Gay Girl in Damascus blog

Whatever happened to Tom MacMaster, the "Gay Girl in Damascus" hoaxer?

Last June The Electronic Intifada exposed the identity of the person behind the “Gay Girl in Damascus” hoax. The perpetrator was Tom MacMaster, a 40-year-old American graduate student at the University of Edinburgh. After an surge of media attention, MacMaster disappeared from the public eye. The University of Edinburgh promised to investigate. But what happened, and was MacMaster ever held accountable for a hoax that many believe caused genuine harm? Documents released by the University of Edinburgh under the UK’s Freedom of Information Act, reveal that not only was MacMaster allowed to stay on as a student, but that the university sought as much as possible to gag him while never publishing any results of its investigation.. 

Ali Abunimah explains the Amina "Gay Girl in Damascus" hoax on France 24 Arabic channel

In June, The Electronic Intifada revealed the true identity of the hoaxster behind “Amina Arraf,” the so-called “Gay Girl in Damascus” blogger. In an interview with France 24 Arabic’s program Aswat al-Shabaka, Ali Abunimah explains how the hoax was uncovered and why it was important to do so. 

Video: Israeli police wrestle US citizen to ground, put knee on his neck

In this video which appears to have been shot on “Jerusalem Day” — marked this earlier this month by thousands of right-wing Israeli settlers who provocatively marched in Jerusalem — a young American Jew states his solidarity with the Palestinian people before being roughly arrested by Israeli police.