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Pallywood, a blend of "Palestinian" and "Hollywood", is a controversial neologism use to refer to instances of "media manipulation, distortion and outright fraud by the Palestinians ... designed to win the public relations war against Israel." The term was popularized in part by Boston University academic Richard Landes, who produced an online documentary video called Pallywood: According to Palestinian Sources, highlighting specific instances of alleged media manipulation.

Landes' Documentary

File:Pallywood cover.jpg
Pallywood: According to Palestinian Sources... an online documentary by Richard Landes.

In 2005, Professor Richard Landes of Boston University produced an 18-minute online documentary video called Pallywood: According to Palestinian Sources. Landes and other pro-Israel advocates argue that the Israeli government is insufficiently robust in countering Palestinian accounts of events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In his video, Landes shows Arab-Israeli conflict-related footage that was taken mostly by freelance Palestinian video journalists. He argues that systematic media manipulation dates back to at least the 1982 Lebanon War, and argues that broadcasters fail to scrutinize the veracity of Palestinian freelance footage. He focuses in particular on the case of Muhammad al-Durrah, a 12-year-old Palestinian who was widely reported to have been killed by Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip on September 30 2000 at the beginning of the Second Intifada. The shooting was filmed by a Palestinian freelance cameraman and aired on the France 2 television channel with narration by the veteran French-Israeli journalist Charles Enderlin, who was not present at the incident. It made worldwide headlines creating heavy international critique of the conduct of the Israel Defense Forces that severely damaged Israel's public standing on the world stage. Landes questioned the authenticity of the footage, challenging whether al-Durrah was killed at all, arguing that the entire incident was staged by the Palestinians. He asserts that the incident shows that "Palestinian cameramen, especially when there are no Westerners around, engage in the systematic staging of action scenes." Landes' suspicions were verified in March 2008 by Jean-Claude Schlinger, an independent ballistics expert. In his report, Schlinger wrote, "If Jamal and Mohammed al-Dura were indeed struck by shots, then they could not have come from the Israeli position, from a technical point of view, but only from the direction of the Palestinian position."

Other Suspicions

A photograph allegedly showing former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami overseeing the torture of a Sunni was published by Fatah with the caption, "Here is a picture of former Iranian President Khatami overseeing the torture of a Sunni." It was not mentioned, however, that the photograph was of an exhibit in a wax museum in Iran documenting the torture procedures of the Shah.

Wider use of the term

Similar allegations have been made by other media analysts, particularly after similar assertions of media manipulation (dubbed "Hezbollywood" by some) were made during the 2006 Lebanon War.


Incidents of photo manipulation and charges of staging propaganda are not new. In a news magazine photographic "spread" from 1937, in which the dramatic photo covers a page and a half, an image of a bombed-out train station in Nanking, China shows a crying Chinese baby, left on the tracks to die by the Japanese invaders .

Tomorrow's Pioneers (or The Pioneers of Tomorrow) is a children's program that may also be characterized as Pallywood. Broadcast on Al-Aqsa, the official Palestinian Hamas television station, this show features young host Saraa Barhoum and her co-host, a large cartoon animal. Together, they discuss life in a manner reminiscent of Sesame Street or Barney & Friends, but include Hamas-inspired sub-themes of antisemitism, Islamic extremism, Islamic supremacism, Islamism, and jihadist proselytism not traditionally found in western children's programs. As such, Saraa currently co-hosts with her third animal friend, the rabbit Assoud since the first two were martyred, according to storyline by, "The Jews."

The Mackenzie Institute, a Canadian defense and security think tank, has argued that given "a long history of posing for the cameras...the cynical "Pallywood" nickname from once-deceived journalists for news services becomes understandable."

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ "Caught in the Mohammad al-Dura crossfire", Jerusalem Post, October 12, 2007
  2. ^ Cambanis, Thanassis. "Some Shunning The Palestinian Hard Stance" The Boston Globe, September 6, 2005
  3. Landes, Richard. Pallywood, According to Palestinian Sources (Windows Media Video), SecondDraft.org. (youtube mirror)
  4. ^ Carvajal, Doreen. "The mysteries and passions of an iconic video frame", International Herald Tribune, Monday, February 7, 2005.
  5. Landes, Richard. "Pallywood: History", SecondDraft.org.
  6. "Al-Durah: What happened?", SecondDraft.org
  7. Schlinger, Jean-Claude. "" Haaretz, March 2, 2008
  8. " The Spectator, March 3, 2008
  9. http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=4CE58C71-80BF-4FBA-AA1F-793DD75E1A9B]" Frontpagemagazine.com, March 3, 2008
  10. "[ http://www.peiknet.com/1382/page/01bahman/414eteleaat.htm]" Museum Webpage, February, 2007
  11. "" The Jawa Report, February, 2007
  12. 'Im Zweifel für den Zweifel,' Der Tagesspiegel 2006-08-09]
  13. 'Hezbollywood? Evidence mounts that Qana collapse and deaths were staged' (israelinsider)
  14. Zerbisias, Antonia. "And Now It's Reutersgate". Toronto Star, August 9, 2006.
  15. Gelernter, David. "When pictures lie", Jewish World Review, 2003.
  16. Photo of Palestinian Boy Kindles Debate in France, The New York Times, February 7, 2005.
  17. Frum, David. From Gaza, tragedy and propaganda. National Post, June 17, 2006.
  18. Tadeo, Takemodo and Ohara, Yasao (2000). The Alleged Nanking Massacre. Meisei-sha, Inc. ISBN 4944219059)
  19. "http://drybonesblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/pallywood.html"
  20. Michael Doxtater, "How the Mohawks look at history", Globe and Mail, 11 July 1991, A17; "Mail bombs spark public warning", Kitchener-Waterloo Record, 20 July 1995, A3; Geoff Baker, "Who's behind mail-bomb plot?", Toronto Star, 30 July 1995, A2; "Tamils protest paper's story", Toronto Star, 13 February 2000, p. 1; Rob Faulkner, "Institute offers anti-terrorism tip sheet", Hamilton Spectator, 10 August 2005, A6.
  21. Lies, Damned Lies and Footage, The Mackenzie Institute, Newsletter July, 06.

Further reading

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