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Pallywood Tag

UNESCO has become a poster child for how UN agencies have had their missions perverted by the anti-Israel agenda. Other than the absurd UN Human Rights Council, which is run by some of the worst human rights offenders in the world, UNESCO stands out for its anti-Jewish agenda, which seeks to deny the history of the Jewish presence in what now is Israel and Judea/Samaria (the "West Bank") putting in its place a false Islamic supremacist version of history. Among our recent posts documenting this bias:

Pallywood is the cottage industry of Palestinians and Palestinian supporters who concoct facts or present facts in misleading context in order to start viral anti-Israel narratives, such as the false claim that Israel opened dam gates to flood Gaza, and a myriad of other false claims. The Tamimi Clan is particularly adept and active, sending children to confront soldiers to create false narratives of Israeli brutality towards children. Bassem Tamimi and Manal Tamimi are heroes to the anti-Israel movement because of their fake media operations.

Prof. Miriam Elman previously documented how anti-Israel protesters try to hijack Christian holidays and symbols, particularly Christmas: Guide to How Anti-Israel Activists Hijack Christmas. This takes place as the majority Palestinian Muslims systematically ethnically cleanse areas under Hamas and Palestinian Authority control of Christians:
Bethlehem as well as nearby Beit Sahour and Beit Jala were 86% Christian in 1950. But by 2016, the Christian population dropped to just 12%, according Bethlehem mayor Vera Baboun, a Catholic who is the first woman to hold the post. This trend is echoed across the West Bank. In the 1970s, Christians made up 5% of the population. Today, they are just 2%. In Bethlehem, only 11,000 Christians remain in the birthplace of Christianity.

In a number of recent posts (see here, here, here, and here) we’ve highlighted how anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) is being promoted in America’s mainline churches. As we discussed, a malicious strain of virulent anti-Israel sentiment is being inserted into U.S. Protestant denominations largely because of a deep-seated organizational dysfunction in these churches. Basically, the churches are being hijacked from within by small groups of pro-BDS activists. They’ve led the charge, aided and abetted by a host of vehemently anti-Israel Palestinian groups, who they frequently promote and with whom they collaborate.

Pallywood is the cottage industry of Palestinians and Palestinian supporters who concoct facts in order to start viral anti-Israel narratives, such as the false claim that Israel opened dam gates to flood Gaza, and a myriad of other false claims. Pallywood is an important part of the propaganda war on Israel. Recently, there were claims and internet fury that Google had "removed Palestine" from the map. The claim started at least as far back as January 2016, but didn't pick up steam until recently, when the accusation was spread far and wide. It appears to have started with the Palestine Journalists Forum, as reported by Middle East Monitor, in a column shared over 25,000 times on Facebook, Google slammed for removing Palestine from its maps:

On July 30, 2016, I wrote about a Pallywood video which was going viral, for all the wrong reasons, VIDEO: Disgusting Palestinian child exploitation for the cameras A Palestinian father, in front of a professional Palestinian videographer, pushed his young child towards Israeli Border Police, yelled at the son to throw rocks (which he did in a childish way), and then taunted the police to shoot the child so that the cameras could capture the killing. Palestinian child pushed towards soldier video screen shot throwing rock Here is the original full video:

I have documented how some Palestinians, such as Bassem Tamimi, have created an industry of exploiting children for the cameras in a very dangerous way. They have the children confront soldiers with the cameras rolling, hoping for a reaction and viral video or image. The video and images are crucial in the propaganda war on Israel. Here is another example. A young child, maybe 3 years old, was photographed heroically confronting Israeli border police. It had all the hallmarks of a viral shot, tweeted by anti-Israel Twitter account Abbs Winston and retweeted by "Hamas Lawyer" Stanley Cohen and over 150 others: https://twitter.com/AbbsWinston/status/759052506605293569

Several media watch dog groups (see here and here) have blasted reports published in The Independent, International Business Times, Times of London, and other news outlets for falsely accusing Israel of cutting off drinking water to Palestinians in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Each of these news outlets picked up a blatantly incorrect Al Jazeera report that initially included no response from Israel. They ran their own stories with it, accompanied by headlines denunciating Israel for maliciously working to deprive Palestinians of water. https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/742968004686778368

Pallywood is the Palestinian industry of creating fake images, events and stories to demonize Israel. It is a critical part of the worldwide, decades-long propaganda campaign against Israel. Pallywood is not done only by Palestinians. In fact, some of the most egregious perpetrators are Western anti-Israel leftists who create and spread false or distorted stories about Israel. The NY Times just got Pallywooded. Anti-Israel activists, the identities of whom are not currently known, created a fake Supplement Edition of the Times with fake stories meant to pursue anti-Israel narratives. Parody NY Times anti-Israel Israel General Homepage

We have dealt many times with the issue of promoting children to throw rocks at Israeli soldiers. It was one of the reasons there was such an uproar when Bassem Tamimi appeared before third graders in Ithaca, NY, and advocated the children become "freedom fighters for Palestine." It's also one of the dramatic aspects of the current violence -- whether called an "Intifada" or not. Young children and teens are pushed to the front or take it on themselves to attack. Like the 16 year old who stabbed two elderly Jews in Jerusalem and went after police before he was shot dead: https://twitter.com/IdoDaniel/status/652775896143806464 Then I saw this tweet.

Just a week before the prominent Palestinian activist leader Bassem al-Tamimi embarks on a month-long speaking tour in the U.S., he and his family attracted massive media attention when a clip of one of the clashes they provoked with the IDF went viral. Daily Mail Ahed Tamimi bites Israeli Soldier2 The Tamimis are used to sympathetic media coverage, including a fawning New York Times Magazine cover story in March 2013 on the family's ambition to start a "Third Intifada". Bassem Tamimi is usually presented as  an admirable organizer of “nonviolent resistance” who can count on the support of Amnesty International and who has been praised as a “human rights defender” by the European Union. By contrast, Bassem Tamimi’s views on the “right to resist” that he often invokes and the use of his children in his activism – including regular efforts to challenge the IDF into responding to provocations like rock-throwing – have so far largely escaped scrutiny. Yet, just a few hours of research reveal many easily discoverable cracks in the carefully cultivated image of the Tamimis as peaceful activists and “non-violent” protesters.

Use of Children to Confront Soldiers as Cameras Roll

The Tamimis are best known for the 2012 video of daughter Ahed confronting Israeli soldiers for the cameras:

A video of an Israeli soldier near the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh being confronted by women and children is making the rounds. It has over a million views on Facebook alone. (Embedded towards end of this post.) As you view the history below, don't blame the children. They are victims of their family's abuse which puts them in harms way for photo-ops. Were these children treated such a way in the U.S., there is no doubt that local family services agencies would be involved in preventing their dangerous exploitation by their parents. In the current incident, the soldier, according to Israeli authorities, was in the process of detaining a member of the Tamimi clan of Nabi Saleh for stone throwing. Haaretz reports:
An Israeli soldier tried to detain a minor during clashes in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh on Friday, but a number of Palestinian women and children managed to stop him. According to the army, the youth was throwing stones at the troops, who did not realize he was a minor. Photographs taken by Reuters and AFP show the soldier surrounded by women and children. In one of the images, a young girl is seen biting his hand. The soldier was lightly wounded as a result of the altercation. The commander in the area decided to release the minor. The army said that one other Palestinian was detained in Friday's clashes, along with one foreign activist.
Haaretz quotes left-wing Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak, who denies Israel even has a right to exist, as denying that there was stone throwing. The fact Pollak was present makes the whole incident suspect, in addition to the background of the Tamimi family. Now, questions are being raised by The Daily Mail of Britain and others as to whether the current incident was deliberately provoked because Tamimi members were involved. The most famous photo shows a girl biting the hand of the Israeli soldier. That girl is Ahed Tamimi.

We reported the other day how Pallywood swings back into action for Gaza conflict with images of carnage from Syria, Iraq and elsewhere being passed off by anti-Israel propagandists on social media as reflecting the current Gaza conflict. It gets worse. Now there are accusations that Israel is faking injuries, in essence doing it's own Pallywooding: There's only one problem with that, as exposed at Twitchy. The photo in question is from a magazine shoot about women in the Israeli army.

In the propaganda war against Israel, fakery is key. Pallywood is the longest running series in the history of fiction. This video is from the November 2012 Gaza conflict: In the July 2014 Gaza conflict, even the BBC -- notoriously hostile to Israel -- has reported that many of the photos circulating in social media are fake, old, or based on conflicts elsewhere, or all of the above:

This video does not appear to be a Pallywood production. The Times of Israel reports, Gaza surveillance cameras pick up Israeli strike on terrorists:
Unverified footage posted to YouTube on Saturday appears to show the Israeli air strike carried out Friday afternoon on a car carrying two operatives belonging to the Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition of armed groups in Gaza. The footage shows a vehicle driving along a coastal road before being struck. Passersby remain seemingly unharmed. Israel confirmed carrying out the targeted killing of Osama Has​sumi, 29, and Mohammad Fatzih, 24, on Friday, charging that they were involved in a cell responsible for repeated rocket fire on Israel’s southern cities over the past several weeks and were planning terror attacks on Israeli civilians.
Interesting comment at YouTube:

Does not fit the narrative....