r/JewsOfConscience • u/MondoweissOfficial • Sep 12 '22
AMA I produce the Mondoweiss Podcast – AMA!
Hi r/JewsOfConscience, I'm Dave and I am the product manager at Mondoweiss. I produce the Mondoweiss Podcast, assist with video production, and various other work related to running an independent, non-profit news and opinion publication.
https://mondoweiss.net/podcast/
Ask me anything!
8
Sep 12 '22 edited Sep 12 '22
What do you think is more likely to happen and will yield better results, two states, confederacy or other, what is your reasoning?
Btw I’m Israeli and I’m going to vote for the Joint List.
7
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 12 '22
As a news organization, Mondoweiss doesn't have a position on the form of a final status outcome. That's for the people involved to work out.
Individually, every staff member probably has their own thoughts on this. I'll sell you mine for $0.02, which is probably over-valued.
But look, if there is going to be any justice here, the occupation has to end and the apartheid system has to be dismantled. The South African story is useful as a guidepost, I think.
6
Sep 12 '22
[4]
A big topic now within Palestine solidarity activism, and even just simply existing as either Palestinian or an ally, is censorship.
There have been many reports of users' content being inexplicably removed. The Intercept recently reported on the double-standard when it comes to violent (and even non-violent) content originating in I/P.
Mohammed el-Kurd has been the subject of articles about Facebook's censorship practices, with Facebook moderators reportedly questioning why el-Kurd was being singled out for reviews/removals/etc.
All of this seems to be getting coverage in mainstream outlets, but the problem still persists.
Has Mondoweiss faced any censorship on Twitter or Facebook - and if so, what kinds of explanations (if any) were you given by the administrators/headquarters?
I do recall the MW documentary on apartheid being removed for awhile, and then put back up.
3
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 12 '22
So, actually, in the past 3 years or so I have to say that we have not been subjected to any real censoring on these social platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube – the big 4). We have had a few occasional notices that someone in Germany reported our tweets, but they haven't done anything to them. There is one time going back maybe 4 years that I recall they told us to take a tweet down, but we appealed it, and they relented.
Here's the short version of the story regarding the video on Twitter. As you all may know, Yumna produced a long video, about 22 minutes, going in-depth explaining the way the apartheid regime works in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. You can watch it here, it's fantastic.
We edited a trailer for the video to promote it and posted that on Twitter. That tweet got a LOT of attention. Then, suddenly, it was just kind of gone. Not entirely gone, but it would only show up in certain places. We asked Twitter for help, and got no reply. So we publicized the problem. And that also got shared a lot. For us, it was sort of a viral moment. Twitter never replied to us or contacted us in any way.
Ultimately, a source inside Twitter took it upon herself to fix the situation. We then learned from this source that there wasn't any intentional act inside Twitter to suppress the video. It had all happened automatically through their internal monitoring tools. Once a human looked at it, they fixed it and the tweet and video were displayed correctly. Obviously, this is another example of the massive problems we face trying to corral public expression on corporate-owned platforms like these social media platforms.
Having said that, Twitter has rejected us at least three times for "verification." Instagram rejected us twice for their version of "verification." We are "verified" on Facebook, but that dates back to a time when a group of independent news groups approached Facebook together to get verified. I doubt they would do it again today if we had to ask for it alone.
6
9
u/conscience_journey Jewish Anti-Zionist Sep 12 '22
Hi Dave, thank you for being here! Why do you think it is so difficult for accurate news about Palestine to break through in places like the USA?
9
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 12 '22
Thanks for having me!
I think the first thing to note is that accurate news surrounding Palestine is breaking through in the United States, and around the world. The rise of social media platforms have given Palestinians the ability to speak directly for themselves at a scale we haven't seen before. And the reality of life under Israeli occupation and apartheid is hard to ignore or justify when it is shown and shared in that way.
It is true that the reality is not yet represented widely in legacy media, or what we all often refer to as "mainstream media." But as members of this subreddit no doubt understand is that these legacy media institutions are engaged in a sort of official narrative maintenance. They are not necessarily trying to share the realities of marginalized people.
Having said that, there are more and more examples of a new narrative taking shape in those spaces. Ayman Moyheldin on MSNBC and Mehdi Hasan on his Peacock program come to mind as places that are broadcasting a very different story than most of the rest of the mainstream media sources.
It is also why independent media outlets like Mondoweiss are so important, and why we have been investing in the growth of a fuller newsroom devoted to Palestine over the last several years.
4
Sep 12 '22
[3]
Has Phil et al. discussed what potential impacts there may be on MW with the new COGAT regulations? Do you have anyone over there? (might be redundant because a Twitter user asked a similar question)
I haven't read the entire document, but it made headlines because of the ridiculous line about declaring any relationships one has with a Palestinian - or something to that effect.
5
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 12 '22
These new regulations are going to impact a lot of people. I don't want to say much more than that to protect people's privacy.
But look, the government controlling who people have relationships with is... highly problematic if you are trying to convince the world you don't run an apartheid regime.
4
Sep 12 '22
Recently, Palestinian journalist Lama Ghosheh, was placed in administrative detention by Israel for 8 days (on top of an existing sentence I believe).
I'm not sure what the details are of her specific case, but I think an important topic in I/P is Israel's detaining of Palestinian journalists.
As a Western-based agency, I would assume MW has not run into those issues for diplomatic reasons - but at the same time, you have Palestinians on your staff.
[5]
Has there been any challenges with Israel's security apparatus in the OPT, when trying to report stories?
3
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 12 '22
Mariam Barghouti is actually doing a webinar with the Ottowa Forum on Israel/Palestine TOMORROW on this very topic. She also wrote a piece about it recently that is worth checking out.
We haven't experienced too many issues, but there is the day-to-day reality of the occupation that our staff have to deal with. Yumna and her team were working on a video on the situation in Masafer Yatta when they were detained by Israeli military personnel. Fortunately they were let go, but only after a higher ranked officer showed up. Their IDs had been taken from them.
Here's the video, Saving Masafer Yatta.
3
4
u/Budget-News5012 Mizrahi Sep 12 '22 edited Sep 12 '22
While searching about Mondoweiss , I’ve come across an article which claims that Philip Weiss who I’ve read began your blog rejects post Zionism, do you as well , why is that?
5
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 12 '22
I'd have to go back and read that piece, I'm not recalling it right now. I won't speak for Phil, but I'll say this: no one at Mondoweiss would disagree being labelled an anti-Zionist publication. Other than that, I won't speak to an organizational position because we don't really take one.
Speaking for myself, "post-Zionism" seems trite and even silly. Zionism is very much an active idealogical force. It is driving the Israeli occupation and apartheid. As a Jewish American, I'm interested in countering it, and that brings me to an anti-Zionist position.
I remember this book review by Stephen Shenfield of Ilan Pappe's "The Idea of Israel" where he discusses post-Zionism. It's worth a read.
3
8
u/OnePalestine Sep 12 '22
Would or might you endorse, as Mondoweiss, a Palestinian initiative that aims at building something like the African National Council - a united front that includes Israeli Jews and aims at building a state for all its citizens in Palestine?
1
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 13 '22
Mondoweiss as an organization does not take positions like this, so we would not endorse something. We would cover any news about it though. In fact there have been some efforts at this in the past and we've got stories on our site about them if you search.
7
u/conscience_journey Jewish Anti-Zionist Sep 12 '22
Here is a question from u/crumpledcactus:
Hello, Mr. Reed.
I've been following MondoWeiss for a while now, and greatly appreciate the publications efforts. As a Jew affiliated with Humanistic Judaism, most of my Jewish friends are progressives, and are very critical of Israel. Online things are different. I've noticed in online mainstream Jewish spaces (ei. r/Jewish, and any news story that appears on r/worldnews) is that right leaning Israelis, and American Orthodox Jews tend to deploy the familiar tools of the right to suppress critiques of zionist claims, boost misinformation, and outright lie. (ei. mass down-voting, sock puppet accounts, regulatory capture by political moderators).
I've personally seen a thread on r/Jewish claiming a UN worker was a raging anti-semite due to being interviewed by MondoWeiss. I pointed out the UN is not antisemitic, and that MondoWeiss is run by two Jewish guys. My rebuttal was shadow banned (visible to me, invisible to the public).
What are your thoughts on countering the efforts and tactics of the Jewish right wing?
Does the Jewish right wing fuel antisemitism?
Is there any use in publicly highlighting the divide between US Jews and Israeli Jews?
Why aren't we seeing more Jews publicly support BDS, or call out Israeli abuses?
8
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 12 '22
There is a lot here in these questions. I'll try to answer them briefly with my thoughts, not necessarily the position or opinion of Mondoweiss as an organization, or other staff members...
I think that the Zionist right is largely out of defensive options because the reality of the Israeli occupation and apartheid system are so egregious there is simply no justification. And so the only option they have left is try to knock down, undermine, or destroy the credibility of those who criticize the Israeli government. Everyone in this subreddit is probably very familiar with this tactic.
I think there is little use in trying to "counter the efforts and tactics of the Jewish right wing." The resources available to those groups and individuals who might fall into that descriptor are massive and almost never-ending. But this struggle is now a battle of attrition, and they are losing legitimacy all the time.
I do think there is utility in organizing in Jewish spaces, and this might fall into your question around "highlighting the divide between US Jews and Israeli Jews." There is a marked trend among younger Jews in the United States and around the world to look critically at the actions of the Israeli government. By and large the Jewish institutions are going in the opposite direction – digging their heels in and entrenching in knee-jerk support of the Israeli government. So organizing in that gap is important.
6
u/conscience_journey Jewish Anti-Zionist Sep 12 '22
We definitely know about the undermining credibility tactic. I have been banned from the main Jewish subreddits for saying very basic things (despite their stated rules saying a diversity of opinions is ok).
4
4
1
u/OnePalestine Sep 12 '22
But this struggle is now a battle of attrition, and they are losing legitimacy all the time.
Could you expand on this? How is it attrition, and how are they losing legitimacy?
1
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 13 '22
I mentioned this in a couple of other answers. Briefly, there is polling data that shows the historical Israeli justifications for the occupation and apartheid are not being accepted as widely any longer. This is a trend that is going to continue to grow, particularly among younger generations who are growing up in a hyper connected world. The reaction from the Israeli government and the institutions that support it, has been to retrench and attack the critics more directly.
3
u/conscience_journey Jewish Anti-Zionist Sep 12 '22
You cover an emotionally charged topic, the long-lasting military occupation of a people. What work makes you most emotional, positive or negative? Is there a specific incident that made you the most emotional?
2
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 12 '22
Mondoweiss is publishing every day and we publish a lot of Palestinian writers, so you get to know people, even if you haven't been in the same space with them.
This last series of Israeli attacks on Gaza were the first time we've had a dedicated staff member in Gaza. Our awareness of the attacks started when Tareq posted to our internal communication service "the airstrike was only 70 meters away from my home." So that, combined with the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh has made it more emotionally taxing, for me anyway.
We also published an extraordinary piece Tareq reported where we interviewed the families of every Palestinian killed in Gaza in these latest attacks. We were all working on this story with him in some capacity and that was very emotionally draining to read these profiles and see the images of all these people, many of them very young, who were killed. And then to understand that the reason for the attacks that killed them was likely heavily influenced by political considerations inside Israel, is very difficult.
Here is that piece from Tareq Hajjaj: Israel’s ‘Operation Breaking Dawn’ killed 49 Palestinians. These are their stories.
2
7
Sep 12 '22
Hi Dave,
Thank you so much for joining us today.
I have a lot of questions that I'll space out.
[1] Could you describe how you came to be involved with this issue? This may be a broad question - but I suppose I'm curious about how you were able to combine work with activism. Thanks!
10
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 12 '22
Yeah, sure, and thanks for helping organize this!
I am Jewish and I grew up in the U.S. South in a small-ish company town with maybe 3 other Jewish families. The closest synagogue was about 30 minutes away and it was out in the country in a farm house that had been, at various points in the Civil War, the headquarters for the Union and Confederate armies operating in the area.
As I got into my high school years, I started reading Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, and other leftist thinkers and historians. I was already coming to a different conclusion about the situation in Palestine. In 2003, Rachel Corrie was killed and I felt that I needed to go to Palestine and see it for myself. I volunteered with the International Solidarity Movement and I have been involved, to some degree, with Palestine solidarity work ever since.
6
Sep 12 '22
Thanks Dave.
I can relate a lot to that as well, although I grew up in NYC primarily.
Reading Chomsky & Finkelstein, Rachel Corrie's death, the 2nd Intifada, and Lebanon 2006 & Cast Lead in 2008 were all important to me in figuring out my political outlook.
5
u/conscience_journey Jewish Anti-Zionist Sep 12 '22
To piggyback, why did you go into journalism? Instead of other routes of activism.
5
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 12 '22
It's a little weird to call myself a journalist, but I guess I am now. I really came to Mondoweiss through activism. I've been the "tech guy" at a lot of organizations and groups for years, and that is how I connected with Mondoweiss. But it's a small staff and there's lots to do, so I started the podcast.
I should mention Sina Rahmani at the East Is A Podcast show for pushing us to launch the show! He does a great program and everyone should listen to that pod.
4
Sep 12 '22
I think it was a great idea.
I can't really recall many political analysis Palestine-centric podcasts to begin with (other than Jewish Currents when it happens to be covering pertinent topics).
5
u/Budget-News5012 Mizrahi Sep 12 '22
Hi Dave , just wanted to say that I love your work and wanted to ask you , why have we not seen any solid government action to reflect the rising anti occupation and anti apartheid sentiment and do you expect that to ever happen ?
7
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 12 '22
Thanks!
Sadly, I would have to say that we have seen A LOT of government action here, just not in the direction you mean. The Israeli government is spending a lot of time and resources trying to quash social justice movements – just take a look at the 6 civil society organizations they are trying to shut down.
When it comes to other governments, the U.S. and others, they are responding to the political pressures in their own countries. And here, the organized pro-Israel lobby groups exert a lot of political pressure on the government and on politicians.
But as we all know, it is changing. The big lobby groups have had to change tactics and are now just essentially pouring huge amounts of money into even fairly small races to try and keep pro-Palestine sentiments at bay. As I said in an earlier answer, it's a battle of attrition, and they are losing. But it will continue to take a lot of time and organizing to fundamentally change the situation.
3
6
u/Budget-News5012 Mizrahi Sep 12 '22
And lastly what do you think about the Israeli/Palestinian political scenes today in the light of the upcoming israeli election and Abbas being really old , could his successor bring about change in the ways of Palestinian activism ?
4
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 12 '22
I know that our Palestine-based reporters are working on some stories about just these topics, so I will defer to them!
Please keep an eye on our site and sign up for our newsletters to get those stories when they are published.
4
u/Budget-News5012 Mizrahi Sep 12 '22
I’m already signed up to your newsletter . Thank you a lot for replying to my questions.
5
6
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 12 '22
Thanks r/JewsOfConscience for hosting me for this AMA! I appreciate all the good questions. We'll get some of our reporters on here in the future to do more of these.
Those of you running this subreddit and contributing to it are doing important work maintaining a space on this platform for conversations about Judaism grounded in justice and equality. Thank you all so much for that effort.
Please check out our website if you haven't already, and give us a follow on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, and subscribe to the podcast on whatever app you use.
5
Sep 12 '22
Thanks so much for joining us today, Dave.
We really appreciate it and were happy to host you.
Have a great rest of your day!
2
u/AlainAlam Sep 12 '22
Would you translate your website to and produce content in Hebrew? Arabic?
4
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 13 '22
We've considered it, but the expense to do it properly is quite large. In addition, our audience right now is firmly defined as English-speaking people in the U.S. primarily, and then next in other countries like Canada, the UK, Ireland and Australia. We have built up our Palestine-based reporting staff, as i mentioned earlier, but their work too is aimed at our core audience.
There are good Hebrew and Arabic language publications folks should read for more critical coverage, including Local Call in Israel, which is the Hebrew-language sister publication to 972 Magazine.
4
Sep 12 '22
From Twitter:
[2]
Does Mondoweiss have anyone in the Palestinian areas reporting? After Shireen Abu Akleh was killed did you guys talk about safety? Is there anything u can do about protecting your reporters?
3
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 12 '22
Thanks for the question. Starting about 2 1/2 - 3 years ago, we started an effort to grow our publication into a fuller newsroom for Palestine. We've used that slogan in some of our promotional materials over the past year or so, so you may have seen that on the site and in emails.
This included adding staff and expanding the published offerings – thus my title, product manager. We launched the podcast, as well as some specialty email newsletters. When COVID broke out, we were the only outlet that was publishing weekly updates on the health situation in Palestine, something we are particularly proud of.
We now have a dedicated U.S. politics reporter, Michael Arria, that covers state and national legislative activity, politicians, and activist groups. We've had a dedicated Palestine-based reporter, Yumna Patel, for several years. This year her title changed to Palestine News Director when we added a Gaza correspondent, Tareq Hajjaj, and a new Senior Palestine Correspondent based in the West Bank, Mariam Barghouti. We also hired a new Managing Editor, Faris Giacaman, who is also based in the West Bank.
After Shireen Abu Akleh's killing, we have had internal discussions about safety protocols and are in the process of developing stronger ones. All of our reporters have protective vests and helmets that are clearly labeled, although as we now see, that doesn't offer the basic level of protection we all thought it once did.
It's tragic that journalists have to re-think their security stance in Palestine, but they do and we are in the process of that work.
4
Sep 12 '22
Thank you for the response Dave. I have a follow-up but I'll make a separate comment, for visibility.
2
Sep 12 '22
[6]
This is more of a (I think) technical-question, related to the site but - would MW ever consider incorporating the comments section into the search results?
I noticed that currently, it's just the articles (which is great by-the-way, so that is still very immensely helpful in tracking historical events).
5
u/MondoweissOfficial Sep 12 '22
Ah, the comments section. This is an item that is regularly on our list of things to deal with.
Right now, Mondoweiss holds over 30,000 articles and over 570,000 comments(!). The search engine on the site actually does incorporate comments into the results, but only as a way to surface relevant articles.
We used to have one, but it was straining under the load of comments database and the software had become obsolete. It is cost prohibitive for us to add on a comments-only search engine right now. When it is feasible, we will do it, but it just really expensive.
We are considering other options, such as off-loading the comments to a service or even launching a discussion forum, but both of those have drawbacks. Honestly, the rise of social media has made comments sections far less trafficked than they once were.
When some good solutions present themselves, we will look into them, I promise. In the meantime, we have upgraded the comments section to allow for up and down voting, and sorting. You can also get email notifications when comments are left on a specific article, or when someone replies to you.
2
Sep 12 '22
Thanks for the response, Dave.
That's very reasonable. I can definitely see that volume being an issue to corral efficiently.
•
u/[deleted] Sep 15 '22
For more AMAs on r/JewsOfConscience, check out the following link:
https://old.reddit.com/r/JewsOfConscience/search?sort=new&restrict_sr=on&q=flair%3AAMA