Gaza Residents Randomly Calling Americans To Vote For Obama

A Middle East news service is reporting that residents of the Gaza Strip are randomly calling up American voters in hopes of getting them to back Barack Obama in the presidential election.

The article, picked up by The National Political Do Not Call Registry, certainly reveals a new extreme in the world of election-call campaigns. It also demonstrates the extent of Obama's support in the region (though, politically, one can see the McCain campaign and the RNC trying to make into a negative for the Democratic nominee).

An article in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, which was first noted and translated by Palestinian Media Watch, quotes "a young man from the Hamas-controlled Gaza region as saying, 'We dial random numbers and try to call people [in the United States] without knowing their identity or their affiliation....'" The same individual, the site wrote, "reportedly uses 'Internet sites that allow making free calls... in order to use them for the campaign supporting Obama.'"

As for questions of accuracy, as Shaun Dakin of the National Political Do Not Call Registry notes, this is not the first time that Obama has received unsolicited support from Arab residents of the Gaza. In fact, during the Democratic primary an Al-Jazeera TV report revealed that the same individual currently making the random telephone calls -- Abu Jayyab -- also organized a calling campaign to persuade American voters to support Obama in the Democratic primary.

Update: Off the Bus did a pretty interesting story on Ibrahim Abu Jayyab back in May.

Comments

[OrangeFanta]

Can't blame them after 8 years of Bush and the fact that McCain has made no statements whatsoever regarding the future of Palestine.

[ArmyCentrist]

Oi vey, and he worked so hard to get the Jewish vote...Palestinians are people too, or do they now get relegated to the "3/5 of a soul" category....

[robeson]

The chain of evidence as reported puts this smear at the Jr. High School level.

[Whinger]

All right thinking peoples of the earth are longing for Barack Obama to be President of the USA!

[ohmetoo]

Just perhaps that 150,000 shopping spree included a few cell phones to send to Gaza>>>

Just saying WHO knows?

Obama-Biden '08

VOTE EARLY and beat the CROWD of Nov 4!~

[BBDisk]

Israelis extremely happy with Obama... NOT

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/8126

(excerpt) "Barack Obama, why don't you just go home?

Barack, your visit here is just a waste of time; you're not wanted or needed here. We'll do just fine without you and you'll probably do better with out us, too. Don't come around here making as if you're looking out for the good of Israel. We know who you are and who your friends are. Zigzagging back and forth about dividing or un-dividing
Zigzagging back and forth about dividing or un-dividing Jerusalem won't clear your history.
Jerusalem won't clear your history."

[Hillary H]

All right, BBDisk, I truly want to try to understand your perspective. Can you explain to me why you feel that Judaism is superior to Islam? Can you offer proof that the Holy Land is somehow holier to Jews than it is to Muslims? Can you begin to defend Israel's unchecked building of "settlements" upon what little land the Palestinians have remaining to them? Can you outline why Palestine is forever undeserving of being granted the basic human dignity of Statehood? Can you explain why it is completely acceptable for Palestinians to live in squalor while Israelis live, by and large, in comfort and even luxury? And would Israelis truly prefer to live at war with their Palestinian neighbors forever, or could a conceivable compassionate diplomacy on the part of Barack Obama, which leads to the resolution of each sides' atrocies and to an era of mutual respect and Peace, be preferable? You know, all of this fuss over God's will and chosen people, and the fact of the matter is that from the Heavens, there are no borders, no state or country divisions, no races, nor creeds, nor religions. From the Heavens, only water, land and sky is visible, and this, our small and fragile planet to which we must cling to sustain our lives. Please open your eyes and allow the hatred to come to an end. For if God has ever asked anything of humanity, it is that we evolve into beings finally capable of coexisting peacefully.

[BBDisk]

Hmmmm ... and we wonder why Florida remains a battleground state? I'm sure all my Jewish neighbors LOVE that Obama is so popular with the Palestinians.

Go for that Muslim vote, Barack!

Sheesh ...

[obamadeus]

You're totally right. He'd wrap this thing up if he tried to say McCain is a secret Muslim and therefore a terrorist. Oh wait, that's what McCain did, and he hasn't closed the deal either. By the way, it's possible to love Muslims and Jews and want both of them to vote for you unless you're trying to pit one group against the other.

[BBDisk]

You may be correct ... but it is damn near impossible to convince the Jews of that. They have been living under the fear of being attacked by every single one of its neighbors. To the Jewish voter, especially the Pro Israel Jewish voter, you can't have both ... you either support Israel against its enemies, or you don't.

[enlighteninglad]

I was going to give you the benefit of the doubt but I just read some of your comments in your profile so there's no more doubt. You're just another arrogant repube. With an out of control US government saying basically that we have taken on the authority to go into any country we want (for just about any reason we want to use) then its understandable why they are concerned who gets into the White House next. And considering that our government through the CIA and by other means have interfered with foreign governments and their elections numerous times, your comment above is just stupid.

[Hillary H]

So...being an advocate for Palestinian rights makes someone a terrorist? It seems like even among discerning Liberals, "Palestine" is somehow always a dirty word. Who among us will speak out in favor of Palestinian rights? Who cares to mention the appalling conditions in which the majority of Palestinians are forced to live? And why is that I feel like if I do, I risk being labeled an anti-Semitic? I am NOT in the least anti-semitic, but I'm angered by the double standard that permits the Israeli government to "defend itself" against Palestine with carte blanche atrocity, and yet when Palestinians respond in kind, they are condemned as terrorists? Is the Israeli government above international law? Are Palestinians less than human? God, I truly hope Barack Obama finds a way to walk a fair, decent path between Israel and Palestine. I hope he forges a vision which acknowledges the inherent value and humanity in all people, not just those who possess wealth and power. The Holocaust will of course and undeniably remain an unfathomable, heinous, unconscionable, putrid blot upon the ink of human existence. I just don't think it stands to reason that the present day Palestinian plight is somehow less important, or less worthy of our compassion, or somehow undeserving of our recognition. All suffering is equal in my eyes. I am so tired of the way people put one aspect of humanity in the proverbial trash heap and yet exalt another to the ranks of unreproachable.

[Wolves4Obama]

Thank you so much for saying this. I am a Palestinia­n-American and I started reading this post and its comments with a deep sense of trepidation. Thank you for having the courage to post your comment. It makes the rest of the comments a bit easier to take.

[Hillary H]

You are welcome, Wolves! :) I myself have been reading (a.k.a. thoroughly addicted to)Huffpost for several months now, however I hadn't felt compelled to create an account here. And then two blogs came along in the same day regarding these issues, and I just had to make my voice heard. A good friend of my son's father is a young man of Jewish descent who has spent years off and on living in Gaza, photographing the atrocious conditions of daily Palestinian life, writing essays which he then brings back to America, lecturing those among us who claim that we'd fight to the death for African-American rights, and yet still secretly somehow feel that "Arab" is a dirty word. I owe this young man of Jewish descent a great debt for opening my eyes to the suffering of Palestinians and to the fact of the Israeli government's countless violations of the Geneva Accords in their state-sponsored terrorism towards Palestine. Of course I fear being labeled an Anti-Semite. I am not. But I do think that the United States' unconditional support of Israeli policies and aggression towards Palestinians is part of the reason why such foul anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim sentiment still persists. It must be called out! If I see another liberal democrat on Huffpost suggest that Ibrahim Abu Jayyab's phonebanking from Palestine on behalf of Barack Obama is some kind of Republican stunt, I am surely going to vomit!

[wendynyc]

GAZA - Thanks but no thanks!!

[MConde]

Please don't let this be the October surprise.

[lilma]

A must see what the world's think http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2VFRt5W4FM

[emanzipiert]

Nice. I think a lot of people around the world are sick of people like Bush whose foreign policies pretty much amounted to war mongering. Obama gives them hope just like he gives us in the US hope.

[lindaqqq]

thank you, that was beautiful

[AbrakadaBarak]

OMG, not a repeat of OBL's interference, in 2004. This is unadvisable. It could be used, cynically, aganst BO, by McBush & Co..

[LAfromFL]

Sounds like a Republican dirty trick to me. This is how they steal the elections every 4 years!

[houseofglass]

Didn't I also read on this website that Isreali's were also calling Americans to vote for Obama? Balance?

[RightWingMarine]

great both major candidates have been endorsed by people who are sworn enemies of the United States.

Vote Libertarian!

[progwoc]

RightWingMarine -- This email illustrates that like most americans, you know very, very little about the rest of the world, certainly arabs or gazans. Gazans live in an open-air cage whose skies and borders are controlled by Israel and financed to the tune of billions by U.S. tax dollars every year, WITH VERY LITTLE DEBATE AS TO WHETHER THIS IS A GOOD THING. Consider the possibility that Abu Jayyab is desperate. If true, it can certainly backfire given the stupid us vs. them mentality that governs our understanding of the region. (I respect your position to vote libertarian, I've had my fill of unaccountable state power; I voted for Obama already to see what he does with power.)

[Hillary H]

Beautifully said, Progwoc! I'm with you 100% on this issue per my comment above. Thanks for daring to see and speak to the whole picture :):) ~ Hillary