Kamangir (Archer)

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“Israel? You Mean the Land of Prostitution?”

Kamangir | June 9, 2007 | Category Iran

Lisa wrote today about the bill presented to the Israeli Knesset which advocates a rather mild censorship to be imposed on the Internet. The main issue, however, is not the bill, at least for me.

I found her piece so interesting that I translated parts of it in my Persian blog. Then, I posted the link in the Iranian Digg, Balatarin. There, a very sincere comment was written which I think means a lot. This is the translation of that comment,

Amazing! I thought Israelis have no law in these issues. It seems they do. I have so many negative ideas about Israel. For example, that there are as many prostitution places there as we have supermarkets in Tehran. I don’t know if that’s correct or not but the people around me think like this. As much as I know at least…

Well, I think the Islamic Republic has succeeded in convincing at least a portion of the Iranian population that Israelis, or even Jews for that matter, have a tail and two horns.

Reader's Comments

Frieda | June 9th, 2007 at 4:49 am
“that there are as many prostitution places there as we have supermarkets in Tehran”

I am totally lost here…how did they get to that conclusion? “prostitution business” is one of the oldest businesses…I am sure there is as much “prostitution places” in Iran, albeit in hidden places.

I don’t know about “prostitution places” but Proportionately, Israel has more university graduates than any other country (135 per thousand engineers, compared to 85 per thousand in the United States). . . The consequence is that Israel has the largest concentration of high-tech companies outside Silicon Valley. Do the Iranian people know this?

I urge your reader to read: Israel in the World: Changing Lives Through Innovation , they will learn a lot.
Lisa | June 9th, 2007 at 8:08 am
Hi Arash,

Thank you for linking to my post, and for translating the Iranian woman’s comment. It’s sad and fascinating to see that crude propaganda is still so effective. Given this woman’s apparent willingness to see beyond that propaganda, though, perhaps it is true that blogs will play a role in defeating ignorance and prejudice.
Robby | June 9th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
It’s a little known fact that Steven Spielberg owns many of the “prostituion business’” in Israel.
serendip | June 9th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Information on Prostitution and sex trafficking in Iran and Israelis contribution to science and civilization:

http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_21508.shtml

http://hbcdelivers.s439.sureserver.com/sex-slavery-under-the-islamic-republic-of-iran

Indymedia:
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/04/143868_comment.php

Prostitution thrives even in the clerical center of Qom
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC06.php?CID=606

The rate of prostitution skyrocketing:
http://www.afpc.org/idm/idm32.shtml

http://www.google.com/search?q=prostitution+in+the+islamic+republic&hl=en&start=10&sa=N

http://www.stophonourkillings.com/News/article/sid=960.html

Jihadis and whores
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HK21Ak01.html

Trafficking woman:
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/iran_sex_slave_trade
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/refs_iran.htm
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=9001

The Jewish Contribution to civilization

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&q=Jewish+contribution+to+civilization&btnG=Google+Search

Israeliâ€™s contribution to science http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Israelis+contribution+to+science&spell=1

http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Views%5El287&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Views

Let’s try a little thought experiment. Imagine what life would be like without Israel’s contributions. What if you had to avoid all technology developed in Israel, ignore all Israeli scientific advances and otherwise pretend that Israel never existed? Could you do it?

For starters, you could not use any cell phones. The cell phone was developed by Motorola’s Israeli R&D team. But who needs to talk to people anyway?

While we’re on the subject, the internationally popular ICQ instant messaging platform was developed in Israel by a company called Mirabilis before being sold to AOL. In addition to popularizing instant messaging, Mirabilis also pioneered the large-scale peer-to-peer network architecture later used by companies such as Napster and Kazaa.

Forget emailing and doing work on your laptop, since Intel’s Israeli R&D team designed the Pentium M/Centrino and the dual core processor. If you’re using a laptop with an Intel processor, the sticker on it should probably say ‘Israel Inside’.

For those of you with older Macs (before MacBooks came out), your processors were made by IBM. Any guesses on which small Middle Eastern country holds IBM’s largest R&D facilities outside the United States?

It’s not just laptop users that would be affected, however. Most of Windows NT was developed by Microsoft’s Israel R&D team. And the popular Windows XP operating system is built on top of NT. So have fun writing your term papers in Linux.

http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Views%5El287&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Views

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Israelis+contribution+to+computer+science&btnG=Search

Science and technology in Israel:
http://eracareers.most.gov.il/Science+and+Technology+in+Israel/

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Israelis+contribution+to+science&btnG=Search

Israeli scientists:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Israeli+scientists&btnG=Search
serendip | June 9th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
Info on Prostitution and sex-trafficking in Islamic Republic and Israeli contribution to science:

http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/04/143868_comment.php

Prostitution thrives even in the clerical center of Qom
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC06.php?CID=606

The rate of prostitution skyrocketing:
http://www.afpc.org/idm/idm32.shtml

http://www.google.com/search?q=prostitution+in+the+islamic+republic&hl=en&start=10&sa=N

Jihadis and whores
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HK21Ak01.html

Trafficking woman:
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/iran_sex_slave_trade
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/refs_iran.htm
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=9001

The Jewish Contribution to civilization

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&q=Jewish+contribution+to+civilization&btnG=Google+Search

Let’s try a little thought experiment. Imagine what life would be like without Israel’s contributions. What if you had to avoid all technology developed in Israel, ignore all Israeli scientific advances and otherwise pretend that Israel never existed? Could you do it?

For starters, you could not use any cell phones. The cell phone was developed by Motorola’s Israeli R&D team. But who needs to talk to people anyway?

While we’re on the subject, the internationally popular ICQ instant messaging platform was developed in Israel by a company called Mirabilis before being sold to AOL. In addition to popularizing instant messaging, Mirabilis also pioneered the large-scale peer-to-peer network architecture later used by companies such as Napster and Kazaa.

Forget emailing and doing work on your laptop, since Intel’s Israeli R&D team designed the Pentium M/Centrino and the dual core processor. If you’re using a laptop with an Intel processor, the sticker on it should probably say ‘Israel Inside’.

For those of you with older Macs (before MacBooks came out), your processors were made by IBM. Any guesses on which small Middle Eastern country holds IBM’s largest R&D facilities outside the United States?

It’s not just laptop users that would be affected, however. Most of Windows NT was developed by Microsoft’s Israel R&D team. And the popular Windows XP operating system is built on top of NT. So have fun writing your term papers in Linux.

http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Views%5El287&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Views

Science and technology in Israel:
http://eracareers.most.gov.il/Science+and+Technology+in+Israel/
serendip | June 9th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Info on Prostitution and sex-trafficking in Islamic Republic:

http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/04/143868_comment.php

Prostitution thrives even in the clerical center of Qom
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC06.php?CID=606

The rate of prostitution skyrocketing:
http://www.afpc.org/idm/idm32.shtml

Jihadis and whores
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HK21Ak01.html

Trafficking woman:
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/iran_sex_slave_trade
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/refs_iran.htm
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=9001
serendip | June 9th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Trafficking woman and prostitution in the Islamic Republic:

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/iran_sex_slave_trade
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/refs_iran.htm
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=9001

http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/04/143868_comment.php

Prostitution thrives even in the clerical center of Qom
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC06.php?CID=606

The rate of prostitution skyrocketing:
http://www.afpc.org/idm/idm32.shtml
serendip | June 9th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Trafficking woman and prostitution in the Islamic Republic:

Iran’s sex slave trade

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/refs_iran.htm

Prostitution in Tehran

Rate of prostitution skyrocketing
serendip | June 9th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Trafficking woman and prostitution in the Islamic Republic:

Iran’s sex slave trade

Prostitution in Tehran

Rate of prostitution skyrocketing
serendip | June 9th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Trafficking woman and prostitution in the Islamic Republic:

Iran’s sex slave trade

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/refs_iran.htm

Prostitution in Tehran
serendip | June 9th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Trafficking woman and prostitution in the Islamic Republic:

http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/04/143868_comment.php

Islamic Fundamentalism and the Sex Slave Trade in Iran

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/iran_sex_slave_trade

Trafficking of Prostiution in Iran:
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/refs_iran.htm
serendip | June 9th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Prostitution in the Islamic Repblic of Iran:

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/refs_iran.htm
serendip | June 9th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Prostitution thrives even in the clerical center of Qom:

http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC06.php?CID=606

Sex Slavery Under the Islamic Republic of Iran:
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/04/143868_comment.php
serendip | June 9th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Sex Slavery Under the Islamic Republic of Iran

http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/04/143868_comment.php
serendip | June 9th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
Sex slavery in Iran:
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/04/143868_comment.php
Roman Kalik | June 11th, 2007 at 4:59 am
Yikes! What’s with the multiple reposting, Serendip?

Thanks for the links though, some of them were quite interesting.

Regarding the issue of internet censorship (mild or otherwise) in Israel, I think ISP’s ought to give parents an option here (nanny programs are grossly inefficient), but I’d support the reverse tactic (I.E, give parents the option to choose such an package rather than force it on everyone, and make sure parents are aware that such an internet package exists).

That way, everyone will be mildly annoyed, but okay with the resulting bill. The currently suggested legislation is so vague as to be impossible to implement in any way as it is, other than maybe giving everyone who signs up an “adult password” to allow unlimited surfing (and that’s a big maybe). I don’t like the idea of surfing being limited by default though, but as I said I see no problems with giving the option of a limited surfing program (because on the Internet, finding yourself in a site you weren’t expecting yourself to find in is not just common, it’s a way of life).

I wouldn’t want any kids to find their way to a site like Ogrish, to take one of the more gross yet legal websites as an example. Hell, I wouldn’t want to find me on Ogrish, but that’s a different matter. I’m an adult, and this is a choice I myself made, for myself. Kids, on the other hand, ought to be protected until such an age as they can make their own choices in a responsible manner.
Roman Kalik | June 11th, 2007 at 5:02 am
As for how folks in Iran view Israel thanks to the propaganda machine, it saddens me time and time again. Though as Lisa said, there’s a bright spot here after all.
serendip | June 11th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Kalik: I did not multiple post. I had to keep posting it because they didn’t show up on the screen. Perhaps, Kamangir can remove all of them except the first one.