Great documentary. Very talented!!!
They must be connected to Goldman Sachs and the Israel Lobby...what you say?
Printable View
Great documentary. Very talented!!!
They must be connected to Goldman Sachs and the Israel Lobby...what you say?
FWIW, I do believe I was the only goy in attendance at the showing! ;) There were thirteen of us in the theater for a 1:40 showing in a rural New England town. Not a bad crowd for that kind of film under the circumstances, if you ask me!
I thought the decision to hold off showing any blood and guts visuals until near the end (with the photos from Yahya Ayyash's funeral and the aerial view of the bombed bus full of mangled bodies) had an interesting effect as opposed to showing some of that upfront and letting it set the tone. But Israeli and Palestinian viewers are so inured to that sort of footage that I have to assume it made little difference to them.
Seriously the Israelis and the Palestians in the East Coast seem numb to that - minus some Hassidums I've met(but several of even the the Hassidumu seem antiwar pro Palestiinian rights--- does that make any sense to you?). Like seriously Ive met Hassidum jews working for anti-occupation Palestinian rights? Hmmm.... What can I say?
The documentary was ok? People around you seem pretty liberal, yeaH?
There's Matisyahu, so it makes a little sense, I guess!
Solidly Democratic, for sure. But some Dems are vicious pro-Israel hawks and sometimes you get anti-Israel conservatives (I won't say that all of them are anti-Semites, but some of them do give that impression).
Mr. Bourbon...that is an oxymoron right there...but I guess people are complex!
ganulv,
This guy seems like an amazing artist. Will be exploring his music for the next few days. Ill let you know :-)
People are complex = Essentially why subjects covered on this forum occur.
Debatable. It is unpopular to say, but I wouldn't necessarily say that anti-Zionism means anti-Semitism - though some certainly wish to frame it that way.
Matisyahu is great. I'm not as into his newer stuff, but his first "Live from Stubb's" was awesome.
I really want this film to have a wider release. My room-mate spotted the trailer a few months ago when I was reading A High Price, for US customers: http://www.amazon.com/High-Price-Tri.../dp/0195391829and immediately turned me onto it.
If it delivers on half of what the trailer promises: I'll be buying it for sure.
The gatekeepers is being shown in Birmingham (UK) next week for three days, a rare showing I expect beyond London:http://www.macarts.co.uk/event/the-gatekeepers--15
I will add a review next week.
I’ll be anxious to see what you think! It can be difficult to keep up with some of the names and incidents. I did get the sense that the director made an effort to not bore a domestic audience who knew all the names with foreign audiences getting an introduction.
Ah damn!
This came to my home town, I went and saw it, and I never posted a review here!
I found it immensely interesting. I appreciated that the interviewer was willing to ask tough questions, and definitely put some of the subjects on the spot. It's always tempting to slide past poor choices or failures, but that didn't happen here.
I found the 3D animation pretty enough, but largely unnecessary. There were a few times where "recreated footage" could have been slightly mis-represented as original source footage. It was vague to the viewer, which I'm not a fan of.
Most valuable of all: my girlfriend, who has only the vaguest idea of the middle east and its organizations, was able to watch, follow, and thoroughly enjoy the film.
For her: the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin was a surprise twist.
Overall, its something that I would buy and re-watch. Definitely.
The Gatekeepers is superb, well worth watching and it is amazing that six Shin Bet (internal security agency) directors agreed to be interviewed on film. Several times being pressed gently, notably over two PLO prisoners being murdered a long time ago.
Yes the reconstruction(s) of incidents, like the murder, are hard to quickly distinguish from actual footage - some of which is grim, notably of blown-up buses in 'The Second Intifda'. The use of overhead imagery, slides, file cards, maps etc is well done, although could be disconcerting - are you watching real images.
Fascinating remarks on the post-1967 Six Day War situation, with 1m Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to monitor. Conduct a census and obtain a 'richer picture', supplemented by informants and arrests etc.
The morality of Shin Bet, if not Israeli actions is a constant theme. One director starkly stated "There is no morality dealing with terrorism".
The unexpected murder of Prime Minister Rabin by a Jewish extremist was a great institutional shock; the then director resigned and IIRC was replaced by an outsider, a senior naval officer. I'd forgotten the bombing campaign by Jewish extremists; those convicted effectively being released quickly after public and political pressure.
HUMINT was the key factor at the start, but after the Oslo Agreement gave the Palestinians Gaza and much of the West Bank Shin Bet became far more desk-bound watching screens.
At the end several directors admitted Israel was in a far more insecure position, one agreed it was fulfilling a "worst case" prediction as an "occupation state".
Most of the directors interviewed seemed eerily willing to admit certain failures and how things had shifted away from what they wanted.Quote:
At the end several directors admitted Israel was in a far more insecure position, one agreed it was fulfilling a "worst case" prediction as an "occupation state".
Not common in most western intelligence agencies according to the docs I've seen.
Bibi apparently refuses to watch the film (which may actually mean that he refuses to acknowledge having watched it). Par for the course. :rolleyes:
I finally had a chance to watch it tonight as my wife, who generally controls the TV, was out for the night.
First, I would say that every 2LT ought to watch it for no other reason than to see how sometimes the military and security forces have to find solutions without clear guidance from the politicians - and those choices can have long range ramifications.
Second, I was reminded at the end of the documentary of one of the culminating lines of the first "War Games". It created a feeling that the War on Terrorism is a lot like Global Thermal Nuclear War - "the only winning move is ... not to play".
Im still trying to find it, is it online now?
Got it through NetFlix
Its also available through Amazon.com
The Gatekeepers
A remarkable Australian interview with the film's director, with splices of the film (10 mins):Hat tip to Lowy Institute:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...Palestine.aspxQuote:
....here's an ABC Radio National interview with the director Dror Moreh, spliced with some footage from the film. Quite remarkable that the film-makers captured all six living directors of Shin Bet calling for peace with the Palestinians....
I happened upon a September, 2012, interview of director Dror Moreh by one of my favorite authors, Mark Danner. Good stuff. [LINK]
Moreh will publish a book with the text of the interviews and additional material
in Germany in January 2014.
Review Essay: The Israel Air Force and the Evolution of Arab-Israeli Warfare
Entry Excerpt:
--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.
Behind the story a Druze officer is to command the IDF's Golani brigade is a surprising aspect:There is a downside to this commitment:Quote:
According to figures from the IDF, the number of young Druze who serve in the IDF stands at 83%, which is higher than the percentage among the Jewish population. The relative number of Druze officers, noncommissioned officers and soldiers serving in the regular army is very high in proportion to the relative size of their community within the country’s total population. Most young Druze consider enlistment in the IDF as more than just an obligation and a necessary expression of their national loyalty. They see it as the sine qua non for advancement and integration into the country’s civil society.
Link:http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/orig...n-heights.htmlQuote:
While these young Druze have proved their loyalty to the state and fulfilled their responsibility with integrity, the state of Israel responds with ongoing prejudice, expressed mainly in discriminatory practices surrounding the distribution of development and infrastructure funding for their settlements.
This report cites a 2012 short IDF press release, which has more figures on senior officers:http://www.idf.il/1283-15853-en/Dover.aspx
I have long had an interest in the participation of minorities in civil-military service to a nation that is either not their own - in the imperial era - and today.
Somewhere I read that a large number of the Israeli Border Police, which has a national paramilitary role, are from minority groups and some recent footage showed a significant minority of black personnel (ex-Ethiopian Jews I expect).
Taken from an email referring to an Israeli diplomat speaking:This loyalty maybe under pressure, following Israeli government proposals for rehousing 40k Bedouin in formal settlements:Quote:
Since Israel’s founding, Bedouin have tended to have better relations with the state than have their Arab brethren – every year 5 to 10% of the army-age male Bedouin population volunteer for the IDF.
(Added) A NYT report gives some background:http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/wo...pagewanted=allQuote:
And yet the government’s relocation plan has provoked pushback – not just from some Bedouin, but from Israel’s other Arab citizens and from Palestinians, who see the move as a land grab and an infringement on the Bedouin’s herding lifestyle. Last week protests against the plan, some of them violent, erupted across Israel and in several capitals worldwide, including London.
I do recall a few references to Bedouin IDF soldiers, IIRC when an American protester was shot / run-over.
It seems that elements of the specific skill-set of the Bedouin tribes have been highly attractive for the IDF, especially tracking. Manpower is also always scarce and was even more so in the past. It is also likely that the Bedouins see themselves as a quite distinct entity from other Arab groups which in turn made it possible for the Israeli state to initiate and conserve close military ties. Which has of course the additional benefit of denying the opponents to tap their potential.
In Italy as far as I recall the number of serving men from the ethnic minorities in the northern regions are low in propotion to their relative numbers. In general their standard of living is higher then the national average and they suffered under Italian nationalism so there are few incentives for them to volunteer. On the other hand considering the very small percentage of the minorities it was never deemed necessary to reach out to them. Overall the southern regions are greatly overreppresented in the lower ranks, which has of course to due with the economic circumstances in the last ten years.
For Italy the (military) integration of the immigrants should be a bigger topic, but military topics other than casualties suffered and spectacular hardware are hardly discussed in the Italian press. One might add the recent discussion about 'golden' retirements for senior figures to that list.
Oddly there is not a thread on Israeli counter-terrorism and this appears to be the most appropriate place for this.
Via an alert on Twitter a book review of Daniel Byman's 'A High Price. The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism', which was published in 2011:http://warstudiespublications.wordpr...nterterrorism/
The author is Olivier Schmitt, a Frenchman @ Kings College London (War Studies), who gives a bio on:http://olivierschmitt.wordpress.com/about/
The first paragraph:Link to Amazon UK, where it has several good reviews:http://www.amazon.com/High-Price-Tri...unterterrorismQuote:
This excellent work of synthesis proposes to return to the fight against terrorism led by Israel since its inception. To a large extent, Israel was the laboratory of terrorism in the twentieth century, many tactics (hijackings, suicide bombings, etc.). Having first been applied against its people before spreading internationally. Daniel Byman offers and to study in detail how the Israeli services have managed multiple threats they faced, in an attempt to draw broader lessons. The result is a balanced book, which hides nothing as Palestinian Israeli errors, and thus may irritate both the proponents of Greater Israel and extremist supporters of the Palestinian cause, but worth reading for its detailed analysis and complete the challenges posed by terrorism to a democratic society.
In a moment I will merge the small thread on 'The Gatekeepers' documentary, which featured several directors of Shin Beth (internal security). Another four small threads have been merged; left alone are those threads on war fighting and more general matters.
Israel has attacked missiles in transit from Iran in Sudan before. This week's naval action in the Red Sea has yet to get mainstream media reporting here. IIRC it was an air strike last time in the Sudan.
Two IDF-sourced reports:http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/Dat..._140612868.pdf and http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03...sile-shipment/
Even for covert transport crossing through Sudan, Egypt and into the Sinai is a logistical problem. Lots of questions arise.
Unfortunately from what I have witnessed over time, is that the ONLY time Israel is every mentioned in the main stream press is when it is being vilified. Any mention of arms for Hamas or Iran, etc, is left out unless they can somehow twist the story to show either in the light of somehow being victimized by the evil Israel!
This piece of news, not looking good for Hamas or Iran will not make the rounds.
:rolleyes:
Israel’s Unit 8200 refuseniks: ‘you can’t run from responsibility’
....Quote:
Did you feel your were violating people’s rights?
N: Definitely. In Israeli intelligence regarding Palestinians, they don’t really have rights. Nobody asks that question. It’s not [like] Israeli citizens, where if you want to gather information about them you need to go to court.
A: The only limitation is the limitation of resources. There’s no procedural questions regarding who can and cannot be surveilled. Everybody is fair game.
N: An 18-year-old soldier who thinks: “We need to gather information on this or that person” – that 18-year-old kid [in Unit 8200] is the one that decides.
A: It is well known that the intelligence is used. People are arrested in the Palestinian territories. Sometimes without trial. And even when they are taken to trial it’s often with evidence that can’t be exposed [in court] because it is classified. And the intelligence is used to apply pressure to people, to make them cooperate with Israel. These are all things that are known.
It matches some of the issues raised in 'Gatekeepers' and casts another light on the difficult situation of citiziens willing to serve and protect their country but also playing their part in oppressing other:Quote:
A: I should say there are a lot of people who, when they leave the military service they start seeing Palestinians as people not just as sources of information, and getting a bigger picture of what’s happening and a lot of people … there’s very different levels of commitment and enthusiasm in doing the reserve service and a lot of people taper off.
D: It was clear from the beginning we wanted to do everything legally. We went to a lawyer and said we don’t want to commit an offence or say anything not allowed to can you help us figure out what we would be allowed to say.
N: We’re not telling secrets about what we did or the way the unit works. We don’t want to do that. We don’t want to hurt national security, we just want to say what is wrong with the things we did and the unit does.
We want people to know that being in intelligence is not clean, and to control a population of millions you can’t just do counter-terrorism and hurt the people who want to hurt you.
Quote:
A: I think we have said that some of the things that the IDF does really does deserve the title defence forces, but there is a significant proportion of what it is doing that does not deserve this title. It’s in the interests of perpetuating a regime that is oppressive. That is not democratic. It is these things we are trying to bring to the attention of Israeli public first and foremost. To create a discussion and think critically about it.
Without doubt an opinionated article on the IDF and politics; on a previously unheard of website:http://972mag.com/what-does-it-say-w...israel/114514/
Why is Israel so Cautious on the Islamic State? A Recent War Game Explains Why.
Entry Excerpt:
--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.
A new book, 'The True Story of How Israel Left Lebanon (May 2000) Code Name “Dawn” ', has been published in Hebrew, so the Meir Amit Centre has a useful summary. It ends with:Link:http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/article/20961Quote:
Gilboa sums up the insights pertaining to intelligence, saying: “There is no doubt that the primary function of intelligence is to point out the risks. This is its duty, and it did so. The problem with the assessments by Military Intelligence was that they failed to point out the prospects".
From Maneuver to Attrition: The Transformation of the Israel Defense Forces’ Approach to Warfare
Entry Excerpt:
--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.
Amazing footage
Watch an Israeli air-force pilot land an F-15 with only one wing — via @WeAreTheMighty
http://read.bi/2b4lCaX
A BBC report:Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-42566284Quote:
Fauda, the Israeli television thriller that portrays the murky world of Israeli undercover army units and Palestinian militants during the Second Intifada (Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation)...The Israeli border police have an undercover unit called Yamas which has been operating for 25 years but had never been filmed before we gained exclusive access to them.
From The Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Rep...er-Iran-547421
Quote:
Two Israeli F-35 fighter jets entered Iranian airspace over the past month, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported on Thursday. The act is a signal of heightened regional tensions, especially in light of recent Israeli military attacks in Syria, including against Iranian bases in the country.
Sources quoted in Al-Jarida stated that two stealth fighters flew over Syrian and Iraqi airspace to reach Iran, and even targeted locations in the Iranian cities Bandar Abbas, Esfahan and Shiraz.
The report states that the two fighter jets, among the most advanced in the world, circled at high altitude above Persian Gulf sites suspected of being associated with the Iranian nuclear program.
It also states that the two jets went undetected by radar, including by the Russian radar system located in Syria. The source refused to confirm if the operation was undertaken in coordination with the US army, which has recently conducted joint exercises with the IDF...
Since Begin's lie about some Kuwaiti newspaper citing Saddam Hussein's statement about 'developing nukes to burn Israel', back in 1981, I'm extremely cautious about any Israeli reports citing some 'Kuwaiti newspapers'.
Might this help to explain the claims?
Taken from an IISS Strategic Comment (mainly behind a paywall) and refers to the drone incident on 10 February 2018:Link:https://www.iiss.org/en/publications...-tensions-4410Quote:
The Israeli response was apparently spring-loaded. In a large-scale operation, the Israeli Air Force immediately struck the base – Tiyas, or T-4 – from which the drone had been launched and claimed to have destroyed Syria’s main command-and-control bunker at the same time. Simultaneously, it carried out a sweeping attack against Syria’s air defences, resulting in the destruction or incapacitation of half of Syria’s air-defence infrastructure, according to Israeli sources. Iranian installations were also targeted. Israel, for its part, lost an F-16 fighter jetflying at high altitude to a Syrian S-200 anti-aircraft missile over Israeli airspace. This was the first loss of an Israeli aircraft to enemy fire in 38 years, and can perhaps be ascribed to pilot error: the crew evidently failed to take evasive measures, perhaps owing to overconfidence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to clarify the stakes by declaring that henceforth, Israel would not be content with responding to Iranian provocations by striking its facilities in Syria. He stated that next time, Israel would take the fight to Iran itself. Tehran denied that it had launched any drone, describing Israel’s account of the incident as ‘ridiculous’.
Via the Australian think tank blog (ASPI) and a short article. Here is a key sentence:It ends with:Quote:
Israel has taken a more organic, holistic approach to CT that relies on innovation and creativity and is aimed at deterring and creating divisions within terror groups, and between the groups and their constituencies through coercion and/or persuasion.
Authors bio:https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/isaac-kfirQuote:
What Israel has shown is that terrorism is not something that can be defeated, but it is something that one can learn to live with. If Israelis are to move towards a world in which they needn’t worry about terror attacks and the continued cycle of violence, a solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict must be found.
Link:https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/the-israeli-approach-to-counterterrorism/
An insight into the underground war between the IDF and the Gaza tunnel diggers. It starts with:Link:https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,...370114,00.htmlQuote:
Based in three trailers near the Gaza border, with advanced computers and technologies, is 'the lab': 10 soldiers—some of whom finished their physics degree in high school—who already found 15 terror tunnels, the latest neutralized this week; when the need arises, they go out to the field and under the ground; 'finding a tunnel is not a scavenger's hunt. It's a game of chest against Hamas,' says one.
I thought there was a thread on the underground war, the search function does not help; perhaps earlier posts are here?
An article from the Jerusalem Post on the IDF -v- tunnellers; topical as the IDF are working right up to the Lebanese border to dismantle tunnels that came south.
Link:http://https://www.jpost.com/Israel-...nneling-574660
For details on Operation Northern Shield there are four reports via:https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/c/hezbollah/
A SWJ article, which I missed:http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art...erground-fight
The author also has a book 'Underground Warfare', published in January 2018, for details:https://global.oup.com/academic/prod...cc=us&lang=en&
Reviews are on the previous link; there is only one on Amazon. Her bio:https://www.ict.org.il/Worker.aspx?ID=13#gsc.tab=0
There are three post-publication video talks by her via Google / YouTube.
https://t-intell.com/2018/12/30/isra...DyA9BJSLEw6NboQuote:
In the night of December 25th, The Israeli Air Force (IAF) delivered its first clandestine strike on Syrian targets after President Trump announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops. As assessed in our latest policy impact analysis and recently reinforced by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, the U.S. withdrawal will force Israel to ramp up its counter-Iran operations in Syria. The “Christmas raid” is as much a political statement as it is a continuation of the over 100 Israeli covert airstrikes in Syria. The Syrian Air Defense Forces (SADF) showed a mixed performance, but managed to intercept the majority of Israel’s air-launched missiles.