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Israel shocked by image of soldiers forcing violinist to play at roadblock
The Guardian ^ | 11/29/04 | Chris McGreal

Posted on 11/28/2004 6:19:02 PM PST by LibWhacker

Edited on 11/28/2004 6:23:13 PM PST by Sidebar Moderator. [history]

Of all the revelations that have rocked the Israeli army over the past week, perhaps none disturbed the public so much as the video footage of soldiers forcing a Palestinian man to play his violin.

The incident was not as shocking as the recording of an Israeli officer pumping the body of a 13-year-old girl full of bullets and then saying he would have shot her even if she had been three years old.

Nor was it as nauseating as the pictures in an Israeli newspaper of ultra-orthodox soldiers mocking Palestinian corpses by impaling a man's head on a pole and sticking a cigarette in his mouth.

But the matter of the violin touched on something deeper about the way Israelis see themselves, and their conflict with the Palestinians.

The violinist, Wissam Tayem, was on his way to a music lesson near Nablus when he said an Israeli officer ordered him to "play something sad" while soldiers made fun of him. After several minutes, he was told he could pass.

It may be that the soldiers wanted Mr Tayem to prove he was indeed a musician walking to a lesson because, as a man under 30, he would not normally have been permitted through the checkpoint.

But after the incident was videotaped by Jewish women peace activists, it prompted revulsion among Israelis not normally perturbed about the treatment of Arabs.

The rightwing Army Radio commentator Uri Orbach found the incident disturbingly reminiscent of Jewish musicians forced to provide background music to mass murder. "What about Majdanek?" he asked, referring to the Nazi extermination camp.

The critics were not drawing a parallel between an Israeli roadblock and a Nazi camp. Their concern was that Jewish suffering had been diminished by the humiliation of Mr Tayem.

Yoram Kaniuk, author of a book about a Jewish violinist forced to play for a concentration camp commander, wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that the soldiers responsible should be put on trial "not for abusing Arabs but for disgracing the Holocaust".

"Of all the terrible things done at the roadblocks, this story is one which negates the very possibility of the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. If [the military] does not put these soldiers on trial we will have no moral right to speak of ourselves as a state that rose from the Holocaust," he wrote.

"If we allow Jewish soldiers to put an Arab violinist at a roadblock and laugh at him, we have succeeded in arriving at the lowest moral point possible. Our entire existence in this Arab region was justified, and is still justified, by our suffering; by Jewish violinists in the camps."

Others took a broader view by drawing a link between the routine dehumanising treatment of Palestinians at checkpoints, the desecration of dead bodies and what looks very much like the murder of a terrified 13-year-old Palestinian girl by an army officer in Gaza.

Israelis put great store in a belief that their army is "the most moral in the world" because it says it adheres to a code of "the purity of arms". There is rarely much public questioning of the army's routine explanation that Palestinian civilians who have been killed had been "caught in crossfire", or that children are shot because they are used as cover by fighters.

But the public's confidence has been shaken by the revelations of the past week. The audio recording of the shooting of the 13-year-old, Iman al-Hams, prompted much soul searching, although the revulsion appears to be as much at the Israeli officer firing a stream of bullets into her lifeless body as the killing itself. Some soldiers told Israeli papers that their mothers had sought assurances that they did not do that kind of thing.

One Israeli peace group, the Arik Institute, took out large newspaper adverts to plead for "Jewish patriots" to "open your eyes and look around" at the suffering of Palestinians.

The incidents prompted the army to call in all commanders from the rank of lieutenant-colonel to emphasise the importance of maintaining the "purity of arms" code.

The army's critics say the real problem is not the behaviour of soldiers on the ground but the climate of impunity that emanates from the top.

While the officer responsible for killing Iman al-Hams has been charged with relatively minor offences, and the soldiers who forced the violinist to play were ticked off for being "insensitive", the only troops who were swiftly punished for violating regulations last week were some who posed naked in the snow for a photograph. They were dismissed from their unit.

Last week the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem criticised what it described as a "culture of impunity" within the army. The group says at least 1,656 Palestinian non-combatants have been killed during the intifada, including 529 children.

"To date, one soldier has been convicted of causing the death of a Palestinian," it said.

"The combination of rules of engagement that encourage a trigger-happy attitude among soldiers together with the climate of impunity results in a clear and very troubling message about the value the Israeli military places on Palestinian life."


TOPICS: News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: israel; palestinian; soldiers; terrorists; violinist
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To: muawiyah
The guy with the violin is darned lucky he didn't run up against the officer who scragged 13 year old Iman al-Hams.

Scragged? A young Arab runs up from the road and throws a satchel at a soldiers position and gets shot and you say scragged?

You are stupid. Perhaps you would have run out to ask her her birthday and hand her back the stachel? The guy shot her because she was dying, and also because he felt he needed to make an impression on his men. She knew she would be killed, it was why she threw the books. She died for bait, and you just took it, hook line and sinker.

That is why peace activists die fast in war, they are ultimatly gullible. It will also get your fellows killed. He was also judicialy punished as you claim he was not. That is why you can never trust a peace activist, they lie. The ends justify the means and mien kamft and all that stuff.

101 posted on 11/28/2004 10:24:51 PM PST by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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To: My Favorite Headache

I was being SARCASTIC!!!!!!!!!


102 posted on 11/28/2004 10:28:03 PM PST by FairOpinion
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To: FairOpinion
The outrage! To ask a violinist to actually play his violin to prove he can. Get the human rights groups NOW! I suppose it would have been better if the Israeli soldiers would have possibly damaged his violin, while they are making sure there isn't a bomb hidden there.

The last time I was at an airport security check they asked me to......to.....choke....sob.....turn my video camera on. ....... It was horrible.

103 posted on 11/28/2004 10:32:50 PM PST by Polybius
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To: LibWhacker
One Israeli peace group, the Arik Institute, took out large newspaper adverts to plead for "Jewish patriots" to "open your eyes and look around" at the suffering of Palestinians.

I have seen the embarassment of Arabs at having to be stopped and have their papers checked. I have seen Jews on their knees faces to the dirt wailing with grief because their family was just shredded on a bus.

It makes me want to kick the s*it out of peace activists.

104 posted on 11/28/2004 10:36:54 PM PST by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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To: Alouette; All

OMGGG rack that comment Alouette LOLOLOLOL!!

Yeah call it PLO idol LOLOLOL!!!


105 posted on 11/28/2004 10:40:03 PM PST by SevenofNine ("Not everybody , in it, for truth, justice, and the American way,"=Det Lennie Briscoe)
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To: reagan_fanatic; All

OMG is that Rachel Corrie kinfolks her parents

OH Pleaseeeeee


106 posted on 11/28/2004 10:41:17 PM PST by SevenofNine ("Not everybody , in it, for truth, justice, and the American way,"=Det Lennie Briscoe)
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To: American in Israel
My son showed me a "Hamas" book cover that he confiscated at a checkpoint. The book cover was wrapped around a Koran, which he was compelled to return.

A "peace activist" would complain that he "desecrated" a Koran by stripping its cover.

107 posted on 11/28/2004 10:41:32 PM PST by Alouette ("Fundamentalist Islam" -- not "fun" just "demented"...)
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To: pete anderson

Never heard of orthodox and the head on a pike incident. I highly doubt it ever happened, it sounds like a classic propganda spike thrown into the argument.

I have seen a few Arab heads in the streets though, after they have blown themselves up. For some reason it fires the head straight up like a soccer ball.


108 posted on 11/28/2004 10:42:13 PM PST by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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To: Alouette; All

OH that sucks Alouette

I would mind somebody post that Hamas book cover on FR OH YEAH would show Lurkers lurking on this thread on what Hamas is really about


109 posted on 11/28/2004 10:42:53 PM PST by SevenofNine ("Not everybody , in it, for truth, justice, and the American way,"=Det Lennie Briscoe)
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Comment #110 Removed by Moderator

To: LibWhacker

Asking him to play was the the logical and most senstive way to have dealt with the situation and eliminated doubt about the violin and its player. Likewise, when one goes through a security check point with a camera in Israel and elsewhere, the guard asks you to shoot a photo to make sure the camera is a working camera. There is nothing too small for these effete enemies of capitalism to distort into a cause. It shows how moral Israel really is if her enemies create a hearts and flowers story out of a violinist being asked to play his violin for a minute or two and then being sent along his way.

Are the enemies of Israsel suggesting that it would have been better for the checkpoint staff to have delayed him for a longer time as they figured out a way to scrutinize the innards of his violin and risk getting blown up? There is a long, long track record of mass murdering ruses among the Palestinian Arabs, using this or that central casting costume of peaceful folk. Reporters either wittingly or unwittingly again are turning on the amnesia button about why Israel has no choice but to have check points to prevent terrorists from bringing murder and mayhem into Israel.


111 posted on 11/29/2004 12:31:16 AM PST by Seeing More Clearly Now
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To: FairOpinion

LMFAO...Relax....it's totally cool...I know you were.


112 posted on 11/29/2004 12:56:59 AM PST by My Favorite Headache (I Watch TV, What Do You Want From Me?)
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To: LibWhacker
Some quite amazing comments have been made regarding this article.

Do any of the posters think Moshiach is present right now on Planet Earth ?

Time is telescoping now. I remember reading a science fiction story once, I can't remember the author, about a world where the two great powers were fighting each other and computer technology was so commonplace that people had forgotten how to think. The populace had turned into a bunch of complete automatons and had forgotten what right and wrong was. Each side needed a technological advantage to break the impasse in the war and win the final battle. A small boy was found who actually came up with a new thought and could work out a mathematical problem on his own without the help of a machine. One side co-opted him to their cause. What they learnt however was that the little boy, who was unaware of his specialness held the key to resolving the conflict once and for all.

I liked that story when I read it all those years ago and I still like it now.
113 posted on 11/29/2004 1:10:49 AM PST by Bandaneira (The Third Temple/House for All Nations/World Peace Centre...Coming Soon...)
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To: West Coast Conservative

It's not even in the same league as pink panties. What the heck.


114 posted on 11/29/2004 1:16:03 AM PST by hershey
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To: LibWhacker

"But after the incident was videotaped by Jewish women peace activists...".

Kinda CONVENIENT for them to be there, don't you think?
And, since when does trying to embarrass your own Government's security efforts equate to peace?


115 posted on 11/29/2004 4:45:40 AM PST by Baytovin
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To: American in Israel
After reading over numerous pro- and anti- Israeli sites, I have yet to find a story that says she had anything but books in that bag.

If you have such a story, do us all a favor by posting it.

In the meantime quit acting so pompously. You know very well the IDF did not agree with that particular officer's actions in this situation.

116 posted on 11/29/2004 5:35:30 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: LibWhacker; Salem; F15Eagle; SJackson; dennisw
Thoughts?

__________________________________

Nor was it as nauseating as the pictures in an Israeli newspaper of ultra-orthodox soldiers mocking Palestinian corpses by impaling a man's head on a pole and sticking a cigarette in his mouth.

117 posted on 11/29/2004 5:56:29 AM PST by Happy2BMe (It's not quite time to rest - John Kerry is still out there (and so is Hillary))
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To: muawiyah
Pompus?! Your funny.

The kid, like 80% of kids in the Arab areas was brainwashed to seek "martyrdom" or death by cop as we call it in the States. She had books in the bag so that her death could be called a terrorist act by the soldiers.

She walked from the road that passed below the position and crossed a vacant lot to toss her book bag at the military position. Because it was so obvious of a setup, it did not have the desired effect, and the statements by the Palestinian Authority that soldiers shot a little girl on the way to school did not wash. The story died for all but the most anti-semitic hardliners. Like you.

That child died because of child abuse by Islam, and political pukes that seek to get rich by others misery.

You want to talk about soldiers shooting passing children on the way to school, talk about the peace island, the little section of land up by the Galilee where the Jordan makes a loop bend into Israel. Jordan demanded that land in a peace deal so Israel gave it to them. The set up watch towers and barbed wire all around the about three acre island. A couple of years ago, one of the solders opened up with a machine gun and mowed down a small group of young school girls who were on the other side of the river. The girls did not throw anything, or yell until they were gunned down.

That got less media play than your story. Those children were not seeking "martyrdom", they were seeking to go home from school.

Both cases were the lies of Islam, telling people it is holy to murder or be killed for God. Like somehow God needs help to kill someone.

You may have read many pro and anti Israel sites, but not a one has explained why a young child would run up a hill from a road to throw her school books at a military camp have they?

Well, now you know. You read it on Freeper. Bad thing about Free Republic, here you do get answers. You want to hate someone for that little girls death, hate the lying bastards that fill little children's ears with stories of glory and death. They are children for God's sake, not disposable diapers, made to be filled with s#!+ and be tossed out with the garbage when used up for a news flash.
118 posted on 11/29/2004 5:59:24 AM PST by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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To: American in Israel
My, my, my. Now I'm some sort of hard-liner. Let's go back to the situation at hand and see if there's some sort of article on the net that says all this kid did was toss her books, or bombs as a feint ~ the ultimate intention being to get shot by IDF.

I know very well what the Palis do with kids. We had a neighbor kid visit there several years back (when he was about 8 or 9) and next thing you know they had him carrying a bomb to school with him.

The question is where is an authoritative story (beyond yours) about what happened. Your statement leaves unaddressed the issue of IDF making some minor charges against the officer in the case. If all is as you say, why would they bother?

119 posted on 11/29/2004 6:08:01 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah
Just happen to live here. I know things that the MSM do not print. Can't help it if you are fed bull dirt and kept in the dark.

Hang on to your hope for equivalence, in the end, it is all you have. But I will see your one hope with over 10,000 terrorist attacks in the last five years. That my friend is hard line truth. Why, might I ask are you grasping at straws in a hay stack?
120 posted on 11/29/2004 6:34:07 AM PST by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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