Ahmed Shihab-Eldin: Not willing to play the 'angry Arab'

By Ben Cohen: Regardless of whose side you take in the Israeli Palestinian crisis, there is no denying that the Jewish state has been far better at the public relations game than the Palestinians have ever been. There are many well funded pro Israel groups in the US that have sophisticated media strategies and employ them brilliantly when faced with criticism of their behavior towards the Palestinians. As a consequence public opinion is solidly in favor of Israel in the US, making it an anomaly in comparison to the rest of the world. The Palestinians have done an awful job of bringing attention to their plight, and despite the shockingly one sided nature of the conflict between themselves and Israel, they continue to be portrayed as the aggressors.

While Jews have been incredibly well represented in the US mainstream media both in management and on air, Palestinians have never had anyone in a position of real influence, and this has clearly had a major impact on the way the crisis in the Middle East has been portrayed.

Up until now, that is. In a forward thinking and (at least by American media standards) brave move, the Huffington Post hired Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, a Palestinian American to host and produce segments for their recently launched ‘Huff Post Live’ video platform. A former producer and and co-host of Al Jazeera English’s Emmy-nominated social media show, “The Stream”, Ahmed is no rookie, but his position within a large mainstream media entity is a novelty in America’s media establishment.

Ahmed regularly draws attention to the plight of the Palestinians, bringing on guests rarely seen on other mainstream media outlets like Palestinians from the Gaza strip and critics of Israel who are usually confined to academia or obscure foreign policy websites that have little reach. Ahmed, an extremely likeable and articulate character, refuses to play into the ‘angry Arab’ role the media likes to pick up on, despite facing intense criticism from all sides of the political spectrum (just check some of the comments on youtube to get an idea). Ahmed represents a new breed of journalist in the digital age, where an ability to connect with an audience trumps ethnicity, age or social background.

The Daily Banter spoke to Ahmed about his thoughts on the latest outburst of violence in the region, the Palestinian’s inability to draw attention to their cause, Obama’s indifference to Israeli aggression, and why Arianna Huffington took such a big risk in hiring him.

(NB: The answers have been lightly edited for brevity)

TDB: What was your immediate reaction to the overwhelming support for Palestinian statehood in the United Nations?

ASE: My immediate reaction was that a lot of people are going to try to break down an deconstruct what this actually means and I think that the sad reality is that it means very little. And so the people who have been saying that are right. What I think is most significant about this, even the way it played out, the fact that Israel switched their tone as they often do 180 degrees by saying that this is you know, a threat against peace and then as soon as it looked like the Palestinians would probably win, switching and saying that this is insignificant and downplaying the significance of the vote.

Also, the US was really exposed as a weakened power, one that’s reputation in the Middle East, that is quickly changing, but also in terms of the international stage is becoming increasingly less significant, especially unilaterally, especially as a leader.

When I heard about the bid, my first logistical reaction was ‘great’, now eventually Israel will be pursued in the international criminal court because now they can. And I think that’s great because Palestinians for far too long have not had any cards in their pocket to play when it comes to the games Israel plays regarding the conflict. This both really undermines Americas power, both soft and hard. And I think most importantly Europe realizes that they have to go it alone…..so I think Europe is starting to realize that it no longer has to fall in step with the US. Which I think is great because the US, more so than Israel believes that there is no resolution to the conflict.

TDB: Why do you think the Palestinians have had such a hard time drawing attention to their plight, particularly in the US?

ASE: I think it’s a lot of reasons. Perhaps first and foremost I am actually going to place the blame on Palestinians, ironically. I think too often we blame the press, we blame the West, we blame America, and I think those are all valid concerns, but I think the Palestinians have allowed divisions about our own identity to get the better of us. I really think that if the Palestinians were more unified in terms of their leadership, but also in terms of their ideology and in terms of their demands, I think they have allowed Israel and others to divide us in that regard. Of course another thing is AIPAC and the Jewish lobby and the fact that the way that American politics works – the two party system – you have to pledge allegiance or blind support to Israel’s right to defend themselves. Israel has created this really great narrative that Israel deserves the right to defend itself against all reason or rational, disregarding international law, and America bows to this for many reasons.

TDB: Do you see anything to be positive about in terms of US attitudes towards the conflict?

ASE: I really do. And I wish people didn’t ask me that question, because admitting to that – because it has been such a slight change and if we all talk about this change and celebrate the change, people tend to forget. People tend to have short attention spans. But to answer your question, yes, there is a change. Partially because of the internet, because things go viral and people are connecting of social media, but also because of other platforms – Indie GoGo and Kick Starter, because people based in Gaza being able to document and live tweet events and it adds to the effect that Palestinians are actually, you know, humans. The whole notion that Palestinians have  been dehumanized by Israel’s aggressive policies, that’s one thing, but I think that the media have portrayed Palestinians very simplistically and I think that that has done a huge disservice to our plight. I think the shift is coming, in that there are people who are more influential, because as you know the Huffington Post is one of the most read news sites in the US, and for eight days, we covered it – and it wasn’t biased.

There is a compelling narrative coming out about people having the right to live in dignity for the right for their leaders to represent their interests. Now obviously these haven’t been covered seamlessly by any means, and we’re still at the beginning process – we’re seeing tens of thousands of protests happening in Tahir Square – it’s still in its infant stages, but in the context of that, that has forced the media, not just the Huffington Post and social media outlets but also the mainstream media to cover the conflict within that context. You can’t avoid that context. Even if the new Arab Spring is more complex, with terrorism and violence, that narrative still exists; of popular revolt and uprising, and you know that has been happening for decades in Palestine. Obviously they are not rising up against their own leaders – they are uprising against their oppressors, so I think you can extrapolate from that – and that’s why we’re partially beginning to see a shift.

TDB: Let’s talk about official US policy. Do you see any nuance in Obama’s position?

ASE: No. I have to tell you I’m very disappointed in Obama. I understand the criticism of him weren’t necessarily fair in the first term given the context of the claims against him – you don’t want to seem anti Netanyahu or anti Israel or whatever,  but this is his second term and he hasn’t offered anything during the Gaza conflict to really be a leader. And a leader is someone who leads because he has conviction and because he knows what’s right and because he knows what’s best in his estimation, and I didn’t see any leadership from Obama. Even in calling the settlements illegitimate and making that distinction rather than calling them just ‘settlements’, which of course we know now there’s 3000 more. You know the United Nations – they vote to recognize Palestine – they call the settlements illegal – if they call Gaza occupied even though Israel does not, why Obama feels the need to buy into this notion that we can pretend that the reality on the ground isn’t the reality. And this at a time when he’s seen first hand more than any other President the entire reality on the ground completely shift in the Arab world – like dramatically. And it’s continuing to shift. It’s really troubling to me and I think he thinks it’s not going to affect him or affect Americans, I’m trying to really grasp what it is – or what is informing his need to maintain that status quo.

So do I think Obama has been a leader? No. Do I think he has shown a shift from his predecessors? Not at all. When it comes to that leaked video of Romney saying the Palestinians don’t want peace, we’re just going to kick the ball down the road – implying that all Palestinians want to eliminate and kill all Israelis – I think that all those things that Romney said, largely Obama would not say, but in terms of how those things affect US policy I think it’s sad to say that Obama really isn’t different. I think that Arabs might even be more disillusioned by Obama, given the context in the region and how he has augmented the ‘let me just kill people randomly’ strategy.

TDB: There are many Jews seriously concerned about the crisis – they do not support Israel’s actions and want to see a viable Palestinian state. What do you think they can do to help change public opinion?

ASE: Generally, raise your voice. Try and mobilize and find like minded people that are Jewish or Muslim or Arab or have a stake in the game or are invested in the region or invested in Israel for a multitude of reasons and try and organize and try create a presence online. I really believe that for any change to happen there is going to have to be an overwhelming display or popular resistance, whether it’s online or whether it’s at the UN or whether its petitioning your elected leaders, whether it’s creating a group like ‘J Street’ or a more justice based group for resolving the conflict for exposing injustices. I think it’s going to have to be an amalgamation and accumulation of these types of movements and initiatives that are going to actually bring about some policy changes because Israel is increasingly isolated themselves and I think there’s a lot of Jews that recognize that and who are concerned by that. And if I was Jewish I would be. I think that’s extremely concerning.

TDB: You’re probably the first Palestinian American to be given such a prominent media platform. Do you think your hiring was a risky thing for the Huffington Post to do, or is it a sign of changing times?

ASE: I think both. I know that’s a cop out, but I think Arianna took a huge risk. Arianna probably didn’t even know that when she asked me to collaborate then eventually to leave Al Jazeera to join her, she didn’t know probably that I was Palestinian, I would argue that she probably thought I was Egyptian, because at the time when I was speaking about what was happening in the region without really mentioning Palestine. Arianna really believes at the end of the day – and that’s part of her own political views and the way in which the Huffington Post has evolved, she really believes in transparency.

I think as long as that person is transparent and is accountable to his or her words and their reporting and all that stuff, then that’s what it should be about and that’s what the Huffington Post is about……I’m not particularly ideological or dogmatic when it comes to my beliefs. A lot of my Palestinian friends yell at me and say I normalize things when I talk to Israelis and acknowledge their right to exist.

TDB: Do you feel a lot of pressure with your role?

ASE: Is it a lot of pressure? Yeah. I have so many friends in the Muslim world, primarily in Palestine, who think that I am their outlet for reaching the wider American world and that’s not the case. I can’t just be a megaphone for what everyone wants to say.

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This could turn out to be an incredibly important vote that legitimizes Palestine as an official state. The vote is an explicit endorsement from the international community for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, and regaining the territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. From the Huff Post:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the U.N. General Assembly before a key vote on Thursday that it “is being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine.”

The Palestinians were certain to win U.N. recognition as a state, but Israel and the United States warned it could delay hopes of achieving an independent Palestinian state through peace talks with Israel.

Abbas said the vote is the last chance to save the two-state solution.

The General Assembly vote was certain to succeed, with most of the 193 member states sympathetic to the Palestinians. Several key countries, including France, recently announced they would support the move to elevate the Palestinians from the status of U.N. observer to nonmember observer state.

Palestinians say the successful vote will strengthen their hand in future talks with Israel, which has lambasted the recognition bid as an attempt to bypass such negotiations.

Jubilant Palestinians crowded around outdoor screens and television sets at home Thursday to watch the United Nations vote.

With Israel and the US set to vote against it, their opinion becomes ever more isolated in a sea of support for Palestinian self determination. The US claims that the correct path to statehood is to resume peace negotiations with Israel first – a ridiculous stipulation that no country would ever accept. Israel is voting against the move because, amongst other things, it fears the Palestinians will take them to the International Criminal Court for the illegal occupation of its territory and war crimes against its people – a humiliating prospect given the concept of a permanent international court was set up partly in response to the crimes of the Nazis in World War II.

It should be a given that the Palestinians are allowed to negotiate with Israel on an equal footing, and their international legitimacy is a key part of this. The vote won’t make much difference in the short term, but as the international community embraces Palestine as a legitimate state, it will get harder and harder for the US and Israel to dismiss their grievances.

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Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi has brokered a deal

The Daily Banter Headline Grab (from Reuters):

Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire brokered by Egypt on the eighth day of intensive Israeli fire on the Gaza Strip and militant rocket attacks out of the enclave, Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said.

First word of the truce came from a Palestinian official who has knowledge of the negotiations in Cairo, where U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also pursuing peace efforts.

Asked whether a ceasefire deal had been reached, an Egyptian official in Cairo said: “Yes, and Egypt will announce it.”

Egyptian state TV had earlier said a news conference would be broadcast from President Mohamed Mursi’s palace shortly.

Israeli sources said Israel had agreed to a truce, but would not lift its blockade of the Palestinian territory, which is run by the Islamist Hamas movement.

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Gaza: Close to breaking point

By Ben Cohen

“The goal of the operation is to send Gaza back to the Middle Ages. Only then will Israel be calm for forty years,” – Eli Yishai, Israel’s Interior Minister

The continued Israeli assault on the Gaza strip that now counts 96 Palestinians dead, 50 of them civilians, is being backed explicitly by President Obama who told reporters at a press gathering in Thailand:

“Let’s understand what the precipitating event here that’s causing the current crisis and that was an ever-escalating number of missiles that were landing not just in Israeli territory but in areas that are populated, and there’s no country on Earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders.”

Jay Carney, the White House spokesman made the following statement to the press on the official US line:

We strongly condemn the barrage of rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, and we regret the death and injury of innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians caused by the ensuing violence. There is no justification for the violence that Hamas and other terrorist organizations are employing against the people of Israel. We call on those responsible to stop these cowardly acts immediately in order to allow the situation to de-escalate.

So much for a balanced approach.

The US retelling of the conflict really is astonishing if you look at what actually happened, and given only 3 Israelis have died during the latest episode of violence, it borders on the grotesque. Obama’s argument that Israel has the right to attack Gaza because ‘no country would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens’ is patently absurd when you look at what Gazans deal with on a daily basis. The minute land strip that houses roughly 1.7 million, most of them refugees, is a virtual prison suppressed by continuous economic and military blockades, routine incursions and attacks from its Israeli neighbors. It cedes control of its borders, sea and airspace to Israel, and is almost completely reliant on foreign aid to exist. Would any other country on earth tolerate that? Would the US allow Canada or Mexico to do the same to them without retaliation or resistance?

Of course they wouldn’t. But because Palestinians are dark skinned Arabs, apparently they must.

It is important for people to understand that while politicians and the media paint Arabs as uncivilized barbarians incapable of human feeling and committed to frenzied Jihad, Arabs do not of course view themselves this way. Arabs are mothers, fathers, sons and daughters who feel emotion, pain and love the same way everybody else does. They love their countries and have pride in autonomy and self reliance the same way Americans do and want peace and prosperity for their children the same way Israelis do.

It’s easy to pretend that Palestinians don’t feel loss of life like Israelis. It makes the incredibly disproportionate violence unleashed upon them that we see on live television a more palatable process. It’s ok, because Arabs don’t respect human life, so killing more of them is fine. And given Arabs only understand force, the only way to deal with them is through force. If they are continually subjected to humiliation and violence, they will cease wanting the same things Israelies do. Or so goes the logic.

The problem with this narrative is that the Palestinians will not comply with it. They are resisting the slow colonization of their land by any means necessary, and they are paying a huge price in human lives.

The US could put a halt to the occupation quite easily. It bankrolls the Israeli military to the tune of $3.1 billion a year, and could threaten to cut funding as long as it illegally occupies Palestinian land.

But it won’t, and it is highly unlikely Obama will deviate from what is now fairly entrenched US policy towards the conflict.

What Obama can do, however, is to use Egypt to prevent the violence from escalating. With its new government, Egypt is now a far more important player in the Israeli-Palestinian crisis as it will not cede as easily to US demands as was the case under Hosni Mubarak. Egypt’s new President, Mohamed Mursi has openly supported the Palestinians and condemned Israel’s assault on Gaza, giving him far more credence in the Arab world than Mubarak did, who did little to stop Israel’s continual attacks on Gaza in the past. Since coming to power though, Mursi has made efforts to keep good relations with Israel, understanding the impact of jeopardizing important trading relations. Israel does not want to put those relationships at risk either, and will listen to Egypt if it intervenes in its action in Gaza.

According to Reuters, the Egyptian government believes a truce between the two sides is imminent, having spent days pressing both sides to pull back. While publicly backing Israel, President Obama is clearly aware that another war on Gaza is not good for US interests in the region and has been urging Egypt (and Turkey) to negotiate a truce.

It isn’t much to get excited about – given the leverage the US has over Israel, the conflict needn’t have occurred in the first place – but putting a stop to the violence is an absolute necessity. Because Gaza is close to breaking point and can’t take much more.

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Benjamin Netanyahu: War, war and more war

By Ben Cohen: The world watches as the deteriorating situation in Gaza unfolds, unable to prevent either side from pulling back from the brink of war. With Israel gearing up for a full out assault on the impoverished area it has been occupying for decades, the chances for a peaceful resolution to the conflict that dates back to 1948 becomes ever more a distant dream.

There is a lot of noise surrounding the latest chapter in the violent conflict, and it is drowning out fact and context.  The situation is fast turning into a cheering game with supporters of both sides hurling inaccuracies and racial epithets at each other. If you are friends with Jews and Muslims, just log onto your Facebook account and look at the photos and quotes distributed across their newsfeeds. I’ve already had to delete obnoxious arguments on my own wall that descended into slanging matches rather than civilized debate.

While people are entitled to their own opinions, they are not entitled to their own facts. So here are some:

The latest outburst of violence began when Israeli tanks made an incursion into the Gaza strip and killed a 12 year old boy playing football. The two sides then engaged in back and forth attacks that was followed by a brief ceasefire.

Israel then broke the cease fire by assassinating Ahmed Jaabari, the commander of Ezedin al Qassam, the military wing of Hamas.

The Israeli government has gone to great lengths to explain why Jaabari was assassinated, with the IDF releasing the following ‘kill ad’ to be distributed across social networks:

What they did not explain is that Ahmed Jaabri was critical to ongoing long term cease fire talks between Hamas and Israel. Jaabri held enormous sway in negotiations because he had the power to keep militants in line at home, and make meaningful concessions to the Israelis. He was instrumental in the negotiated release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, even personally escorting him to the Rafah crossing with Egypt. According to Gershon Baskin, the Co-Chairman of IPCRI, the Israel Palestine Center for Research and Information, Jaabri was key to a sustained ceasefire agreement with the Israelis. He writes in The Daily Beast:

Repeated rounds of rocket fire over the following year [after the release of Shalit] yielded the same results with both sides seeking a ladder to step down and avoid full escalation, which would not bring any political or military gains. Since that time, with the exception of the last round of violence two weeks ago, the rocket fire from Gaza was launched after a pre-emptive Israeli strike against terror cells. Based on Israeli intelligence information, pre-emptive strikes were conducted primarily against cells from the Islamic Jihad and the popular resistance committees. Hamas almost always sat on the sidelines and allowed the other factions in Gaza to shoot their rockets until the price in human life became too high. At that point, Hamas urged the Egyptians to intervene to secure a return to calm. In the last rounds, Hamas, under pressure from its public, joined in the shooting of rockets—but it almost always aimed its rockets at open spaces in Israel and their damage was minimal. It was clear to all involved that Hamas was not interested in escalating the situation and for its own reasons and agreed to impose the ceasefire on all of the other factions, and on itself.

The key actor on the Hamas side was Ahmed Jaabari, the commander of Ezedin al Qassam, the military wing of Hamas. When he was convinced that Israel was ready to stand down as well, Jaabari was always ready to take the orders to force the ceasefire on all of the other factions and on Hamas.

Baskin, who himself is deeply involved with back channel negotiations between the two sides, writes that a new proposal with his input was being drafted for a ceasefire, and Jaabri was tasked with checking reactions from Gaza.

Then, he was assassinated.

Why would Israel kill someone so crucial to what was left of the fragile ceasefire negotiations? The answer is simple, and you only have to go back to the last invasion of Gaza to see why it happened. ‘Operation Cast Lead’, the assault on Gaza in 2008 that left over 1,400 Palestinians dead occurred two months before Israeli elections. The latest assault on Gaza is again happening two months before the 2013 elections – enough time for Benjamin Netanyahu to get the public behind him in a time of war.

Politicians waging war to gain popularity is nothing new, and Netanyahu is reviving the age old tactic to entrench his leadership over Israel that is defined mostly by militaristic opposition to the Palestinians and Iran. Politicians like Netanyahu do not exist in peace time, so they need war to make them relevant. Sadly, innocent Israelis and Palestinians are paying the price of his vanity.

Regardless of who you believe is responsible for starting this particular round of violence, one thing is abundantly clear: That Israel has, and will kill many, many more Palestinians than Palestinians will kill Israelis. As Yousef Manayyer, Executive Director of The Jerusalem Fund writes:

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The distortions flooding the internet and airwaves regarding the latest Israeli assault on Gaza are familiar and depressing. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has managed to frame the latest episode in the conflict as Israel ‘defending itself’ from incessant rocket attacks from the Gaza strip. The truth of course is far more nuanced and complicated. Predictably, the mainstream media in the US has run with the official Israeli narrative of events towing the line that Israel is merely defending itself from Arab terrorism. The truth is that the latest outburst of violence began when Israeli tanks made an incursion into Palestinian territory, and killed a 12 year old Palestinian boy playing football. Hamas then responded by sending rockets into Israel, and the violence has spiraled since.

My friend Ahmed Shihab-Edlin hosted a discussion on the Huff Post Live this morning discussing the increasingly brutal attack on Gaza, putting the conflict into perspective and looking at both sides of the story. I have to give a huge amount of credit to the Huffington Post for giving Ahmed a prominent platform to air views from a Palestinian perspective – historically a mortal sin in the American mainstream media. I highly recommend watching the very civilized discussion that doesn’t demonize either side:

I’ll be posting a more in-depth analysis about the conflict tomorrow, so stay tuned.

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On Nov. 11, 2012, the IDF targeted Ahmed Jabri, the head of Hamas’ military wing, in the Gaza Strip. Jabri was a senior Hamas operative who served in the upper echelon of the Hamas’ command. Israel claims he was directly responsible for executing terror attacks against Israel in the past.

Check out the footage of the aerial assassination that targeted Jabri’s car:

The assassination is apparently part of a much broader series of assaults from Israel against militant in the Gaza strip. From the Guardian

Reuters quotes Palestinian sources as saying nine people were killed in the strikes on Jaabari’s vehicle. Al-Jazeera says the attack killed Jaabari and five others, including Jaabari’s son.

The assault on Gaza appears to be ongoing. Since Donnison’s tweet of about 20 minutes ago, he has reported one more “explosion” in the north. A Twitter list of 421 people inside Gaza contains many mentions of new explosions.

Al-Jazeera reports that a rocket has been fired from Gaza into Ashkelon, over the northern border.

Al-Jazeera now reports that Israeli air raids continue on Gaza. It appears that a major offensive, called “Pillar of Defense” by the IDF, is indeed under way.

Hamas has stated that Israel has ‘Opened the gates of hell’ and is promising revenge attacks.

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