Nothing New Under the Sun

Remember the Mossad assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai last year? Remember the stolen passports scandal? (See my 27/2/10 post Israel: The Ultimate Identity Fraud)

Could this be yet another case of Mossad identity fraud and disinformation?:

"The alarming story of a Syrian-American lesbian blogger, who was reportedly kidnapped by armed gunmen in Damascus, sent the world's media into a frenzy - but now her very existence is being questioned. Reporters have been unable to find anyone who has met Amina Arraf in person, while a woman living in Britain said photographs circulating on the internet were of her, not the blogger. Arraf, known for frank posts about her sexuality and open criticism of President Bashar al-Assad's autocratic rule in her blog, A Gay Girl in Damascus, has also admitted to writing fictional accounts in previous blogs." (Does she even exist? The mystery of the Gay Girl in Damascus, Asher Moses, Sydney Morning Herald, 9/6/11)

After all, our Gay Girl in Damascus does seem to have a rather interesting career in mind:

"Many have written to me about the case. It is clear that there is a fabrication here... Somebody is playing with readers' minds, most likely for political reasons. 'Friends' of her wrote me yesterday and said they'd all exchanged notes and found no one had ever seen her. Her closest friend once tried to skype with her, but she told her there's no skyping in Syria (a lie)... Politically, 'she' recently posted a pro-Palestinian message, but back in May 'she' expressed the hope that she'd one day serve as an ambassador for Syria in Israel. That in itself tells me that it is no Syrian person at all. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this were Abraham Foxman posing as a 'gay girl in Damascus'." (On the 'Gay Girl in Damascus', angryarab.blogspot.com, 9/6/11)

And what to make of this?:

"If you're looking for the Israeli aspect of the deadly riots in Syria, you may find it in material handed over to members of the Syrian opposition by Israeli Knesset representatives last week... Knesset Member Ayoob Kara (Likud), the deputy minister for the development of the Negev and the Galilee, has been in close contact with Syrian opposition members for a long time. In one of their conversations with Kara, the Syrians expressed their enthusiasm over the song Zenga Zenga, which was created by Israeli musician Noy Alooshe and became the unofficial anthem of the Libyan rebels. The MK promised them similar Israeli aid. He turned to singer Amir Benayoun, who the Syrian opposition members were familiar with, and inquired whether he would be willing to send protest songs to Israel's northern neighbours in their own language in order to encourage the revolutionaries. Benayoun accepted the offer and began composing songs based on the book of Ecclesiastes. He added his own music and recorded the songs for the Syrian rebels... MK Kara last week took dozens of CDs with him to Turkey, where he met with representatives of 15 Syrian opposition organisations. He handed them the collection of protest songs they ordered, which they told him they would try to turn into revolution hits." (Israeli singer vs Syrian president, Tzvika Brot, ynetnews.com, 12/5/11)

Fifteen Syrian opposition representatives in need of Israeli inspiration for their revolution? The mind boggles.

What was that Ecclesiastes once said?: "What has been done [by Mossad] will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."

PS, 15/6/11: "The admission by Tom MacMaster that he was the man behind the Gay Girl in Damascus blog should not end the conversation... This story is bothersome on so many levels, but I was even more upset when I read MacMaster's remarks to the Guardian in which he criticizes Western media coverage of the Middle East and even took a shot at Orientalism. MacMaster should know that he is worse than a classical orientalist (and clearly does not possess the knowledge, erudition, and rigor of the classical orientalist.) This man is both delusional and racist: he took it upon himself to fabricate the identity of a native 'girl' (I mean, is there anything more orientalist than the White Man of the West posing as a Damascene girl and writing on her behalf? Is there anything more racist, sexist, patronizing and offensive?) MacMaster is ignorant of what he's done and has the chutzpah to write this: 'While the narrative voice may have been fictional, the facts on this blog are true and not misleading as to the situation on the ground'. What does he mean by that? He's basically saying, If I now pose as the racist White Man in the West for a minute, and I take that license as one who posed for a long time as a lesbian 'girl', and even exposed and communicated with many in the gay and lesbian community in Syria and the Arab world, while I fabricated and lied, my fabrications and lies are still true and accurate. He really sounds delusional and divorced from reality. It is the White Man's privilege to claim that, while he has fabricated and lied, his fabrications and lies are not inaccurate. The mentality behind the fabrication of this identity is the same as that in colonial times. The natives can't speak for themselves: they have to be represented by the White Man who can best explain them to the West. Beyond that, MacMaster has damaged the efforts of well-meaning and sincere Syrian dissidents (I'm not talking about the lousy Ikhwan or Khaddam or Ma'mun Humsi or Rif'at Assad or other pro-Saudi tools) in that it has helped the propaganda of the Syrian regime. MacMaster should not only apologize to the readers of his blog, but also to the people of the Middle East, the gays and lesbians of the region, and even to Middle East studies. He is a smug, arrogant and delusional White Man. I bet he even hears voices in his head, including that of Lord Cromer." (When the White Man poses as the Native Girl, angryarab.blogspot.com, 13/6/11)