I had long supported justice for the Palestinian people, but after the second intifada started in 2000 I visited Israel/Palestine in May 2001 to see for myself. What I found was both different — and worse — than I had expected, so after I got back to the U.S. I searched for more information.
I was lucky. The website Electronic Intifada had just started, and it was one of the few accurate online sources. EI became, and still is, essential to my ongoing understanding of Israel/Palestine.
Electronic Intifada has just celebrated its 20th anniversary, on February 23, and let’s salute the co-founders — Ali Abunimah, Nigel Parry, Arjan El Fassed, and Laurie King — and everyone else associated with the site over the years. Setting up and maintaining an online website that continues to attract traffic is not for the faint of heart, and EI’s longevity and continued relevance are a tribute to the energy and dedication of its founders and contributors.
Two of EI’s founders have created a special Facebook archive page that links to its first posts. Right from the start, EI stressed criticism of biased Western media coverage of Israel/Palestine. Nigel Parry noted that the overwhelming press distortion was partly caused by what he called “structural geographic bias.” Put simply, the foreign media lived in Israeli, not Palestinian areas. Parry explains that in 2001:
As it stood, all but one of the 700+ international journalists registered with the Israeli government wasn’t living ‘behind’ the guns in Israeli areas. It was a deeply unprofessional crew. Many rarely bothered to visit Palestinian areas — never mind live in them — with a large part of the foreign press contingent married to Israelis, living in Tel Aviv or West Jerusalem, and fluent in Hebrew. Barely any spoke Arabic.
Parry noted that even alternative media were not always helpful. Here, from the Facebook archive page:
In one of the first external links we posted, EI highlighted a Village Voice article by Lamis Antoni and Sandy Tolan, ‘Shoot to Maim: Israel’s Favored Ammo is Crippling a Generation of Young Palestinians.’ Today, getting such an article about Palestinian life into a widely-read pop culture-friendly weekly newspaper might not seem remarkable. In those days, it was a big deal.
At first glance, it may seem that little has changed about Israel/Palestine in the 20 years since Electronic Intifada started. Israel’s occupation continues; the number of settlers/colonists in West Bank Palestine increases; Israel has launched several murderous wars against the open-air prison of Gaza; any kind of just solution, whether one- or two-state, seems as far away as ever.
But much has in fact changed, and Electronic Intifada deserves a great deal of credit. Other alternative sources of information, including Mondoweiss, have followed EI’s example and reached large audiences. In July 2005, the nonviolent campaign for Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) started, and it continues to attract supporters; Israel’s government has spent more than $100 million to combat it. Members of the U.S. Congress, including two Muslim women, endorse BDS, and opinion polls show that blank check support for Israel is dropping, within the Democratic party, and among younger people, including younger Jews. Liberal Zionists are on the defensive, and some, like Peter Beinert, have courageously changed their views.
Electronic Intifada continues to contribute to that improved understanding of Israel/Palestine. Today, the site is sophisticated and well-designed, contrasted with its bare bones beginnings. But EI continues telling indispensable truths, as in this recent post by co-founder Ali Abunimah, who explains that Itamar Ben-Gvir, a candidate for Israel’s Parliament, regards Dr. Baruch Goldstein as a hero; Goldstein is the settler/colonist who entered a West Bank mosque in 1994 and murdered 29 Palestinians with his automatic weapon. You won’t read this in the New York Times.
Here at Mondoweiss, we thank Electronic Intifada for their pioneering and inspiring contributions, and we wish them many more years of truth-telling.
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Thank you for praising the Electronic Intifada! I read it regularly.
Here’s one of its recent articles that features Canada’s Prime Minister Trudeau who chooses to ignore the terrible plight of the Palestinians despite the fact that as national polls have proven, the vast majority of Canadians stand with the Palestinians,
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/justin-trudeau-buys-drones-tested-palestinians
“Justin Trudeau buys drones ‘tested’ on Palestinians”
The Electronic Intifada, Feb. 11/21, by Ali Abunimah.
“Canada has an anti-Palestinian record second to none.
“But recent moves suggest the government of Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is escalating its enmity towards the Palestinian people.
“There was Trudeau’s decision in November to appoint Irwin Cotler, a prominent Israel lobbyist, as special envoy on anti-Semitism.
“Cotler is tasked with implementing the so-called IHRA definition of anti-Semitism – a document promoted by Israel and its lobby as a tool to censor and smear supporters of Palestinian rights by falsely tarring them as anti-Jewish bigots.
“The following month, Trudeau’s government placed itself in a tiny minority, along with fellow settler-colonial states Israel, the US and Australia, to vote against UN resolutions reaffirming fundamental Palestinian rights.
“And in recent days, Canada lined up again with the US and Australia to condemn the ruling by the International Criminal Court clearing the way for war crimes investigations of Israeli leaders.
“This anti-Palestinian extremism belies Trudeau’s fluffy image as woke hipster who supports LGBTQ rights and multiculturalism.
“But it is entirely in keeping with Canada’s ongoing mistreatment of the Indigenous peoples on whose land it sits – in spite of Trudeau’s rhetorical commitment to ‘reconciliation’ with First Nations.
“Now the Trudeau government is purchasing a ‘civilian’ version of the Hermes 900 drone made by Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.
“The deal announced in December by Canada’s transport ministry is worth $28 million.
“As Israeli media reported, the Hermes 900 was first ‘tested’ by Israel during its 2014 assault on Gaza. (cont’d)
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“Israel killed more than 2,200 Palestinians, including 550 children during that assault, in attacks that frequently obliterated entire families.
“A major weapons supplier to the Israeli military, Elbit was deeply involved in, and reaped huge profits from, that attack on Gaza.
“Canada is greenwashing the purchase from Elbit by claiming the drones will be used for surveillance of the Arctic region, including ‘to detect oil spills, survey ice and marine habitats.’
“This purchase, the Trudeau government claims, will help ‘to keep our waters clean and safe.’
“In fact, what it will do is put money into the hands of Israel’s blood-soaked arms industry, effectively rewarding it for perpetrating war crimes whose investigation and prosecution Trudeau opposes.
“Last month, activists protested the Trudeau policy by blocking the entrance of a Hamilton, Ontario, factory that ships weapons to the Saudis.”And now Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, an advocacy group, is urging Canadians to write the Trudeau government opposing the Elbit deal.
“’Through this purchase, Canada directly supports the profits of a weapons company responsible for ongoing human rights violations against Palestinians,’ CJPME says in an action alert.
“As CJPME notes in a useful backgrounder, Elbit brags that the ‘civilian’ drones Trudeau’s government is purchasing draw on the ‘legacy‘ of its killer drones used on Palestinians.
“Perhaps sensitive to how unpopular its anti-Palestinian policies are with ordinary Canadians, the Trudeau government falsely portrays itself as a friend of Palestinians.
“Through its diplomatic office in Ramallah, Canada purports to support the ’empowerment’ of Palestinian women. And a Canadian general has been making the rounds among Palestinian officials, offering ‘cooperation’:
“No one should be fooled by this.”Canada is no friend if it seeks to obstruct justice at the International Criminal Court, votes against Palestinian rights at the UN, smears human rights advocates as anti-Semites and makes deals with Israeli arms companies that profit from killing Palestinians.”