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I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have second thoughts about posting this article. I would also be lying if I said this issue isn’t close to my heart. My sister lives in Tel Aviv and her boyfriend has been called in by the reserves to go to Gaza at the beginning of next month. Personally, I pray that a cease fire has been achieved by then. Additionally, I have written heavily about how the Gaza war is taking place in social media, and Facebook happens to be one of the central platforms for conversation.
One of my readers emailed me about a new application called “STOP Israel’s War Crimes in Gaza“. The application is aimed to counter the amazing support for the QassamCount application that I previously wrote about. QassamCount has now grown to over 160,000 users and this new application is rapidly approaching 100,000 users. My guess is that it will surpass 100,000 by tomorrow if it hasn’t already.
It’s clear that a counter movement must be created and that was the motivation behind this application. What is unfortunate in this situation is that the counter argument is against Israel, not against Hamas who continues to use the Palestinians as pawns in their never ending war against Israel. It portrays Palestinians as the victims (they are most definitely victims) of only Israeli crimes but the crimes against Palestinians were present prior to the events which have materialized over the past couple weeks. The crimes also took place against Israelis by Hamas and against Palestinians by the same organization.
This site was not intended as a site for political discussion especially for political discussion related to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. If you’d like to learn more about it, I’d highly recommend that you read the Wikipedia article about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What I would simply like to illustrate through this article is that there is clearly a strong social media effort (Facebook in particular) being organized by a less centralized Palestinian group which could soon equal if not outweigh the social media effort by the Israelis.
Additionally, there is a strong polarization which results from conflicts and the Gaza conflict is no exception. Individuals are turning to social media to express their feelings and beliefs as they should. I once hoped that social media would make the world more peaceful through direct exposure to the freedoms, capitalism, and individualism (Western ideals) present on social networks and in social media.
Unfortunately it appears that social media may in fact have a reverse effect: a deepening polarization as we are exposed to new cultures. I still believe that social media will help us to obtain a more clear view of the world but circumstances such as this one make the situation increasingly complex and even more polarized.
In the end the only thing that I hope will overcome is peace, and that’s something that most of us hope for. Then again can you have peace when one group is dedicated to eliminating you from the face of the earth? I’m somewhat doubtful but I hope social media will contribute to bringing peace to all. Peace.
Good post! Unusual tone for a social media topic but it suits the situation. I also believed before that the internet would have increased the openness of people in general, but Internet is just a tool (like social media). People use it in the same way they behave in life, exposing their qualities and drawbacks.
“What is unfortunate in this situation is that the counter argument is against Israel, not against Hamas who continues to use the Palestinians as pawns in their never ending war against Israel.”
I’m done reading this blog. You shouldn’t insert your opinion on the conflict into a piece about social media.
Though Hamas is not in the right, Israel’s use of force, which has resulted in far more Palestinian civilian deaths than total Israeli deaths (both recently and in the long term), combined with unending American support of Israeli policies, does nothing to achieve peace. As we’ve shown in Iraq, hurting a civilian population generally produces frustration towards the occupying force.
See you later LONGTIME…
What is opinion if it’s not social…I’m just as tired as you are but for different reasons. Propaganda of the occupying personnel was a huge force when Israeli’s left Gaza. I saw only scant care from occupation supporters..this is an issue that needs to be made aware in EVERY ARENA, even the social arena. Today’s newsprint isn’t covering it in a truthful manner. The fact yes I said FACT that Iran is helping to instigate this outward attack using Hamas (which means “wicked violence” and can be found in the Torah) as a smoke screen will only help to usher in a “less moderate and more radical” form of Hamas from Iran.
So please LONG TIME…go somewhere else and play ostrich. U;n sure you can find s blog where everything is kept in a sanitary place and will never offend anyone..
Kudo’s ALLFB…I don’t like war and I don’t like death..but it’s all a cycle that we will never get out of.
I wonder at the double standard in this article; you expect Palestinians to examine the situation from multiple perspectives and therefore condemn Hamas for its attacks on Israel, but don’t expect the Israelis to consider anything other than their own danger. It seems to me that focusing on a single statistic can be misleading, and a count of Qassam rockets should be supplemented with, for example, a count of casualties on both sides.
According to multiple sources, including the New York Times and the UN, as if today 14 Israelis have died, and more than 850 Palestinians, roughly half of whom are civilians. All these deaths are tragic, and our hearts should go out to all victims and their families. But clearly, a more comprehensive analysis than that offered by QassamCount (and by this article) shows that the Israeli actions are a violation of the principle of proportionality, a fundamental tenet of international law.
Sorry if you think there was a double standard … I wrote this kind of late night but either way I’ll be posting a follow-up in the coming days. This wasn’t the most balanced writing but I think the start of the article makes it pretty clear that the article won’t be balanced.
What does the victim count have to do with who is wrong and who is right?
Germany lost many times more people than the US did in World War 2 - does that mean America was in the wrong?
The difference between Israel and Hamas is that if Hamas put down their weapons - there would be peace, but if Israel put theirs down - there’d be no Israel.
Look at RIGHT and WRONG, not weak and strong.
I happened to stumble over your blog whilst looking for a Facebook application about Gaza and I must say I do not agree with your comment
“What is unfortunate in this situation is that the counter argument is against Israel, not against Hamas who continues to use the Palestinians as pawns in their never ending war against Israel.”
If the counter argument was against Hamas that would mean it would be Hamas v’s Hamas! I see no logic in that.
With all due respect, I feel compelled to state the following points: 1) the fact that a blog post is upfront about its bias does not absolve the author of the responsibility to present as accurate a picture as possible of the situation it describes; and 2) I wonder by what criteria Adam Hyman determines whether or not a war is “RIGHT.” According to the current international consensus, a war is “just” if it meets the following three criteria: a) every possible recourse has been used before resorting to physical force, b) every effort has been made to separate civilian and military casualties, and c) the damage inflicted is proportional to the damage suffered. While criteria a and b are subject to debate, criteria c clearly indicates this is not a “just” war. Period.
I am writing as an American Jew and an someone with many Israeli friends, and I know I am far from alone in this community in finding the casualties among the Palestinian civilian population, as exemplified by the bombing of a UN school and other humanitarian agencies in Gaza, utterly inexcusable. In my view this war is disproportionate and therefore unjust, and it must be stopped immediately.