Tuesday, July 22, 2008

A bullet in the leg


1. ANger. After seeing this Israeli soldier shoot a (rubber) bullet at point blank range in the leg of a blindfolded Palestinian held by another soldier. How can these Israeli soldiers not realize the shame they bring not only on their country but also on all Jews, when they have no right to speak for anyone else.

On the bright side, the video was shown by an anti-colonization, militant Israeli NGO. Those Israeli gave small video cameras to Palestinians to record every incident they could see in the street, and to be able to show it to the world.

The man who was shot recovered, and the one who shot the bullet was sent to prison. But only because there was this evidence.
 
2. Niqab. France has gone mad. It denied citizenship to a Moroccan woman because she was wearing the niqab. Everyone in France seemed happy about that: the right, the left, womens' organizations... They said it's a submissive practice that goes against the place of women in our society.

First, the French called it a Burqa (which is the "grilled" Afghan version). Second, they said she was practising her religion in an "extreme way" (although there's nothing in the Q'ran on niqabs). Third, this is a private matter. How you choose to dress should not affect your access to citizenship. What about people who have S&M practices and choose to walk in the street with a leash (I've seen some punks do that in London) ?

3. Run to see "Waltz with Bashir", the animated movie about the War in Lebanon. An israeli soldier tries to remember what happened to him when the Christian militias went into the camps of Sabra and Chatila to kill Palestinians. It's probably not going to show in Arab countries though, since it's made by an Israeli, although it's very critical of Israel.

The same happened to "The Band's visit" last year, a very nice Israeli movie about an Egyptian band coming to Israel to perform music at a Palestinian festival.

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