what’s in a word?

Mohammed from Rafah [rafahtoday.org] got his visa and is currently in the US on a speaking tour, supported by the Washington Report in DC. The US Embassy was pleasantly very helpful in giving him the visa and they told him by phone that he had passed all background security checks. Meanwhile, the Israelis refused to allow him into Jerusalem to obtain the visa and claimed he was a ’security risk’.

Which is he?

In any case, he had to leave to Cairo first and get the visa from there. Naturally, he did not have a good reception at Cairo Airport. While in the States, Mohammed flew from DC, to Texas, Boston, Vermont, and many other cities. He was wearing the traditional Palestinian kufeya around his neck, and was not stopped once at any security check. I think this is really outstanding.

Among the many news agencies that covered his talk in DC was CNET, dedicating an entire hour to his presentation, and he was also contacted by many news services for interviews.

And guess who came to attend his talk? A representative of the Israeli Embassy and a member of the American Enterprise think-tank. Wow!! I didn’t know he was that important!

Just like his website, Mohammed’s talks throughout the US consisted of eyewitness accounts and personal experiences reinforced with a powerful powerpoint presentation and videos from Palestine. [I arranged for him to visit Boston as part of the tour, but it came at extremely short notice because of the visa issues.]

With his ever-smiling face, Mohammed told me about a time when CNN contacted him following the capture of the Israeli soldier in Gaza. Prior to taping, the producers told him the questions and he responded spontaneously as he always does on other media channels. Then he made the error of saying ‘the captured soldier’. CNN producers asked him why he kept saying ‘captured’ and asked him if he could say ‘kidnapped’ instead. He laughed and said: “But that soldier was there not because he was taking a stroll in the park, nor going to a swimming pool – because if he was, he would have been welcome to my house [or what's left of it]. That soldier was there to shoot children.” Upon his insistence, CNN cancelled the interview.

So much for free press.

Propaganda is not about truth or facts. It is all about terminology, the distorted usage of words and language when describing a Palestinian action that you want the audience to lack sympathy for, as opposed to describing a more sympathetic Israeli one.

To his audience, Mohammed’s talk was not political in the ordinary sense. His personal experiences, as young as he is, said it all. He narrated how his home was demolished, how his brother was killed, and an another brother maimed for life. He talked about his murdered cousins, two little children who went up to the roof of their home and were sniped from across the street. He talked of the anguish of their mother and other mothers as they watched their children die.

Isn’t it funny though that some people send Mohammed hate mail? and not only that, but on his messageboard on his site some wrote telling him that his pictures were fake! But then you see, it is that delusion they have – deny deny deny, and then it will be established as fact. It is ‘the blame the victim syndrome’ – always the Palestinians who do that to themselves. It is always they who kill each other, then take photos and either ‘doctor’ them or, if true, they are just simply not the IDF’s responsibility. They came in harm’s way. Oops! accident! or mistake.. or what have you.

Yet from the audience’s reactions throughout the States tour, it is clear that there are many people who are not buying into pro-Israeli media delusions and propaganda. And this is a good sign. No wonder Israel just hired a PR branding company in NY!

Maybe the day will come when the world will wake up and say: “What have we done? how did we allow this to happen?” Maybe the day will come. I just hope it is not too late for Mohammed.

ps. It should be noted that rafahtoday.org is a project that I take personal pride in, having worked on it with Mohammed since its inception four years ago.