Israel shocked by image of soldiers forcing violinist to play at roadblock

The Guardian ^ | 11/29/04 | Chris McGreal

[nmh]

Maybe it's me but I find this more disturbing:

"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."

than the a man forced to play a sad song on a violin.

What's with these Israelis?

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

I can appreciate how this incident touched a nerve. There are MANY stories of Jewish musicians being put through similar (or MUCH worse) treatment on the way to concentration camps.

[LibWhacker]

Now that Dubya has notched it up a bit and Condi will be cleaning out State, I do hope we quit pressuring the Israelis to be so darned deferential to "Arab sensibilities." I think that has had a lot to do with Israel's perceived lack of backbone. The old PC approach was lose-lose. Now I think we're going to try another approach to Arabs and muslims (not to mention Euroweenies, Russians, Chinese, etc.). I can't wait!

[Cinnamon Girl]

Peace.

[NY Attitude]

No, they just beat the burned bodies of the 4 American Blackwater Security Officers and hung some of them from a bridge.

[Eagle Eye]

Geeze....nothing to lose your head over!



"But Doctor, will I ever be able to play the fiddle again?"

[hosepipe]

The Guardian is not fit for bird droppings..

[reagan_fanatic]

[jdm]

There's only one person I ever want to hear playing the violin and that's the late Michael Rabin. His interpretations of Paganini far surpass even Heifetz. He achieved so much in his mere 36 years (passed away in a car accident).

[Drammach]

Caption:

"We cropped the picture.. her legs looked too much like little pork sausages.. "

[notigar]

I read about that shooting. Ugh.

[ladyinred]

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.

You can't make this stuff up.

[Lancey Howard]

At least they didn't force the Arab to put underpants on his head, which is a well-known American method of torture.

[eclectic]

Those sensitive Israelis... Too much compassion is killing them, literally

[Alouette]

I feel sorry for what those soldiers had to go through, listening to him. I'll bet his playing really sucked.

FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel ping list.

REPORTING FROM ISRAEL

WARNING: This is a high volume ping list

[American in Israel]

One would think the Israeli's are getting tired after 4 years of having their children slaughtered on schoolbuses or having their wives and husbands killed in grocery stores. Why they are getting down right irritable even.

Wahhhh...

I have a spanish friend that looks Arabic that is very pregnant. While waiting around for her husband to come pick her up she was patted down three times by police to make sure she was really pregnant. One could get offended, but when you remember the Arab girl that was found with a satchel charge full of nails a glass instead of a baby, one tends to understand.

Peace activists are the ones who started the war and the ones who maintain it. Before Oslo, there was no war.

One tends to remember that too...

[Alouette]

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.

The most nauseating thing about that incident is that they didn't have a bucket of pig guts handy to dunk the head in.

This was the body of a bomber who had just blown himself up at their checkpoint, hoping to take some Jews down with him. He wasn't some "innocent bystander" that they shot down just for grins.

[American in Israel]

The picture does not show them mocking, it shows one checking his papers and another calling in his Work Permit number.

Quite reasonable to check that he is actualy a violinist, it's a war zone! Dang, promote the guys for being smart. How often do you see an Arab with a musical instrument?! I never have in 5 years.

[Grenada]

I can appreciate how this incident touched a nerve. There are MANY stories of Jewish musicians being put through similar (or MUCH worse) treatment on the way to concentration camps.

Amen. Concentration camps blasting classical music when a new "batch" arrived was the 1st thing I thougt of. Man, that was a sadistic twist by the nazis. As is they needed more sadism.