Israeli Web site seeks to Educate Arab world

This is a little like attempting to force a bobcat into a coke bottle-you are likely to fail and get hurt in the process.

By SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL, 14 February 2008, JPOST

Hours after Imad Mughniyeh, a senior Hizbullah commander and suspected terrorist mastermind, was assassinated in Damascus this week, Israeli lawmakers and defense officials responded to accusations that the Mossad was responsible for the assassination.
-I strongly doubt Arabs abandoned their screaming fits long enough to log on but ya never know.
Their denials, and other voices from the Western world, were quickly translated into Arabic and offered, for the first time, by an Israeli-run Web site speaking to the Arab world in its own language.

“To communicate and reach the Arab world, it is important to communicate in their own language. We are seeking to translate materials from progressive and democratic voices in the West into Arabic, and make them available to Arab peoples in the Middle East who otherwise cannot access the material,” said Zvi Mazel, a former Israeli ambassador to Egypt and the head of the new site which regularly translates articles, speeches, and other material into Arabic.

Mazel, whose project falls under the auspices of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs think tank, has a history of involvement with similar projects. He has already created a site on the center’s Web site which translates Arabic texts into Hebrew, to allow Israelis better insight into emerging thinking from the Arab-speaking world.
-Every rocket headed toward Israel accomplishes the same thing.
His new site, which was launched three months ago and is already receiving 800 visitors each month, currently translates up to 14 new items each week into Arabic.

“We look for new articles each day that will bring new insight and voices to this region,” said Mazel. “We are already getting back feedback and hope to grow and establish a broader audience.”
-Good luck with that

Looking over e-mails that he has received this week, Mazel recounts several messages congratulating the new site for the information it has provided. One reader, from Yemen, added that he would like to find ways to work “in cooperation with the site to stop” extremist Muslim voices that are dominating the region.
-I think the one moderate email speaks volumes, now tell me how many ranting, threatening emails you received. Maybe we could compare them and see if the same Muslim nut jobs writes us both.

Other readers, however, blast the site as a “Zionist enterprise” that will not gain readership within the Arab world.
“Of course, I know we cannot reach everyone – and we won’t appeal to everyone. At least now this information is out their and available in Arabic,” said Mazel.
-I get a few Muslims idiots that stop by here just to tell me no one reads this site. I really should remind them we do have a counter. The Muslims are also too stupid to realize when they stop by to hold an actual discussion I answer, when they rant, threaten or curse and insult Doc or my loving self I change their post to something insulting their mother. You really don’t want to see that stuff do ya? The purpose of this site is to educate free people about current threats and those that are still over the horizon. This site does not help spread Muslim propaganda or apologist BS. Our sites, our rules, don’t like it-start your own. Make sure you link back to us and help our counter go up, lol.

There has been a renewed interest in translating Western texts into Arabic in recent years. The Kalima project, based out of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, recently announced that it was translating Isaac Bashevis Singer’s The Collected Stories. Singer, a Jewish author based in New York, dominated the Yiddish writing scene for decades. The project has already translated a number of other famous texts ranging from Khaled Hosseini’s recent blockbuster, The Kite Runner, to Baruch Spinoza’s Ethics.
-Well, I still think this is a doomed project but it is better than doing nothing and I wish the Israelis well.

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