Op-Ed: How social media is defeating the Palestinian intifada

n an age of security cameras and videos shot on mobile devices, the PA has been left behind, and its famous propaganda machine has suffered a heavy blow. Even world media criticized Abbas' lie about the "dead" Ahmad Manasra.

It was a pretty embarrassing moment for MSNBC. It isnâ€™t every day that a journalist reporting from the field is reproached by a news anchor during a live broadcast for distorting reality. But thatâ€™s exactly what happened last week in connection with a stabbing attempt at Damascus Gate. In case you havenâ€™t seen the viral video, here is what happened: Ayman Mohyeldin, an MSNBC reporter on the far left of the political spectrum who formerly worked for Al Jazeera, was reporting from the field on an incident unfolding before his very eyes. Mohyeldin described how Israeli police shot a young unarmed Arab who was fleeing for no apparent reason. What he did not know was that several seconds before his report a video of the incident, shot on a mobile device, was shown on the broadcast, and it was clear from the video that the Arab was holding a knife. Thus an anti-Israel libel, which would certainly have been widely used for propaganda purposes, was immediately refuted.

This incident, which may result in another reporter entering the job market, clearly demonstrates how the current media battle is different from previous rounds of Palestinian terror: This time, everything is happening here, in our backyard, under the watchful eyes of a network of police and mobile cameras. The Palestinians are suddenly discovering that cameras and social networks make it very difficult for them to sell their narrative. Since the sympathy they garner is largely a result of their well-oiled and effective propaganda machine...

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Abu Mazen, the Palestinian Authority president, discovered the new situation the hard way. In a speech he gave several days ago, he attempted to make Ahmad Manasra a new symbol of Palestinian resistance, emphatically accusing Israel of the â€œexecution of our children in cold blood.â€ At the same time, Manasra was being depicted on Arab social networks as the new Muhammad al-Dura, a boy Palestinians (falsely) claim was shot by the IDF during the second intifada in a gun battle with armed Palestinians. But what you can do in Ramallah you canâ€™t do in Jerusalem. It wasnâ€™t long before video clips were posted online showing 13-year-old Palestinian terrorist Manasra with his 15-year-old cousin on a killing spree in the streets of Jerusalem, attacking Israeli civilians with a knife, including a Jewish 13 year old youth on a bicycle who was hospitalized in critical condition. Furthermore, Israel released photographs proving that Manasra was alive and receiving good treatment at an Israeli hospital. An embarrassed Abu Mazen attempted to limit the damage, and an English-language press release issued by his office referred to â€œthe shooting of our children in cold blood.â€ But even this allegation was quickly exposed when the head of the hospital where Manasra is being treated announced that there were no signs he had been shot.

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Now just a cotton pickin’ minit here. Let’s be fair. Scurrilous accusations and bogus claims are taqiyya, which is an integral part of Islam. Preventing them from getting away with outright lies is to prevent them from practicing their religion, which is a religion of piece.

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