254 Mediated Publics
they were uncertain whether the editor had “seen the truth” or simply
feared the punishment, they were pleased that he had considered their
demand for a retraction.
n addition to its formal retraction, I al-Insaf published a leading arti-
cle praising the Jewish population of the empire, sections of which were
translated by ha-Herut for its readers. If the article struck the Jewish edi-
tors as insincere or sarcastic they did not let on:
All the peoples in the great Ottoman Empire received the con-
stitution like a man thirsty for water and on the faces of all we
saw the joy and brotherhood and equality. But more than all
the people of Turkey [sic] the Israelite umma excelled in its
amazing celebrations, and more than once we saw our Jewish
brothers in the markets and streets with the flag of freedom
in their hands, and their homes decorated with lights and
lamps, at the gate of each Jewish house and window decorated
wonderfully, and the joy on their faces called for equality and
brotherhood. But that was not enough for them and when the
non-Muslim youth were called to inspection before the mili-
tary committee, they marched young and old to the military
fortress with joy and excitement to the tents due to the con-
stitution that made them equal to the rest of their brothers
in the empire. And it is a miracle that all of the Jewish youth
who at the first inspection said they were sick were indeed
proven in front of the doctors that they were sick and they
were exempted. And the Jews like the rest of their brothers
prayed to God for creating them Ottomans.y the time the first Jewish and Christian youth from Jerusalem B
were conscripted in the fall of 1910, the difficulties between them were
temporarily put to rest. The induction of the seventeen Christian and
eleven Jewish youth was depicted as the ideal Ottomanist moment—three
thousand Jerusalemites went to the train station for their departure, the
military commander gave a speech about their “duty to the homeland,”
the military band played patriotic songs, and the cries of the parents,
brothers, and children of the departing soldiers rose up to the heavens as
one. “And you, dear soldiers! Be strong and courageous and be as soldiers