A New York Times article on Sunday lauded the allegedly liberal “hipster Palestinians” in Haifa who live a secular cultured life, but one of the main Arab sources quoted in the piece lost no time clarifying he was seriously misrepresented by the “white media.”
The article, written by Diaa Hadid and entitled “In Israeli City of Haifa, a Liberal Arab Culture Blossoms,” focuses on secular young Arabs enjoying their own cultural scene in Haifa.
It describes “the many coifed, pierced and tattooed women and men who populate a slice of Haifa’s social scene that resembles that of the well-heeled hipsters of Tel Aviv. But here the cool kids are Palestinians, and they have unfurled a self-consciously Arab milieu that is secular, feminist and gay-friendly.”
But Ayed Fadel, a main source quoted in the article, revealed on Facebook on Monday shortly after the article was published that he had been misrepresented.
Fadel, an Arab citizen of Israel, wrote: “I actually found this piece disturbing. It refers to certain aspects and neglects so many others that I personally mentioned during the interview, it portrays the modern Palestinian in a ‘Western’ image that comforts white readers and make them say, ‘oh, they’re just like us!'”
“Well no, we’re nothing like them, in fact, we’re very different and deep into the shit, and having to portray us in this image is insulting,” emphasized Fadel.
In the article, he says, “there are so many points missing, crucial ones, that the lack of them make this article shallow, offensive and degrading. Plus on that 90% of the interview we were talking about how the culture of the cultural resistance is growing.”
“I don’ know if what I am writing now is even enough to cover all what have been written in this article, but hopefully that could explain the situation and make it more clear that it was another trap by the white media, that is always trying to show us as the cool yay hipsters full of tattoos and piercings – far away from the grounded reality that we are facing and fighting every day!”
“Time for resistance!”
Honest Reporting on Tuesday revealed some of Fadel’s past Facebook posts that show his views, which likely were part of the “90%” of the interview about “resistance” that he says was left out of the article.
In one post from October 18, he writes that “the conflict in Palestine…is between occupied and oppressed Palestinians (Christians, Muslims and Jews alike) and a racist fascist system applied by the Apartheid state of ‘Israel’ through a terrorist ideology known as Zionism.”
On October 6 he posted a picture of an Arab rioter hanging onto a security camera and trying to rip it down, with the words: “This is how we take selfie in Palestine! First we take it, then we break it!! Long live street fighters!!! ..STILL IN PROCESS WAITING FOR SYSTEM COLLAPSE!!”
Back on September 6, he put up a picture of a terrorist with an assault rifle running down a street with Arabic signs in the background, along with the text: “Time for resistance!!”
Diaa Hadid, the correspondent who wrote the article, reportedly worked in the past with the pro-Hamas site Electronic Intifada, as well as with the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment.
