Goodbye, farewell and amen to the Israellycool Wikipedia article, which was deleted by Wikipedantics since this blog is not “notable” enough.
You can follow the debate over whether or not to delete it here. Interestingly enough, the same Wikipedia user who was pushing for the article’s deletion also had this to say about Richard Silverstein’s blog:
Tikun Olam is highly notable (obviously) and it’s conceivable that Richard Silverstein’s pieces about Israellycool+JIDF activities will make it into the mainstream media in Israel and elsewhere as his stories often do, but it’s not relevant to this decision as others have said.
I’m somehow not buying his neutrality claim.
In any event, I am not overly concerned by the deletion. After all, the article was not really being updated with all the good work we are doing here (such as the pro-Israel blog-off, and the Silverstein sting).
But just so you all know, I did not create the Israellycool Wikipedia page. That honor goes to a female Arab blogger (note: in the draft version of this post, I identified the blogger. But she alerted me to the fact that if an Israel site cited her, it could compromise her safety).
Here’s what she had to say at the time:
Wouldn’t it be kind of awesome to post a Wiki article on a pro-Israel site and actually praise it, despite my pro-Palestinian background? That way, it will be kind of impossible for the article to be labeled as biased. Seems as though a lot of people don’t really get Dave’s articles and mission at all. They will be surprised if I tell them that the author of this blog is actually one of the first people to support a website by Arab-Muslims, most of which are pro-Palestinian by default, because they will immediately assume that all pro-Israel blogs are racist, anti-Arab, un-Islamic, etc. But if anyone actually read this site’s content they won’t come to that conclusion so quickly.
I should give this Wiki thing a shot. I’ve been trying to help Israellycool by making more Arabs aware of it. I think it’s important for sites like these to be more exposed to those who need to educate themselves on where “the other” side is coming from. I was horrified when this site was blocked from our servers for a few days.
Supporting a site doesn’t mean agreeing with its content or sharing the author’s viewpoint. It’s more of a freedom of expression/need for dialogue thing. Sadly many Arabs don’t realize this, and if you call this blog excellent they immediately claim that you have a pro-Israel status.
Just like there are pro-Arab Israelis, there are pro-Israeli Arabs. You don’t hear their voices because they’re silenced. You will never find pro-Israeli Arabs who don’t receive death threats or are labeled as traitors and beasts. I’m not pro-Israel at all, but I have a lot of respect for Israelis in general. Especially those who were willing to work with me by trying to promote tolerance amongsts all kinds of Arabs, Israelis, religions, etc.
Just like I have a lot of Israelis supporting the mission behind my site, you need to remember that you have a lot of Arabs and Muslims supporting this site too.
At some point, this blogger and I lost contact over the years, but the fleeting existence of the Israellycool Wikipedia page is a reminder of her contribution to this site. Not to mention further proof that those like Silverstein, who claim I am Islamophobic, are way off base.
