196 • chapter 5
ottoman empire’s other ethnic and religious communities: “We find
a Sunni Muslim arabic newspaper, a Shiite Muslim arabic newspa-
per, a Coptic Christian arabic newspaper, a Catholic Christian arabic
newspaper, an Orthodox Christian one and a Maronite Christian one.
But we do not have even one Jewish arabic newspaper!”^46 these other
newspapers advanced the interests of their respective communities,
Moyal explained, and this was precisely what the Jewish community
lacked. Because Jews had thus far failed to establish their own ara-
bic paper after the extension of press freedoms following the Young
turk revolution, Muslim arab public opinion in palestine was left in
the hands of the Christian newspapers. these Christian- edited papers,
such as Nassar’s al- Karmil, introduced “hatred between us and the Mus-
lims,” contends Moyal, “through lies, cowardly complaints, and faulty
information.”^47
that Moyal’s chief antagonist in this debate was abraham Ludvipol
is surprising. a Volhynian- born journalist (who wrote in French and
Yiddish as well as hebrew), Ludvipol had been living in palestine since
1907.^48 In late 1911, at the very time at which he was engaged in his
polemic with Moyal, Ludvipol was hired to direct the palestine office’s
press Bureau, which, as noted, was charged with, among other duties,
monitoring the arabic press and responding to unsympathetic articles.
Ludvipol himself was responsible for following the French press and
Malul, Moyal’s young protégé, was soon working under him, tracking
the arabic press.^49 Ludvipol presided over a meeting of the “Commit-
tee on the arabic press” in January 1912 in which he reported on
Malul’s recent articles in several arabic newspapers and discussed the
topics of the next set of articles the committee wished Malul to submit
for publication.^50 Ludvipol apparently believed that the proper way
for Zionists to influence arab public opinion through the press was
to write articles for already- existing arabic newspapers— a project he
oversaw— whereas the creation of a new Zionist- edited arabic newspa-
per was thoroughly objectionable. In europe, he explained, Jews cre-
(^46) ha- Ḥerut 4:13 (october 25, 1911), 2.
(^47) ha- Ḥerut 4:9 (october 19, 1911), 1– 2.
(^48) See Getzel Kressel, “Ludvipol, abraham,” eJ (^2). Ludvipol had initially moved to pal-
estine a decade earlier, in 1897, but he did not remain for long; he returned to europe for
the first Zionist congress. tidhar, eḤY, 2:673– 74. See also Gorni, Zionism and the Arabs
1882– 1948 , 53n.14.
(^49) See ruppin to Warburg, September 24, 1911, in which Ludvipol is described as
“head of the bureau, correspondent for French newspapers”; ruppin to the Zionist office
in Berlin, october 6, 1911, cZa Z3.1447. See the palestine office’s accounting book from
January 31, 1912, cZa L2.167, in which payments to both Malul and Ludvipol are listed.
(^50) “Meeting of the committee on the arabic press, 24 tevet 5672,” January 14, 1912.
cZa L2.167.