The Tiktok Intifada   

In his book, The Memories of Abu Yusuf, Sabag argues that Israel has abandoned the Palestinian masses to the rule of their worst and most corrupt elements.

With tension levels once again on the rise in the form of incited bands of Arab youth taking videos of themselves terrorizing Jewish passersby and uploading them to social media for entertainment, Sabag explains the origin of this wave of violence. What looks like a copycat social-media phenomenon, he says, may emanate from a Palestinian leadership increasingly worried about an upcoming Hamas election victory

“I scared the Jews.” That was the caption Muhammad Issa attached to the short clip he posted on October 11, 2020.

The clip showed an elderly Jew, apparently a Chabad chassid, walking by a crane Issa was operating on a street in Petach Tikvah. As the Jew passed by, Issa pretended to dodge to avoid an object falling off the crane — this startled the Jew, who covered his head in his hands and jumped back in alarm. The clip ended with the Arab bursting into laughter and flashing the V sign. He thought it would be a good idea to post this on social media, specifically the video-sharing platform TikTok. Issa didn’t neglect to add a “face with tears of joy” emoji…