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We Con the World is a 2010
video clip Video clips refer to mostly short videos, most of the time called memes, which are short videos of silly jokes and funny clips, most of the time coming from movies or any entertainment videos such as YouTube. The term is also used more loosely to ...
that satirizes the purportedly peaceful intentions of the political activists aboard the Turkish-owned flagship, MV ''Mavi Marmara'', which led the Free Gaza flotilla. The video uses the tune and style of the 1985 video "
We Are the World "We Are the World" is a charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album '' We Are the World''. Wi ...
", with actors portraying the ship's captain and passengers while waving fake weapons as they sing in criticism of the activists' attempts to "make the world abandon reason" and ignore facts about
Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam ...
as they try to breach the
Gaza blockade The blockade of the Gaza Strip is the ongoing land, air, and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip imposed by Israel and Egypt temporarily in 2005–2006 and permanently from 2007 onwards, following the Israeli disengagement from Gaza. The block ...
.Flotilla Choir: 'We Con the World'
Tzippe Barrow, June 4, 2010,
Christian Broadcasting Network The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) is an American Christian media production and distribution organization. Founded in 1960 by Pat Robertson, it produces the long-running TV series '' The 700 Club'', co-produces the ongoing ''Superbook'' ...
.Martin Barillas, ''Parody video mocks the deadly Gaza Flotilla''
June 4, 2010.PR blunder
Israeli government’s press office sends Flotilla incident parody video to journalists Friday, June 4, 2010, BNO News.Israel apologizes for sending link to flotilla parody
Liz Goodwin,
Yahoo! News Yahoo! News is a news website that originated as an internet-based news aggregator by Yahoo!. The site was created by a Yahoo! software engineer named Brad Clawsie in August 1996. Articles originally came from news services such as the Associate ...
."Israel apologises for spoof video mocking Gaza flotilla"
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, 7 June 2010.Israeli "Newscast" Satirizes Raid Critics
June 4, 2010, Dan Raviv. The video was produced in 2010 by
American-Israeli , native_name_lang = , image = , caption = , population = 110,000–150,000 , popplace = New York metropolitan area, Los Angeles metropolitan area, Miami metropolitan area, and other large metropolitan are ...
Caroline Glick Caroline Glick ( he, קרולין גליק; born 1969) is an American-born Israeli conservative columnist, journalist, and author. She writes for '' Israel Hayom, Breitbart News'', ''The Jerusalem Post'', and ''Maariv''. She is adjunct senior f ...
, a columnist for the '' Jerusalem Post'', and Latma TV, an
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i media satire website she edits. The website is an initiative of the
Center for Security Policy The Center for Security Policy (CSP) is a US far-right, anti-Muslim, Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The organization's founder and current president is Frank Gaffney Jr. who is known for promoting falsehoods about former U.S. President B ...
, a conservative organization located in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Glick makes an appearance in the chorus, wearing a keffiyeh."Israel forced to apologise for YouTube spoof of Gaza flotilla; Israeli government press office distributed video link featuring Arabs and activists singing"
Rachel Shabl, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
,'' June 6, 2010.


Creation

Latma TV director Shlomo Blass told a reporter for the Israeli newspaper ''
Yedioth Ahronoth ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' ( he, יְדִיעוֹת אַחֲרוֹנוֹת, ; lit. ''Latest News'') is a national daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. Founded in 1939 in British Mandatory Palestine, ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' is the largest paid n ...
'' that he had decided to respond on the day of the
Gaza flotilla raid The Gaza flotilla raid was a military operation by Israel against six civilian ships of the " Gaza Freedom Flotilla" on 31 May 2010 in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea. Nine activists and no Israelis were killed on one ship dur ...
. "I immediately called the site editor, Caroline Glick, and said to her: 'We have to do something'.""Israeli grass-roots effort fights flotilla fallout"
Dina Kraft, June 8, 2010, Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Glick described the video as a parody, featuring the "Turkish-Hamas 'love boat' captain crew and passengers in a musical explanation of how they con the world," and told the press that "We think this is an important Israeli contribution to the discussion of recent events and we hope you distribute it far and wide."Israeli government office links to video mocking flotilla
CNN Wire Staff, June 5, 2010.


Description

The video satirizes the purportedly peaceful intentions of the political activists aboard the MV ''Mavi Marmara'', the Turkish-owned flagship that led the "blockade busting" Free Gaza Gaza flotilla. Actors portraying the ship's captain and passengers wave fake weapons as they sing, with affected Arab accents, "We'll make the world abandon reason / We'll make them all believe that the Hamas is Momma Theresa", "As Allah has shown us / For facts there's no demand". The captain of the parody crew sings "Ithbah al-Yahud" (اذبح اليهود, i.e. "Slaughter the Jews" in
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
). The video uses the tune and style of the 1985 video "
We Are the World "We Are the World" is a charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album '' We Are the World''. Wi ...
" by
Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
and Lionel Richie.


Response

Robert Mackey The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
of the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' characterizes the video as "suggest ngthat the activists on board the flotilla were, in fact, violent provocateurs."Israelis Explain, and Mock, Flotilla Clash
June 4, 2010, Robert Mackey, ''New York Times''. Jeff Stein of the ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...
'' quotes a
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
officer who calls it "pretty clever
agitprop Agitprop (; from rus, агитпроп, r=agitpróp, portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', " propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in Soviet Russia where it referred ...
.""Right-wing D.C. think tank spawns Israeli PR blunder"
June 6, 2010. Writing in the '' Huffington Post'', journalist Eileen Read called on the ''Jerusalem Post'' to fire Glick for making fun of the dead in the "blatantly racist" video.Eileen Read, ''Huffington Post'': "The Jerusalem Post Should Fire Caroline Glick for Making a Racist Video"
June 5, 2010. The
Israeli foreign ministry The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( he, מִשְׂרַד הַחוּץ, translit. ''Misrad HaHutz''; ar, وزارة الخارجية الإسرائيلية) is one of the most important ministries in the Israeli government. The ministry's ...
press office sent it to a list of journalists, and three hours later sent an apology describing the emailed video as having been "inadvertently released."Israëlische excuses na pr-blunder
LaStampa
Gaffe di Israele: "video-farsa sulla strage della nave"
'' La Stampa'' (4/6/2010). The spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel,
Mark Regev Mark Regev ( he, מארק רגב; born 1960) is a former Israeli diplomat and civil servant who is currently the chair of the Abba Eban Institute for Diplomacy and Foreign Relations at Reichman University. Between June 2020 and April 2021, he ser ...
, told ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' that "I called my kids in to watch it because I thought it was funny. It is what Israelis feel. But the government has nothing to do with it." In June 2010 David Lev wrote in an Arutz Sheva news article that the video received over three million views in less than a week.YouTube Pulls "We Con the World" Parody
Israel National News ''Arutz Sheva'' ( he, ערוץ 7, lit=''Channel 7''), also known in English as ''Israel National News'', is an Israeli media network identifying with religious Zionism. It offers online news articles in Hebrew, English, and Russian as well as ...
, June 12, 2010, David Lev. As of September 2015, the original video page showed that it had received over 2.78 million hits.
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
has versions with subtitles in
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
,
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
,
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
, French,
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
,
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
, and Hungarian.


Copyright controversy

A week after the parody appeared, it was pulled by YouTube "due to a
copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...
claim by Warner/ Chappell Music, Inc."Flotilla parody removed from YouTube
June 13, 2010, Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Glick argued that it was legal and permissible to use copyrighted material under the fair use doctrine for purposes of parody.
Lawrence Solomon Lawrence Solomon is a Canadian writer on the environment and the executive director of Energy Probe, a Canadian non-governmental environmental policy organization, and a member of the advisory board of the far-right Rebel News. His writing has ...
opined in the ''
National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...
'' that "parodies are not subject to a copyright claim" and that "YouTube carries numerous other parodies of 'We are the world' – a search on the YouTube site of 'We are the world spoof' turns up 5,100 results":
"YouTube's real problem with this viral hit is the virus of
anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
. 'We con the world,' which portrays terrorists on the Gaza flotilla's ship, the MV Mavi Marmara, explaining how they'll con the world, hits too close to home for many
Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam ...
sympathizers, who mounted a successful campaign to cow YouTube".Lawrence Solomon: YouTube Cons The World
by Lawrence Solomon, ''
National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...
'', June 13, 2010.
Several weeks after its removal the original video was restored on its channel.


Participants

Caroline Glick Caroline Glick ( he, קרולין גליק; born 1969) is an American-born Israeli conservative columnist, journalist, and author. She writes for '' Israel Hayom, Breitbart News'', ''The Jerusalem Post'', and ''Maariv''. She is adjunct senior f ...
,
Noam Jacobson Noam Jacobson ( he, נעם יעקובסון; born 1975) is a musician, singer, songwriter, and bandleader from Ramat Gan Ramat Gan ( he, רָמַת גַּן or , ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipal ...
, Tal Gilad, Shlomo Blass, Elchanan Even-Chen, Karni Eldad, Ronit Avrahamof, Nachum Shteiner, and Yoram Schwartz participated in the video.


References


External links


Original video

Video as presented on Latma TV with parody newscast lead-in featuring the so-called Captain Stabbing waving a knife
* Video i
hotair website

Latma TV website
{{DEFAULTSORT:We Con The World 2010 short films 2010 songs Criticism of journalism Gaza flotilla raid Israeli humour Israeli political satire Satirical songs Songs about boats Songs about Turkey Songs about oceans and seas Songs based on actual events Musical parodies Viral videos