#Hashtag wars for the Holy Land
A mapping of the tweets expressing solidarity for Palestine and Israel reveals some curious trends
The world watches as Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza rages on. While marches for solidarity take place across the world from London to Dhaka, millions are voicing their support online. The Israel-Palestine conflict is a polarizing issue and is often perceived as a clash between antagonistic religions, consequently inflaming passions worldwide. A global mapping of the tweets expressing solidarity can potentially reveal interesting insights.
The following analysis compares the global distribution of two hashtags, #Standwith Palestine and #StandwithIsrael. This analysis is based on a random sample of real-time tweets obtained from the Twitter API on the 19th of May.
The above map represents the distribution of tweets with the the hashtag #StandwithPalestine, based on a random sample of roughly 18000 tweets (the maximum allowed by the Twitter API). Several dense clusters are evident from the map. Pakistan and Bangladesh, Muslim majority nations which have seen large demonstrations in favour of the Palestinian cause, see a high density of tweets supporting Palestine. Similar strong clusters are observed in other Islamic societies such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Maldives. India too is seen to have a smattering of tweets in support for Palestine
The Arab countries, including Egypt also show solidarity with Palestine, but this is most certainly an undercount considering that Arabic is the preferred language for Twitter use in these countries, and the hashtag in question is an English phrase. The United Kingdom and Ireland, and the East Coast region of the United States also show considerable support for the Palestinian cause.
An equivalent map for 18000 tweets with hashtag #StandwithIsrael, also reveals interesting trends. A significantly dense cluster is observed in India. The United States too seems to show a more expansive support for the Israeli hashtag than the Palestinian one. What is it that likely explains this overwhelming support in India for the Israeli cause? A potential explanation may be found in the pervasive expression of Islamophobia in the digital sphere in India.
A closer look at the tweets and accounts from within India is revelatory. They comprise a combination of extreme speech against Muslims along with an adulation of Israeli aggression against Palestine. Some of these accounts have cropped up just this month, with the sole purpose of expressing support for Israel.
Another noticeable feature was the large density of tweets in support of Israel emanating from Germany. A closer examination reveals that many of these are from members or supporters of the Far Right in Germany.
There are several caveats to the analysis. They represent a random sample of tweets, which may not be entirely representative. Secondly the location data is available for a limited number of tweets, and is either self reported or gleaned from the location of mobile devices, if enabled. Finally, since the hashtags chosen are English phrases, they over represent English speaking countries, and potentially exclude messages of solidarity from the Francophone, Hispanic, Persian and Arab speaking regions.
Despite these limitations, the results offers a compelling perspective on the expression of global solidarity for both sides during the ongoing assault on Gaza. Further, it demonstrates the potential of using digital trace data to understand online behaviour and opinions on critical issues.