Welcome to Layalina Productions

The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 2, January 02-January 15, 2009

Waging the War Online

Shane Bauer with New America Media, argues that Al-Jazeera, as the only network able to broadcast live images from Gaza, is the only station able "to weigh the words of the politicians against the reality on the ground." However, no major American cable providers have carried Al-Jazeera due to a perception of Al-Jazeera as "giving airtime to terrorists."

Though Al-Jazeera remains off-limits to most American television viewers, Rob Kall at OpEd News recommends www.livestation.com, a free and downloadable program that allows viewers to access Al-Jazeera coverage. Kall claims that the site is "the future of the news."

Kall describes Al-Jazeera as a "first rate, professional operation…probably a lot more balanced than you'll see on Fox News." Kall adds that viewers restricted to CNN, Fox, or MSNBC are "getting a very limited picture."

However, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Ofir Gendelman disagrees, contending, "They don't differentiate between citizens and militants. They disregard the fact that Hamas has been bombarding Israel with thousands of rockets in the last few years."

Moreover, Al-Jazeera is also using Web 2.0 technology to boost its reporting, reports Imran Ali at Mobile Messaging 2.0. Al-Jazeera Labs is now using Ushahidi open source software for a 'War on Gaza' special feature.

Ushahidi allows Al-Jazeera to aggregate user-submitted reports from Israel and Gaza by "mashing up text messages, maps of the strip and Twitter." Submissions are then verified and posted to a Microsoft Virtual Earth map. Noah Schachtman at Wired cautions that Al-Jazeera Labs "is still spotty, and the technology is very much in the testing phase."

The use of new technology is not just restricted to Al-Jazeera. Samira Simone of CNN reports on the IDF's use of YouTube. An initial message on the IDF YouTube page claims that Israel wanted YouTube to "help us bring our message to the world." Within a few days, the channel had 5,600 subscribers and dozens of videos posted.

Simone adds that the videos, including footage of the office of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya "in crosshairs before disappearing in a dark cloud of smoke," run close to contravening YouTube's "inappropriate content" guidelines, and some videos have already been removed.

In addition to YouTube, Israeli authorities have utilized Twitter, notes Joel Leyden from the Israel News Agency. The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs held their first citizen news conference on the internet using Twitter to reach a younger demographic. Leyden argues that both the IDF and the MFA can overcome a lack of manpower and budget by using the internet to reach people worldwide.

Beyond government efforts, Palestinian and Israeli citizens are also harnessing Web 2.0 social networking applications to maximize their message. Leyden uses the example of Facebook, where a group called 'I Support the Israel Defense Forces In Preventing Terror Attacks From Gaza' has amassed 66,000 members.

Conversely, Jennifer Lawinski, writing for Fox News, reports that a "pro-Hamas" Facebook group, 'Stop Genocide in Palestine,' has secured more than 117,500 members. Lawinski adds that many Facebook users are demonstrating their support by changing their profile picture to Israeli or Palestinian flags.

Other users have added an application called "Qassam Count" which automatically updates their status bar when rockets from Gaza hit Israel. Nathan Hodge, for Wired, also describes Facebook as a "potent fundraising tool" for pro-Palestinian supporters.

Lawinski notes that Facebook's administrators, like YouTube's, have chosen to remove or edit content, specifically posts that "express hatred towards individuals and groups," according to Facebook spokeswoman Elizabeth Linder.

Israel’s Gaza offensive has also provoked a more sinister online response. SC Magazine’s Dan Kaplan reports that over 10,000 websites have been compromised by anti-Israeli hackers from Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Morocco. Websites affected include Ynetnews.com and israelairlines.com.

Gary Warner, director of research in computer forensics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, claims that hackers such as "Cold Z3ro" have created hacking tools that allow participants with "almost no skills on the computer" to scrawl anti-Israeli messages on sites. Warner adds that with today’s technology, "anytime we have some sort of political turmoil, it gets translated into attacks at the cyber level."

Many pro-Israel supporters have also turned into "cyberwarriors," claims Noah Schachtman at Wired. Software known as "Patriot" has allowed the online hacker group "Help Israel Win" to coordinate and take control of over 8,000 computers to target pro-Hamas websites. "Liri", one of the group’s organizers, reasoned, "We couldn't join the real combat, so we decided to fight Hamas in the cyber arena."

David Poort for Radio Netherlands Worldwide quotes Israeli army spokesperson Avital Lebovitch, who argues, "The new media and the blogosphere form a whole new battlefield in the war for world opinion. It is vital Israel fights on this front as well." Poort notes, "Both sides have become masters in the art of cyber warfare."

However, Muhammad Ayish for The National warns of the dangers of new technologies, which are, "individually interactive, conveniently accessible, alarmingly enduring and – critically – globally engaging." Ayish fears that conflict in cyberspace can only "perpetuate and inflame existing hatreds." The result, according to Ayish, is "morality is losing out to politics, human sympathy to military vengeance."