'Homeland,' Obama’s Show. The award winning TV show does little to alleviate the myths and misconceptions about Arabs and Muslims, writes
Joseph Massad, a
scholar at Columbia University. "The racist representation of Arabs is so exponential, even for American television [..] that one does not know where to begin."
[more inside]
posted by kiskar
on Dec 12, 2012 -
84 comments
Suicide bombers from Lebanon, the West Bank, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Chechnya have two things in common: they are Muslim and they live under occupation.
University of Chicago Professor Dr. Robert A. Pape, who has assembled a comprehensive database of every (or nearly every) suicide bombing since 1980, has been the most prominent proponent of the view that it is occupation, not religion, that is the single most important motivating factor for suicide bombers... more than 95% of suicide bombers come from countries under occupation...
Pape and his colleagues at the Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism, ask What Makes Chechen Women So Dangerous?
-Via The Washington Note
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey
on Apr 1, 2010 -
88 comments
Tul Karem’s refugee camp, the time, if I remember correctly, Chanukah 2003, it was to execute there about 9 people. Sorry, I don’t remember the pretense we were given for the mission.
From Shovrim Shtika or
Breaking the Silence where Israeli soldiers confess the horror they have visited on
Hebron
posted by adamvasco
on Apr 21, 2008 -
13 comments
"In politics, the impossible is the immoral." A surprisingly thoughtful essay on the "uniqueness of Palestinian terror" from, of all places, Tech Central Station. I found much with which to both agree and disagree in this article - and on such contentious issues, that's no doubt the case for all readers - but, I found that, in reading this piece, my neurons never stopped firing, which is a rare and unusual sensation these days. 'Tis interesting.
Also attempting to deal across boundaries in the Mideast conflict:
Bitter Lemons, which features two themed columns apiece by Palestinian and Israeli writers each day.
posted by Sticherbeast
on Feb 28, 2005 -
8 comments
Palestinian opinions. A poll conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center indicates a dramatic decline in Palestinian support for acts of violence targeting Israelis. For the first time since the outbreak of the intifada in September 2000, a majority of Palestinians, some 52%, oppose violence against Israel.
Palestinian opposition to attacks on Israelis is up 25% since last June.
Original report is here in pdf.
Is the intifada finished?
If so should Arafat be awarded a second Nobel Peace Prize for dying?
posted by Ugandan Discussions
on Dec 8, 2004 -
25 comments
Killing children is no longer a big deal More than 30 Palestinian children were killed in the first two weeks of Operation Days of Penitence in the Gaza Strip. It's no wonder that many people term such wholesale killing of children "terror." Whereas in the overall count of all the victims of the intifada the ratio is three Palestinians killed for every Israeli killed, when it comes to children the ratio is 5:1. According to B'Tselem, the human rights organization, even before the current operation in Gaza, 557 Palestinian minors (below the age of 18) were killed, compared to 110 Israeli minors... Who would have believed that Israeli soldiers would kill hundreds of children and that the majority of Israelis would remain silent? Even the Palestinian children have become part of the dehumanization campaign: killing hundreds of them is no longer a big deal.
posted by y2karl
on Oct 17, 2004 -
46 comments
September 12: A Toy World "September 12 is a free Shockwave game where players try to solve the terrorist problem - a sort of editorial cartoon rendered in simple simulation." It's not really much of a simulation, and the 'argument' is simplistic to the point of inanity. But as a new medium, interesting. (via
gamegirladvance)
posted by jcruelty
on Oct 2, 2003 -
18 comments
Army Radio reported that at least one person was killed and 30 injured in
an explosion in Rishon Letzion, either at a banquetting hall or a disco, on Sakharov Street in the town's new industrial zone.
Initial reports stated that the explosion occurred at around 11:00 P.M., and emergency service were on the way to the scene moments later. Peace? Yeah right...
posted by martz
on May 7, 2002 -
44 comments
Congress Woman requests Flash game removal on NewGrounds.com. The game is not being removed for its violent content, or depection of blood and gore. Instead it is the subject matter of the game that has raised the spectre of censorship.
The game in question,
Kaboom!, is about suicide bombers, the object being to blow up as many people as possible.
Do you think that a game about a Palestinian captured by the Israeli army to act as a human shield would warrant the same type fo request?
posted by DragonBoy
on May 7, 2002 -
34 comments
Hamas accepts Saudi peace plan: "There has been generation after generation (of war). Now there is a generation who needs to live in peace, and not worry about their safety," said [Hamas executive Ismail Abu] Shanab. "So it is a generation that wants to practice living in peace and postpone historical issues. We speak of historical Palestine, and practical reality."
Since their official position is that "Leaving the circle of conflict with Israel is a major act of treason" (
Hamas Charter, Article 32), this is a dramatic change in policy indeed. I'm gobsmacked; this is utterly unbelievable, yet apparently real. And genuinely hopeful IMHO. What do you think?
posted by boaz
on Apr 30, 2002 -
16 comments
Islamic nations dodge defining terrorism. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference is divided over whether Palestinian suicide bombers should be classified as terrorists. On the other hand, there's no question that Israel practises terror.
Rather than stick their necks out and commit to something, they'll leave it to the good ole UN to decide who is a terrorist. That'll solve everything.
More depth here.
posted by badstone
on Apr 2, 2002 -
14 comments
What now? Fashion profiling? (NYT) For the third time in 48 hours, an alert Israeli foiled an attempted suicide bombing on Tuesday. Near the West Bank settlement of Mehola in the Jordan Valley, a bus driver, Shalom Drei, thought a man climbing onto the second step of the bus looked suspicious. "He wore an aviator's jacket, zipped all the way up," Mr. Drei told Israeli television. "It looked strange to me."
Mr. Drei pushed the stranger back off the bus, then, as the bus pulled away, the man exploded.
posted by semmi
on Feb 20, 2002 -
39 comments
The Columbus Day Threat "Let the whole world know that we shall never accept that the tragedy of Andalusia be repeated in Palestine," Osama bin Laden said in his taped cave-side address. "We cannot accept that Palestine will become Jewish."
Reuven Koret's Israel Insider column
may explain the FBI's alert to terrorist activity: "Columbus Day, October 12, commemorates the founding of America in 1492, and 1492 represents the year in which Islam was driven out by Christianity. In bin Laden's mind, these two events are inextricably linked."
posted by Carol Anne
on Oct 12, 2001 -
10 comments
Missles hit Gaza. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called it
here. "If Sharon goes ahead and cancels [the cease-fire talks], that means he has other plans and we know those other plans -- they involve tanks, shelling and assasinations."
posted by hipstertrash
on Sep 15, 2001 -
3 comments
Is the DFLP responsible? The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks on the World Trade Center. This report, from a television station in Abu Dhabi, is unconfirmed.
The attacks differ significantly from the DFLP's previous methods of operation. Likewise, the resources and infrastructure necessary for such attacks are far beyond the group's traditional means. Either the DFLP's claims are spurious, or it has joined forces with other groups.
posted by Davezilla
on Sep 11, 2001 -
18 comments