Want to be published? Now is your chance

Eager to opine about what's making the headlines, or what's not? Enter the JPost.com submission contest and we'll publish best posts online and in the print edition.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (9)

New blog

Dear readers

Here's what's new on JPost's BlogCentral:

* First off, we have a new addition to our bloggers: Unleavened Media by Levi Shapiro will explore the big themes and trends in digital media, mobile and technology

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (1)

More developments in Iran

As reported on Sunday, today (Thursday) marks the 10-year anniversary of the 1999 student protests in Iran which were also violently suppressed. Click here to read an unverified letter detailing what seem to be instructions for Thursday's planned protests :

On 18 tir (9 july, 2009), the day this corrupt regime will die, no one should stay home. If you cannot come to the venues detailed below, you must convene at major urban junctions near your home. Once there, form great circles with others from your neighbourhood. Remember - you must gather in the center of an avenue or street, you must block the main roads and streets and paralyze all traffic. Avoid gathering in parks and empty lots.

Read the rest.

In response, the governor of Teheran province warned of 'crushing response' to the planned protests.

The aftermath of Iran's presidential elections

Three weeks after the Iranian presidential elections launched the country into a whirlwind of unrest, where do things stand in Iran?

For starters,there seems to be a major split within Iran's clerical establishment, as reported in the New York Times Sunday.

The most important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment."

* * * 

Iran: 'They beat ppl like animals'

After a few days of relative calm in Iran following the deadly clashes over the weekend which included the killing of Neda Soltan  - captured on camera and circulated around the world, with some saying that her death has become a 'voice of the revolution,' - Iranians once again take to the streets to protest.

Since June 13, when the results of Iran's presidential elections were announced declaring Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner, Iranian protestors have faced daily beatings and arrests and have been subjected to brutalities by the basij [Iran's paramilitary force] - with many incidents captured on camera - as they've taken to the streets to protest the election results.

Official reports have put the fatalities at a total of 20 but many foreign human rights groups have said that the number is actually much higher, basing their assessments on estimations from hospital staff.

The mainstream media has been banned from reporting inside the country, with many journalists, both foreign and Iranian-born, detained or expelled from the country. Increasingly, reports on the events in Iran have relied on largely unverified items from social networking sites.

As the latest protest in Iran goes underway on Wednesday afternoon in front of the Iranian Parliament, Iranians are once again sending their updates to the micro-blogging site Twitter.

Here is the latest:

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (2)

Thursday: More unrest expected in Iran

As unrest in Iran enters its sixth day following allegations that last week's presidential elections were rigged, and despite the Iranian authorities' efforts to restrict internet access, information has been pouring in from Iranians on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

JPost ran an AP report on how the use of Twitter in Iran is revolutionizing the way information is consumed. There have been many other similar accounts including Andrew Sullivan's The Revolution will be Twittered, the Washington Times' editorial Iran's Twitter Revolution and TechCrunch's Is Twitter the CNN of the New Generation.

Twitterers have largely accused the mainstream media of failing to report what has been happening in Iran since Saturday and so the 'Twitter Revolution' was born.

On Sunday, I ran a blog entry called Iranian reactions from across social media outlets, documenting updates coming in from various blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on events in Iran.

It seems that more and more people have turned to Twitter to get news about Iran and the information available is staggering.

On Wednesday, news services reported that Iran's Revolutionary Guard has issued a statement warning Iranian bloggers and those posting on websites that they must remove materials that "create tension" or face the consequences. Reports of arrests, disappearances and confiscations of computers, laptops and cellphone have been rampant.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (1)

5th day of unrest in Iran

As unrest in Iran enters its fifth day following allegations that last week's presidential elections were rigged, and despite the Iranian authorities' media ban and website blockage, information has been pouring in from Iranians on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

JPost ran an AP report on how the use of Twitter in Iran is revolutionizing the way information is consumed. There have been many other similar accounts including Andrew Sullivan's The Revolution will be Twittered, the Washington Times' editorial Iran's Twitter Revolution and TechCrunch's Is Twitter the CNN of the New Generation.

Twitterers have largely accused the mainstream media of failing to report what has been happening in Iran since Saturday and so the 'Twitter Revolution' was born.

Writing a blog on JPost

Dear readers,

I've been promising this entry for a while and I apologize for the delay. I've received many e-mails and readers' comments asking how to get a blog on JPost. So here are some guidelines and instructions:

• Have a browse of the JPost BlogCentral homepage to get a sense of what viewpoints and topics are already covered. In doing so, you can form a clearer idea of what you would like to bring to the table. We look for unique subjects where possible (see The Sephardi Perspective, The Persian Abyss, The Other View, The Warped Mirror, Army Life, Living with Rockets and so on) and barring that, a unique take on a topic (see the blogs in the Streams of Judaism category, Window on Israel, Green-Lined, Making Aliyah, Majoring in Aliyah etc)
• Jot down a few ideas for entries and even write a few. All inquiries require two sample submissions so it's good to have a few handy .
• Think of a blog name and a corresponding picture. It will help in shaping your ideas for the blog.  
• Write a short blurb about yourself and what the blog will be about.
• The more prepared you are, the more your proposal will be noticed as it will look as if you actually thought about this. E-mails announcing "I want to write about life in Israel" just don't cut it.
• Be ready to commit to frequent postings. It does not have to be daily - like Shmuel Rosner - but keep in mind that the more you post, the more exposure you get, the more traffic your blog generates; everybody wins.

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (5)

JPost Bloggers at Durban II

JPost BlogCentral is fortunate to have two of its bloggers - Center Field's Dr. Gil Troy who is there as an observer and new-comer Zach Novetsky who was sent as part of a EUJS student delegation - currently in Geneva covering the UN's World Anti-Racism Conference, dubbed Durban II after the first such conference held in Durban, South Africa in 2001.

As is widely known, Durban I descended into a vitriolic, vicious anti-Israel bashfest denounced by Jewish organizations, NGOs and some countries alike. In an effort to prevent such an atrocity from happening again, several behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforst have been made to alter the Durban II draft which singled out Israel. In addition, several important countries - namely Israel, Canada, Italy, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Holland and Poland - decided to boycott the event altogether.

Palestinian blogger answers readers' questions

Following last week's invitation to submit your questions about anything related to Israel-Palestinian relations to our Palestinian blogger Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad who writes on BlogCentral's The Other View, Ziad has patiently answered every question sent in. The exchange is below.

Dear Readers

I want to make several points clear. First of all I do not represent Hamas nor anyone else. I have answered you based on what I hear in the Palestinian community and people's reactions to the conflict. Some answers will be also based on what Palestinians consider beliefs. Thank you for your questions; it was interesting.

Ziad

Read the rest of this post   |  Comments (18)