Iris Leal : Opinion Those Soldiers Are Our Children
When
there is a consensus regarding the way a dramatic event unfolded, it is
easier to reach a unanimous agreement on its character. Everyone saw
the video that earned the generic name “army sniper shoots Palestinian as soldiers cheer,” and the obvious narrative arc was attached: The soldiers are ugly Israelis, rejoicing at the sight of the Palestinian thrown into the air by the force of the shots; they are thrilled by the sharpshooter’s lethal precision.
This
is a coherent story that enables a shared experience. The cheering
soldiers are what the ultranationalist right calls, in graver
circumstances (such as arson attacks on Palestinian families), “stray
weeds,” in order to wash its hands of an act that has the power to sully
it and to conceal the fact that the entire field is one of wild weeds.
But when one views the video while making an
effort to see it for what it is, as close as possible to the events as
they happened, with no reference to the universally accepted
interpretation, new shades emerge.
Little
effort is required to notice the moan in the voice of one of the
soldiers when he says, “Someone was hit in the head,” or to hear the
heavy, frightened exhalations of the videographer before he shouts,
“Wow, what a video. Yes! Son of a bitch,” followed immediately by his
jumbled mumbling, as if to himself, “Go, run and get him out of there.”
And also the bewilderment when he says, “He flew in the air, with his
leg...”
Without reacting to these details – without wondering why the soldier
insists on treating the scene unfolding before his eyes like a video
clip, the way that we, the viewers, treat it, without wondering whether
it is a stratagem of dissociation, a way for the soldier to distance
himself emotionally from the situation – it is clear that everyone, left
and right, nauseated and rejoicing, is rehashing the same story. That’s
not what I saw.
If this is what the soldiers are, then they, like
the Hebron shooter Elor Azaria and others who were captured by cameras,
are the ugly face of Israel. They, and not our children. Well, excuse
me for spoiling the celebratory atmosphere of Independence Day – the
petty disagreements over which are the best metaphors for our situation
today – but Israel is indeed ugly and these soldiers aren’t the children
of Charlie Azaria. They are yours and mine.
Who doesn’t want to be able to sleep well at
night, knowing that only terrible, uncivilized families produce vulgar
louts? If it’s possible to blame the parents, the neighbors and the
teachers, then they can be called “the other Israel.” Well, I have
unpleasant news for you: There is no “other Israel.” The family of the
soldiers in the video is called Israel the occupier – pleased to meet
you – and their upbringing is the evil reality that has gone on day and
night for 50 years.
Do
the snipers in the video hate the Arabs whose heads they target?
Presumably. Are there other soldiers as well? Certainly. Given the
situation, is it possible to behave differently? Of course. Is every
soldier a separate moral entity? According to the law, yes, but what
kind of model have we given them?
The
philosopher John Rawls famously defined civil disobedience as “a
public, nonviolent, conscientious yet political act contrary to law
usually done with the aim of bringing about a change in law or policies
of government. By acting in this way one addresses the sense of justice
of the majority of the community.” As long as we continue to obediently
accept all the ugly expressions of the occupation and the occupation
itself, who are we to scorn these soldiers, and by what moral right?
Commenti
Posta un commento