194 • chapter 5
to have Zionism presented more favorably in the arabic press, sev-
eral arabic- writing Zionists tried another tack as well: they contributed
articles to arabic newspapers and wrote letters to their editors defend-
ing the Jews and Zionism against published attacks. the young Nissim
Malul was prominent in this effort, writing frequently for al- Muqaṭṭam
and al- Ahrām,^38 and Shimon Moyal participated actively as well.^39 In
1913 a small group of Sephardic intellectuals, including elmaleh and
Malul, met at the Jaffa home of Moyal and formed agudat ha- Magen
(the Shield Society). the goal of this group, as recalled later by one of
its members, was to “explain to the arab world in the arabic press that
the interests of the Jews of palestine not only do not conflict with arab
interests, but, on the contrary, they bring great economic and cultural
benefit to the arabs.”^40
But the influence Jewish writers could have on an arabic newspaper
in this way was, according to Malul himself, inevitably limited. First of
all, from his previous experience in egypt, where he attempted to use
this method to counteract what he deemed to be a growing “antisemitic
movement,” Malul found that arab editors ultimately began charging
Jewish contributors for printing their articles. “the same thing that
happened with the egyptian press,” Malul wrote in October 1911, “has
happened to us also with the Syrian and palestinian press.”^41 If Zionists
had to pay to have their sympathetic articles published, the distinc-
tion between this approach and the “subventions” clearly dissolves.
Furthermore, if arabic newspapers were beginning to refuse even to
publish articles written by Zionists, all the more unrealistic—Moyal
and Malul argued in adjoining opinion pieces in ha- Ḥerut— were calls
by ashkenazic Zionists for Sephardic Zionists to become employed by
these newspapers and thus surreptitiously to “infiltrate” their editorial
boards and “conquer” them.^42 No less problematic was the fact that,
according to Malul, the number of Jews commanding the necessary
journalistic and linguistic skills to fill such positions did not exceed ten
(^38) See, e.g., the translation of one of Malul’s al- Muqaṭṭam articles from October 1912
in cZa L2.167. See also Khalidi, Palestinian Identity, 249n.35. according to Khalidi, Malul
wrote thirteen pro- Zionist articles for al- Muqaṭṭam and nine for al- Ahrām. On Malul as
the Jaffa correspondent for al- Muqaṭṭam and his april 1914 interview of the Zionist
leader Nahum Sokolow, see tauber, “Jewish– non- palestinian- arab Negotiations,” 165.
(^39) See Moyal to ruppin, 5 January 1912, about the meeting Moyal was set to organize
concerning his own work in the arabic press. Moyal requested that ruppin attend the
meeting. cZa L2.167.
(^40) On the founding of agudat ha- Magen, see CZa L2.94.1a. this retrospective quote is
from Chelouche, Parashat ḥayai 1870– 1930 , 149– 50. on elmaleh’s role in the short- lived
organization, see Bartal, Kaniel, and Ẓaḥor, eds., ha- ʿAliyah ha- sheniyah, 22.
(^41) ha- Ḥerut 4:13 (october 25, 1911), 2.
(^42) Ibid.