The triumph of the camera: excessively nice restraint
mercoledì 20 dicembre 2017 English 1 commento
Il Giornale, December 20, 2017Remissive, excessively nice: it seems odd to hear these words used in relation to Israeli soldiers who are generally portrayed as youths armed to the teeth, aggressive and tough with the enemy. This time, the story speaks of the opposite characteristics: didn’t they seem to be too soft? Won’t the enemy take advantage of this by perpetuating yet worst attacks? The scene takes place near Ramallah, in the village of Nabi Saleh.
The sun is shining, there are some olive trees, and Palestinian homes are in sight, two young men of the IDF’s elite Givati Brigade stand guard in order to avert attacks on cars and Israelis in general. And here come the girls. The cameras are already up and running, mobile phones ready to film the action…
They got dolled up for the occasion, a little blonde girl nicknamed Shirley Temple by her neighbors in Nabi Saleh, already very experienced in provoking Israeli soldiers, so well-known for her activism that she’s been invited to speak in South Africa and to dinner in Turkey by none other than Recip Tayyip Erdogan; a star of "resistance".
An older girl looks like she just had her hair done and wears a keffiyeh artfully adjusted around her neck; other very young, fragile, and cute girls follow and behind them is the mother of the heroic Tamimi clan. She readily plays her role as Palestinian matron donning a headdress, furious behind her family’s daughters and grandchildren.
The Tamimis are stars of confrontation, specialized in distinct Intifadas, for example, in the filming of staged attacks, from shahid children, as always cynically used by the Palestinians, to a soldier found alone and forced to the ground amid blows and insults. He never used the weapon he had, it’s forbidden by the IDF’s code of conduct as long as his life or those of others aren’t in danger. The world ignores this, or denies it.
The incident caught on video here articulated the paradoxical nature of the video-intifada: the girls approached, they started shoving the soldiers, insulting them and yelling, they even slapped them looking for one of those reactions that the Palestinians then post all over social media and picked up by the BBC and CNN, a very bad, horrible soldier shoving a little blonde girl. It didn’t happen this time, the soldiers simply protect themselves by covering their faces with their hands while the girls spit, push and kick them. Did they do well? Israel debates their response.
It’s a true epistemological rupture in the history of the power of images, its coronation.
The Palestinians circulate the video in order to show how dumb Israeli soldiers are and how badly the country is defended, or perhaps simply to create confusion.
It worked: the video produced heated reactions among Israelis, many were pleased, many were angry, the mother of one of the soldiers said she was proud, the other hasn’t commented, and politicians have responded in a bittersweet manner quoting the rules of combat and saying that the soldiers behaved perfectly.
A country at risk like Israel must know in advance how to handle the dilemma of cameras constantly rolling without giving up. Is this possible? Ahed Tamimi, the prominent teenage Palestinian activist, was arrested four days later.
The charge is "suspected of attacking an officer and a soldier", a crime that carries a punishment of up to seven years in prison. The father of the girls showed extremely proud and promised more actions. He also posted a video on Facebook stating that the arrest included the violent confiscation of the family’s mobile phones, video cameras, and laptops. Well Erdogan will surely repurchase those items for them.
Translation by Amy Rosenthal
mercoledì 20 dicembre 2017 18:28:52
Dear Fiamma This "prominent Palestinian teen activist "and others involed in this staged camera comedy are regular juvenile delinquents to whom regular regular juvenal delinquency laws apply in addition to security regulationsThere are also limits to IDF tolerance and humain restraint Cameras are not guilty neither are terrorist tunnels - their operators and diggers are .May the Lord punish the evil doers and their hatredblinded ringleaders.Thanks , again, dear Fiamma Peter Rotberg