Israeli social media analyst: 'no desire for a violent intifada'
In an interview with Al-Monitor, social media analyst on trends in the Arab world Orit Perlov claims that Israelis often depict a black and white picture of their neighbors, unaware of the complexity of their society.
“We Israelis love talking about peace, but we’re less interested in what goes on with others. On April 11, I spoke at a policy conference of senior Labor Party figures, and I asked them why they keep running off to Europe to meet with Palestinians, when they could be talking to them every day on the social media networks.” This insight was provided by Tel Aviv resident Orit Perlov, 33, a researcher with the Institute of National Security Studies (INSS) and an expert on analyzing developments and in-depth trends in Arab societies, using social media networks.
Perlov spends her days following bloggers and opinion-makers in neighboring countries and talking to them on said new media. Her Arabic is excellent, the result of a year and a half living in the Arab city of Umm al Fahm. She communicates directly with the most prominent activists in Arab states, which makes her one of the most up-to-date people in Israel regarding trends on the Arab street. These days, for example, she is closely following events unfolding in Egypt, and is able to provide an updated status at any given moment on the inner workings of the Arab street.
Al-Monitor: What is the current status of events on the Egyptian street, according to your analysis?
Perlov: In addition to being the largest Arab state, Egypt also has the most politically involved population. A huge number of blogs are published on the networks there. Opinion-makers are active on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. For me, these are major sources of information.
