Flotilla parody causes a stir

GAZA FLOTILLA RAID

Israel's press office has issued a statement apologizing for sending the link to this video, allegedly by mistake, to the media. It was made by Latma, an Israeli Political satire site, and makes fun of the passengers of the Gaza bound aid fleet attacked last week by The Israel Defence forces. Several actors play the parts of pro-Palestinian activists singing a cover version of a Michael Jackson song, supporting Israel’s version of events.  The lyrics suggest that members of the flotilla were violent troublemakers who staged the scene to dupe public opinion.

 The video has already been viewed over one million times. On her blog, the journalist Caroline Glick, who produced the clip, explains she thinks it is an important contribution in putting forward Israel’s point of view on recent events.

 Israel has launched an online media offensive, to justify its army’s actions, and has in particular published numerous documents on its YouTube channel, debriefing operations. These videos for example, show the non-violent boarding of Rachel Corrie, the Irish owned humanitarian relief ship, intercepted on Saturday by the Israeli army off the coast of Gaza.

 But the Hebrew state has been criticized for broadcasting, via this channel, images confiscated from journalists aboard the flotilla ships before they were raided on the 31^st May. Among the stolen videos is this interview of an activist who before the army’s attack, said he was prepared to die for the cause.

CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN PRIMARY

 Californians are going to the polls. The elections for the successor of governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will not take place until November. But in the republican primary due to take place on the 8^th of June, electors will decide on who will confront democrat Jerry Brown in the autumn. The battle is raging online.

 And attacks are multiplying. In this clip, Meg Whitman accuses her main contender Steve Poizner of being too liberal. According to this video he, amongst other things, intends to increase income tax and supports abortion.

 The conservative responded with this “adult’s only” video clip. He accuses the former president of the online auction site EBay of selling anything and everything on her site, notably pornography. 

 This blogger from the Huffington Post denounces these smear campaigns. He says November’s election will be an opportunity for electors to reject these methods by voting for the candidate who does not compromise his principles. He states that this would be a first step in changing the system.

On the 8th of June, Californians will also be giving their opinion on a series of reforms notably with the electoral system. Electors can find out more about these proposals on the site California Choices. Some talk of the necessity of such reforms in these videos.

One of these proposals would mean elections without primaries, so the two candidates with the most votes in the first round, regardless of their political party, would go on to the next stage. This site has made this tool available to web users, so citizens in each state can see where the parties, trade unions and newspapers stand on this controversial proposition, to help them form their own opinion.

 TWITTER PARADE

A Japanese telecom operator has developed an application that brings your Twitter account to life. Upon entering your user name on the micro blogging site, Twitter Parade generates a parade of all your followers, shown as little characters with their account icon as their head. This site will no doubt affect the narcissistic tendencies of certain users.

 MY MAJOR COMPANY BOOKS

First music now books; the internet site MyMajorCompany has now launched a collaborative book publishing project, in partnership with the French publishers XO. On MyMajorCompany Books web users can help budding authors finance the publishing of their work. And web users who invest in a project will share 25 % of the profits made from sales in book shops.

LA VIDÉO DU JOUR

Guillaume Néry is the world record holder for constant weight free diving. He has just posted a video of his latest exploit online: dive to a depth of 202 meters in the Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas, which is the world’s deepest blue hole. These are amazing images which were filmed entirely on breath hold by Julie Gautier, another champion in this category.