Electronic intifada

Electronic Intifada (EI short) is a non-commercial in Chicago ( USA based) online publication that deals with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the perspective of the Palestinians involved. She claims pro-Israeli and pro-American tendencies in mass media , which she wants to counteract. Critics accuse her of one-sidedness and anti-Semitism.

founding

According to its own information, EI was founded in February 2001. The founding members were:

• Ali Abunimah , an American journalist of Palestinian descent who supports the BDS campaign and advocates a one- state solution .
• Laurie King, an American anthropologist;
• Nigel Parry, American internet consultant and musician;
• Arjan El Fassed , a Dutch politician ( GroenLinks ).

Controversial publications

El Fassed published an alleged letter from Nelson Mandela on EI in 2007 , in which Nelson Mandela described Israel as an apartheid state. El Fassed later admitted that he wrote the letter as a "satire" himself. By then, the letter had already been circulated on the Internet and had been quoted approvingly by former US President Jimmy Carter, among others .

In April 2008, EI released some of the emails that some 50 Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) volunteers had exchanged over four weeks. The analyst Gilead Ini had asked her for help "to keep Israel-related entries in Wikipedia free from the influence of anti-Israeli authors" ( help us keep Israel-related entries on Wikipedia from becoming tainted by anti-Israel editors ) . EI then accused CAMERA of a "secret, long-term campaign" to rewrite the history of Palestine, which should be covered by taking over administrative structures of Wikipedia. As a result, Wikipedia administrators blocked five editors in the helper group because such coordinated, ideologically aligned editing cannot be reconciled with the transparent Wikipedia structure. When asked, EI co-founder Ali Abunimah denied that his group was undertaking parallel efforts like Camera. Gilead Ini stressed that he had no intention of a campaign of deception, but rather to ensure accurate information in contested areas.

financing

According to information on its own website, the Electronic Intifada is primarily financed by its readers. In addition, funds from private foundations are used. According to this information, EI does not receive any support from government agencies or political parties. In 2010, it received $ 130,000 in donations from individuals and $ 83,000 from private foundations.

However, in at least one case, EI received indirect state funding through a publicly funded ecumenical organization in the Netherlands. The NGO Monitor criticized the Dutch Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO) for its financial support of the Electronic Intifada. The NGO Monitor accused the EI of being anti-Semitic and often comparing “ Israeli policies with those of the Nazi regime ”. Marinus Verweij, Chief Executive Officer of ICCO, said, “ The EI reports frequently about the violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by the State of Israel. In no way, the EI is anti-Israel or anti-Semitic. "(German:" The EI frequently reports on human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law by the Israeli state. It is by no means anti-Israeli or anti-Semitic. ") He described the Electronic Intifada as" an important source of information from the occupied Palestinian territories " (German: "an important source of information from the occupied Palestinian territories"), which is often used by newspapers such as The Washington Post and the Financial Times . One of the founders of EI, Arjan El-Fassed, told the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant that the excitement caused by the NGO Monitor was based on a quote from an interview with Jewish Holocaust survivor and anti-Zionist Hajo Meyer in June In 2009 he said to EI: “ I can write up an endless list of similarities between Nazi Germany and Israel. ”(German:“ I can make an infinitely long list of similarities between Nazi Germany and Israel. ”) Meyer had previously speculated in his book Das Ende des Judentums about a future intention of the Jews for world domination and Israeli politics several times with that of the National Socialists compared to what the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court ruled in 2007 that there could also be anti-Semitism emanating from Jews. Ronnie Naftaniel, director of the Center for Information and Documentation Israel (CIDI), told the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant that while the Electronic Intifada is not an anti-Semitic website, the Dutch government should not be indirectly involved in funding websites that regularly call for a boycott of Israel. After ICCO decided in January 2011 to continue to support EI financially, the Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal stated that this could have a negative impact on future ICCO funding applications.

reception

Hannah Brown named EI in the Jerusalem Post in 2002 "one of the most detailed" sites among those showing the "Palestinian view of the news." She also describes EI as "very professional, user-friendly and well-written". Brown characterized the style of the Electronic Intifada as “ adorned by photos, such as a picture of a lone, small Palestinian boy aiming a stone at an Israeli tank ” (German: “decorated with photos, such as the picture of a little Palestinian boy who aiming at an Israeli tank all by himself with a stone ”).

Gil Sedan, a reporter for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency , describes EI as a "cyber propaganda" site that " may contribute to a better understanding of the Palestinian cause ", he said however, also that EI is “ too biased to be of much use to mainstream publications ” (German: “too one-sided to be useful for mainstream publications ”).

Gerald M. Steinberg , director of the NGO Monitor , described the Electronic Intifada as “ an explicitly pro-Palestinian political and ideological website” that spreads “anti-Israel propaganda”.

Among other things, the Amadeu Antonio Foundation viewed the EI publications 2017 according to the criteria of the working definition of anti-Semitism of the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia as dissemination of " anti-Semitic propaganda".

Web links

• electronicintifada.net - official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Hannah Brown, Virtual War . In: The Jerusalem Post , September 27, 2002 (English). Retrieved August 26, 2014.
2. ^ About the Electronic Intifada
3. ↑ About: Electronic Intifada . Middleeast.about.com. June 17, 2010. Archived from the original on January 14, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 21, 2012. 
4. ^ Ali Abunimah: Toward Palestine's 'Mubarak moment' . Al Jazeera , February 24, 2011
5. ^ Jake Wallis Simons: The big lie: that Mandela viewed Israel as an apartheid state. The Jewish Chronicle , December 12, 2013
6. ↑ Alex Beam: War of the virtual Wiki-worlds. The Boston Globe , May 3, 2008
7. ↑ About The Electronic Intifada - Who Pays for the Electronic Intifada? . The Electronic Intifada. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
8. ^ Dutch will look into NGO funding of anti-Semitic website . The Jerusalem Post , January 25, 2011
9. ^ Auschwitz survivor: “I can identify with Palestinian youth” . In: Electronic Intifada , June 1, 2009
10. ↑ Alex Feuerherdt : Henryk M. Broder. "Made Adolf" . In: Tagesspiegel , November 9, 2007.
11. ↑ Laura de Jong: 'Ophef rond The Electronic Intifada over één citaat' - Israëlisch-Palestijns conflict - VK ( nl ) Volkskrant.nl. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
12. ↑ Dutch FM Mulls slashing funding for anti-Israel charity . In: Jerusalem Post , January 22, 2011
13. ↑ Mideast cease-fire doesn't extend into cyberspace .
14. ↑ Ken Roth's blood libel .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Jerusalem Post , August 26, 2006.  
15. ^ Human Rights Watch needs watching . ( Memento of the original from November 20, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The Jewish Week , March 25, 2005 
16. ↑ Intern: Open Letter Arte Documentation ~ Amadeu Antonio Foundation. In: amadeu-antonio-stiftung.de. July 22, 2017. Retrieved August 7, 2017 .