Egyptian newspaper warns of 'most dangerous Israeli Facebook pages in Arabic'
The Alwatan newspaper in Egypt recently published an article warning readers - especially youth - about the 'most dangerous' Israeli Facebook pages in Arabic.
"Five Arabic language Israeli pages that you should stay away from" - that was the headline of an article that recently appeared in the Egyptian daily "Alwatan," which attempted to warn its readers, specifically the youth among them, of "Israeli pursuits."
The article starts out discussing the history of "Zionist plots" dating back to the 19th century, namely to establish a political entity through "the takeover of Palestinian lands using religious justification." The article then claims that Israel has, "with recent technological advances, attempted to promote normalization with the Zionist enemy using social media pages, in an attempt to convince followers that Israel is a 'state.'"
In first place on the "dangerous Facebook page list" is of Avihay Adraee, the head of the IDF's spokesperson's Arabic division, one of the more well known Israeli figures in the Arabic media in which he appears frequently. "The posts that appear on his page aim to improve the image of the Israeli occupation forces," the article said. "He convinces his followers that the army only serves to protect the Zionist entity, and avoids speaking about Israel's wars in Gaza, and the thousands of dead, and human rights abuses against the Palestinians."
Among other things, the article mentions that Adraee's posts are typically met with resistance; however there are those who are convinced by them, including the young Egyptian Hatyst Sharif Jabar – who became a public enemy in Egypt for his clip "Why do you hate Israel."
Coming in second is the page "Israel speaking Arabic," which belongs to the Foreign Ministry. "The page calls for normalization. It has 669,719 followers, and it is unknown who manages it," the article stated. "The page focuses on Israeli relations with Arab states in an attempt to prove that the Zionist entity is part of the region, and that Arab states have no problem cooperating with the Zionist occupation regime."
The head of the Arabic language digital diplomacy at the Foreign Ministry, Yonatan Gonen, responded to the page's "high rank," telling ynet: "One of the Foreign Ministry's strategic goals is reaching out to the Arab world. We use a range of platforms in order to hold dialogue with the Arab public. Most of the page's nearly 700,000 followers come from the Arab world, including citizens of Egypt, Iraq, the West Bank, Gaza, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain. The Foreign Ministry's platforms create interest in the public dialogue in Arab states, including in the Arabic media, and the fact that youths are warned to 'stay away from the page for fear of normalization' proves its effectiveness as a tool to show Israel abroad."
A number of those who visit these pages have asked the page administrators for refuge in Israel, or have asked if it's possible to visit Jerusalem. Others even praise Israel for its diverse activities in the technology field and its assistance at crisis spots throughout the world.
In third place is the page "Israel in Egypt," managed by the Israeli embassy in Egypt and which primarily deals with relations between Cairo and Jerusalem. The page posted the first pictures of the opening of the Israeli embassy in Egypt in the last few months, the first since the break-in at the embassy in Cairo in September 2011. Among other things it is claimed that the page features many posts about cooperation between Egypt and Israel over natural gas, in spite of the denials of the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Energy. Furthermore, the page tries to focus on social aspects of Israel, according to the article.
Fourth place goes to the Facebook page of the official spokesperson of the Prime Minister's Office to the Arabic media, Ofir Gendelman. "There is not much difference between his goal and Adraee's ... Adraee focuses on military aspect and Gendelman on the political aspect," the article says.
In fifth place is "Stand With Us Arabic," with 38,000 likes that pretends to show the barbarism of Palestinians against IDF soldiers by focusing on Palestinian stones rather than Israeli weapons. Additionally, archaeological discoveries feature heavily on the page, in an attempt to prove Israel's historical right to the Palestinian territories.
'Israel wants to guarantee that the next generation won't fight it'
Doctor Mansour Abd al-Wahab, a professor of Arabic language at Ain Shams University in Cairo, provided his assessment after the list of pages: "Israel is using modern means to carry out plots to reach the hearts of Arab youth, precisely when these youngsters are experiencing an identity crisis and doubts over their future."
Dr. al-Wahab further claimed to Alwatan: "These pages focus on specific parts and extracts from the Qur'an that preach tolerance and ignore those parts preaching jihad. Israel is addressing these youth directly through the media.
"The primary aim is to stop the youth from paying attention to the central issues and distract them so that this generation won't fight Israel. The second goal is to make them accept Israel as a natural part of the region. The third goal is to make them on many of their principles, including that Israel is the number one enemy of the Arabs," Dr. al-Wahab continued.
