Hamas is the controversial Palestinian political party with a military and social arm that legitimately won elections in 2006 (defeating Fatah) and is also considered a terrorist organization by the US, the EU, Canada, Japan and Israel.
A Hamas sponsored matchmaking agency recently sponsored a mass wedding for 450 couples living in one of the Gaza refugee camps (including several visually impaired individuals). They covered the cost of the reception and also provided monetary gifts for all the couples. As is the custom of the area, kids attending the wedding celebration of their relatives dressed up in white and black to match the bride and groom outfits (this custom is present in some Asian cultures as well). It is similar to children ring bearers or flower girls in Western weddings.
So what did the inflammatory desktop blogosphere do? They took screen shots from videos on youtube (like this) and created a story about Hamas sponsoring a mass wedding for child brides (see this al-Jazeera one too). Hamas clarified their position of course however it raises a huge question about irresponsible citizen journalism.
Whether one hates Hamas or not, it is irresponsible to propagate false stories! There are plenty of unsavory TRUE stories about Hamas sponsored activities that violate all sorts of norms- so why lose credibility and post nonsense? An eye-witness account from a journalist that actually attended the event is linked here and worth reading.
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The annoying thing about such “journalism” is that it will be remembered and quoted as fact for so long, that it will actually get tiring to get the truth to be heard.
Sadly when it comes to the propaganda machine, pro-Muslims/Arabs, tend to always be on the defensive.
* There’s an astonishing number of anti-islamic websites out there. jihadwatch, dhimmiwatch, infidelsarecool, littlegreenfootballs.. and thats just off the top of my head. They link to each other, support each other, makes them on the top of search engine results.
* Pro-Islamic posts on social networking sites tend to be downvoted to oblivion thanks to software like megaphone.
* Conservative bloggers are sometimes paid a grant, and even trained via internet circulars (there was a recent one on ‘how to win arguments against pro-palestinians’, I lost the link). We’re way way behind…
It doesn’t just stop at the internet and irresponsible journalism of course. While in the United States, our student body had to deal with people like Daniel Pipes, and his annual ‘Islamofascism Awareness week’, where they would bring in people to tout unsubstantiated facts like “10% of muslims are radicals” and “MSAs (Muslim Student Associations) sponsor pro-Jihad activities like (wait for it…) paintballing”.
What they hope for is not to sway the (already liberal) population of University campuses but to get a hostile response from the MSA so they can make the local newspapers.
Great blog!
Thanks for explaining the reality of this story. I saw the headline but didn’t pay much attention to the accompanying article as it seemed too far fetched. I think it just rots the Western view to discover people voluntarily vote for Hamas and other Islamic parties in other countries, because they genuinely are the only ones providing social services.
I would advise anyone interested take a look (google images will do) at First Holy Communion pictures of whole Catholic school boards full of Grade 1 students (ages 6 or 7), “brides and grooms” (some of whom are SIBLINGS!!!), and catechism classes from parishes around the world getting “married”, EACH and EVERY May. While I didn’t say it out loud at the time, getting dressed up like a bride was the best part! The spiritual significance is only incipient at this age, which is why all are required to get “remarried” age 12, or 13 for Confirmation.
Note the relative GENDER SEGREGATION!!!! in many group photos!!!!
There are very few ethical journalists and sources which exist in the current age – the reason – ethical journalism does not roll in the money and subscriptions.
Say what you want about Hamas, they are doing for the people what they have to as a democratically elected government. I think the most important thing is that they provide for the people of Gaza as a government should do.
I guess the question in my mind is always “so what should we do about it?” How can we each counter all the garbage out there? My personal contribution is this blog of course, but it’s certainly not enough.
[...] Irresponsible Citizen Journalism: Hamas Child Brides | KhanSerai serai.strategicsynapse.com/2009/08/irresponsible-citizen-journalism-hamas-child-brides – view page – cached Hamas is the controversial Palestinian political party with a military and social arm that legitimately won elections in 2006 (defeating Fatah) and is — From the page [...]
Apparently the person responsible for this claimed he attended the said wedding but after receiving negative comments he retracted his story and added that he also took pictures of the brides but did not release it as per Islamic custom. But the article keeps on circulating, damage has been done.
I’ll look for his blog when I have time.
Ella
This video is still being posted as a fact by non-muslims! Considering that ‘child brides’ is a very real and large problem, such reporting can only create negativity about Islam. However, we are trying to create awareness to put an end to this problem. Those interested, do join the group on facebook. Eradication Of Child marriages in Islam.