The Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Information Center recently released ‘PalTube’, a YouTube-like video hosting service featuring various media content dealing with the recent Gaza crisis and its aftermath. This includes ‘foreign’ media, most notably that dealing with the white phosphorous issue, as well as a speech by controversial British MP George Galloway at a rally denouncing the BBC’s decision not to permit the airing of ads raising money for Gaza.
Overall, PALtube can be seen as a logical move by Hamas to tap into a largely young and internet-savvy media constituency that is perhaps not reached by its Al-Aqsa TV. Whether or not it will play to Hamas’s advantage in the aftermath of the Gaza crisis will likely depend on whether this media content finds its way onto more widely-used sites/blogs.
