In the middle of the night of June 5, an Israeli airstrike hit a poultry farm [1] in the southern Gaza Strip, ending the lives of dozens of cackling chickens and destroying the farm owner’s sole source of income.
In response to this attack, Twitter users were quick to come up with a humorous hashtag, #JihadiChickenBrigade [2], which soon trended worldwide [3].
The hashtag arose after people tried to understand why the one of the most powerful militaries in the world felt the need to raid a bunch of chickens. The conclusion was that the now-dead chickens must have been involved in “terrorist” activities against Israel, and many jokes followed.
Referring to the computer game Angry Birds [4], Twitter user Matout7 asked:
@matout [5]: Israel what is that! Operation angry birds? #JihadiChickenBrigade
Hashem Shoplaq commented:
@iamHussainAhmed [8]: #JihadiChickenBrigade‬ news: jihadi chickens have been spotted along the Israeli boarder carrying eggplosives.
Thinking along the same lines, Mohammad Rafi tweeted:
@MohammadRafi87 [9]: Six live rounds of eggs were found in a house raid of a member of ‪#JihadiChickenBrigade‬ in Nablus.
In a reference to Omega-3 enriched eggs [10], Ali Abunimah wrote:
@AliAbunimah [11]: OMEGA-3 FREE RANGE MISSILES ‪#JihadiChickenBrigade
The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign joined in the punning:
@ipsc48 [12]: Israel has really ruffled some feathers in Gaza. A spokeschicken said “it’s time to remove the yolk of Zionist oppression” ‪#JihadiChickenBrigade
Twitter user Welsh in Gaza joked:
@WelshInGaza: [13]IDF issues announcement: Leader of #JihadiChickenBrigade WANTED, scrambled or fried.
Lebanese blogger Leila was inspired by Yasser Arafat’s famous speech to the United Nations General Assembly [14] in 1974, in which he said “Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom-fighter’s gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.” She tweeted:
@LSal92 [15]: ‪#JihadiChickenBrigade‬: today we come bearing an egg in one hand & a gun in the other. Do not let the egg fall from my hand.
ShahdGaza asserted:
@ShahdGazahere [16]: #JihadiChickenBrigade The Palestinian sense of humor is resistance. YES. we make fun of Israel for being an idiot today & every day.
And Hasina Gori wrote:
@MiZz_haSiNa [17]: Looks like Israel has egg on its face today ‪#JihadiChickenBrigade
Article printed from Global Voices: http://globalvoicesonline.org
URL to article: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/06/12/palestine-gazas-terrorist-chickens-trend-on-twitter/