Since the outbreak of the Palestinian unrest Oct. 1, coupled with field confrontations and armed operations carried out by Palestinians against Israelis in the West Bank, Israel has been conducting successive military operations on the Palestinian territories. Meanwhile, another "intifada" broke out in the virtual world on social networks.
Since the start of the uprising, Palestinians have been active on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, where they glorify stabbings and shootings against Israelis. They have been posting pictures and videos of Palestinians carrying out attacks. The number of Palestinians active on social media now has reached more than 2.5 million in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jerusalem and Israel, according to statistics from the Palestinian nongovernmental organization Social Studio published in December.
Khaled Safi, a Palestinian activist with more than 46,000 followers on Twitter and about 25,000 followers on Facebook, told Al-Monitor, “Ever since the intifada broke out in Jerusalem, there has been an online virtual war between Palestinians and Israelis. Social networks are flooded with firsthand field news, while campaigns are launched on Twitter on a daily basis to put pressure on Israel and its supporters around the world.”
On Nov. 9, a video of 13-year-old Palestinian Ahmad Manasra went viral within minutes. The video showed Israeli intelligence investigators questioning him for allegedly stabbing an Israeli Oct. 12 in Jerusalem. A hashtag dedicated to him drew high ratings through tweets and posts. The hashtag #I_don't_remember was repeated by Manasra during the investigation, when the Israeli officer kept asking him about the stabbing operation he had allegedly carried out.
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