New Media in Israel

This issue covers the period 1-4 October 2017. Israeli online networks were preoccupied with a number of topics, including the shooting in Las Vegas.

Last Monday, a 64-year-old armed individual killed 59 people and injured 527 others in a country music concert in Las Vegas, USA. From the 32nd floor of a hotel, the shooter opened fire indiscriminately on the audience for several minutes before he killed himself.

The incident preoccupied the Israeli virtual world, where Israelis expressed their solidarity and sorrow. Others were sarcastic, however, wondering if a security siege would be imposed on Las Vegas like Israel does when a shooting takes place! 

This week, Israeli online networks addressed the Palestinian reconciliation. Contrary to Israeli analysts, the issue of the Palestinian reconciliation was not translated into a success, failure or concern in the virtual world. This issue was only touched on briefly in the context of media coverage. Some posts incited against the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).

Israeli analysts coincided that the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, as well as Palestinian Prime Minister Rami al-Hamdallah’s visit to the Gaza Strip, might in some respects be in the interest of Israel. The Israeli authorities can use the reconciliation as a pretext to continue to stall the political process, claiming that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has built an alliance with Hamas, which Israel, the USA and the EU view as a “terrorist” movement.

Israeli online networks also shed light on the visit Arab MK Abdul Hakeem Haj Yihya made to released prisoner Mohammed Khalaf, a resident of the Jit village in the Triangle region inside the Green Line.

Tweets and posts launched an incitement campaign against MK Haj Yihya of the Joint List, claiming that he did not mind receive released prisoner Khalaf, whom online networks described as a “terrorist”. He was convicted of assisting Hamas and served 12 years in prison.