on activists who came from the Free Gaza missions to talk about what's going on inside. Google search Ewa Jasiewicz and you'll see there are many people writing eyewitness reports from inside.
I understand this was meant to be some kind of media critique, but you've really offered no additional context to the struggle whatsoever. We are often so nervous about remaining "neutral" or offering "balance" but you've failed to offer any stinging critique of the realities that put an unarmed civilian in front of an Israeli rifle.
aleksandra
3 years ago
the context in gaza
This article makes some points - that with the closure of Gaza's borders to journalists, it is hard to get reliable information out. But while you critique the inherent lack of context offered by YouTube videos, I'm saddened you offer very little context yourself.
Yes, the woman in the clip is Huwaida Arraf. Did anyone really think a woman with a perfect American accent arguing with an Israeli soldier in English was a native Gazan? She is an American of Palestinian origin.
But if you want context, why don't you explain how she got into Gaza when even the UN Special Rapporteur on the Israeli Palestinian conflict (Richard Falk) has been denied entry? She was part of the Free Gaza missions (see www.freegaza.org) - the first civilian ships to enter or leave the Port of Gaza in 41 years. Isn't this significant?
More context - why has no one entered or left in 41 years? Because despite claims of a disengagement, Israel still controls all the borders and fishermen cannot even go out in their own territorial waters for food. UN trucks cannot enter. This is still an occupation.
What about the fact that the image you showed - Israeli soldiers hurling tear gas, and firing rubber bullets and live ammunition against unarmed protestors happens EVERY DAY in the West Bank and Gaza. Look up villages like Nilin and Bilin.
Also, there are still some journalists like Al-Jazeera, and Ramattan News Agency inside Gaza. It's just that not many westerners are left.
If your piece really wanted to do some research, you'd see that Western journalists have been relying on activists who came from the Free Gaza missions to talk about what's going on inside. Google search Ewa Jasiewicz and you'll see there are many people writing eyewitness reports from inside.
I understand this was meant to be some kind of media critique, but you've really offered no additional context to the struggle whatsoever. We are often so nervous about remaining "neutral" or offering "balance" but you've failed to offer any stinging critique of the realities that put an unarmed civilian in front of an Israeli rifle.