
A hugely popular YouTube video has landed a group of Israeli soldiers in serious trouble.
Joel Schalit, an Israeli writer based in Berlin, sent us his view on the controversy.

All of a sudden, the troops drop to their knees. The muezzin predictably falls silent. The young Israelis look at each other, as though they are in a hostile foreign place, unable to predict what will come next. The expectation is that their patrol is about to get fired on by hostiles. Instead of gunfire, however, we hear the opening strains of ‘Tik Tok', the satirical, 2009 hip-hop-inflected electro hit by American singer Kesha. The subject matter? A beautiful young hipster reflecting on what it means to always be the life of the so-called party.
Standing up, the soldiers retire their weapons, and fall into formation. Not to march, but to dance, and that they do, in a surprisingly rehearsed manner. Performing faux-pirouettes, clasping each other's hands in ironically suggestive ways (the boys have to compensate, as there are no girls present,) the choreography evokes classic musicals ranging from The Wizard of Oz to East Side Story. Eventually, the soldiers return to form, morphing back into hardened combat troops deployed in a war zone. Pointing their weapons aloft, they eye the buildings around them for terrorists, and walk off into the distance.
Posted on YouTube by "Delirium838" 5 July 2010.
Generating almost as much commentary as it has viewers(the copy of the video viewed for this article has logged 300,000 views already since it was first posted on YouTube last weekend), the controversial performance has refreshingly incurred the wrath of the Israeli military, who are reported to be considering prosecuting two of the troops involved. The reason? Although Israeli sources have not disclosed the specifics, the location of the performance definitely has something to do with it. Very few cities in the occupied West Bank have the kind of political significance that Hebron has. Events like these are about as incendiary as they get.
Holy to all three faiths, Hebron's best-known residents, Abraham, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah are buried in the city's legendary Cave of the Patriarchs. Home to 163,000 + Palestinians, and an estimated 500 Jewish settlers (most, if not all of whom are religious fundamentalists), the ancient city has been a site of recurring violence between both sides, including the 1994 massacre of 29 Palestinians (and wounding of 150) at the Cave by Baruch Goldstein, an American-born Jewish settler. Frequently subject to curfews imposed by the Israeli military and repeated property seizures by settlers (often, though not always, with the tacit support of the Israeli army), Hebron is often held up as the paradigm of the excesses of military occupation and religious colonialism.
The video's defenders have been quick to point out that it is innocent, as it is an imitation of a similar scene on the popular Israeli comedy show Eretz Nehederet (Beautiful Country), which, ironically, is not exactly uncritical of Israeli sacred cows. The only reason why the video has been misunderstood as negative, it has been argued, is because of a lack of proper context on the part of foreign viewers. The difficulty with this argument is that, irrespective of what the intentions of the soldiers in the video actually were, context trumps whatever naiveté might be ascribed to them.
This context is not one of unfamiliarity with Israeli TV, but one of a sympathy towards the feelings of Palestinians, for whom such savvy is meaningless. Even if they did know what programme these soldiers were imitating, so what? Their interpretation would still be the same. Take, for example, the symbolic freedom of movement enjoyed by these troops, in contrast to Palestinians, who are often subject to Israeli military curfews and roadblocks, and directed to use Palestinian-only roads. Under conditions of military occupation, one party has more freedom of movement than the other. Expressing this hierarchy through dancing is one thing. Framing it as though it is a party is another."
Comments
;-)
Submitted by Paul Farmer (not verified) on Thu, 15/07/2010 - 17:01.Who's the radio operator that likes Keisha, good taste in music - any other recommendations?
The sheer servility of the
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Wed, 14/07/2010 - 21:21.The sheer servility of the French print media has to be experienced to be believed. When, for example, it emerged that a former president had set up his mistress with a seat in the European Parliament, French readers were wholly dependent on foreign reports. The same was true of many of François Mitterand’s peccadilloes, both sexual and political. Not until after he died was his Vichyite past openly discussed.
When Jacques Chirac pardoned more than a thousand politicians who had been found guilty of corruption, no French newspaper so much as alluded to the fact that they had been accused. Indeed, when Nigel Farage, the UKIP leader, pointed out that one of these politicians had been nominated as a European Commissioner, he was told by the President of the European Parliament to withdraw his remarks or risk prosecution.
Some foreigners laugh at the feebleness of French journalists. Others admire it. “Why can’t we be as grown-up as the French about these things?” say go-ahead metropolitan types. But the obsequiousness of French newspapers isn’t determined by their readers’ preferences. On the contrary, in few democracies do voters express such vehement contempt for their elected representatives. No, the reason that French reporters tend to lay off their politicians is because they have a symbiotic relationship with the government. They enjoy tax breaks and other perks, many of their newspapers are related to one or another of the political parties, and privacy laws are loaded against them.
They therefore frequently find themselves at odds with their readers. When France voted on the European Constitution five years ago, every newspaper except the Communist daily called for a Yes vote, leaving the No campaign to les bloggeurs. Guess who won?
Web-based news outlets are contributing to the decline of print media in the English-speaking world. In France, where a journalistic cartel has become reliant on political patronage, their opportunity is commensurately greater. Truly the Internet is a wonderful phenomenon.
Media and the State
Submitted by Joel Schalit on Thu, 15/07/2010 - 06:51.Hi Unregistered,
Thanks for your detailed comment. The media always serves the state, and vice versa, in every national context. Take, for example, a newspaper like Israel Hayom: http://www.israelhayom.co.il/
For non-Israeli readers, Israel Hayom is a free, rightist daily, dubbed "Bibi-ton," because of its friendliness towards Prime Minister Netanyahu and his governing Likud Party.
Israeli journalist Noam Sheizaf provides a good account of the paper's politics in his Promised Land blog: http://tinyurl.com/3xuv3eh
In closing: The UK Independence Party is considered to the right of the Tories on many issues. They're not taken very seriously, especially by British readers of sites like F24.
In my view, you'd be better off using a different example.
Thanks, Joel
Two of the six Jews are
Submitted by Mohammed Muflahi (not verified) on Mon, 12/07/2010 - 12:14.Two of the six Jews are supposed to be prosecuted. What did the other four do that the other two didn't? This is just a logical observation. However, this isn't what's really at hand is it? The political members of the Geneva Convention, if they've seen this video most probably rolled on the floor laughing their heads off and found it extremely funny and the Jewish military too. This is not something that will go further than pen and paper. Had a group of Palestinian soldiers been caught doing it, what do you think would have happened? Does anybody remember the end scene in Jackie Chan's "Who Am I?" where the police force and the military chased that corrupt agent on land, sea and air? They would have probably received the same treatment and worse and the media would have printed, for the world to see and written in the papers the usual lies and rubbish to make the brain washed and simply absorbent citizens believe what they read. How can something like this be harmless fun or classed as tongue in cheek when a usurped occupation and the innocent lives of men women and children are murdered and executed on a daily basis because of the same comedians in the first place? Has war now all of a sudden become comedy and a joke, like the drugs, sex and rock and roll and the extermination of the “Gooks” in the Vietnam War? It’s ok for the Jews and the Zionists to have a little fun because they are well equipped with bodily armour, tanks, RPG’s, machine guns and arsenal of every kind. They don’t wake up every morning to have a bulldozer as an alarm clock ripping their homes apart and concrete rubble falling on the children as the heroic Jewish soldiers take a man’s wife and take it in turns to butt her with their rifles and rape her as her husband watches then finally killing whomsoever they please. This is after all just a little fun, the media want us to believe but the “Anti Semitists” oh no, they are to be feared and warned against. They do and have done things we cannot comprehend even though they have done nothing, committed no crimes and tortured no one except the only “Crime” they have committed is to hate what the Jews do. And that’s a crime but what they do is acceptable! The speechlessness of such a belief and the incredulity of such minds that are upon this way of thinking is beyond the ability of human conception to grasp the monstrosity and gravity of such beings, what they stand for and the heinous crimes they commit. Know of a surety that death comes to us all and the Judge of judges will reward you what He has promised those who commit such crimes.
Well said!
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Mon, 12/07/2010 - 16:16.Well said!
Dancing at Dawn
Submitted by Adam Neira (not verified) on Mon, 12/07/2010 - 11:37.Children love to dance. Adults when they feel pure, innocent and free also love to dance. Dancing is a form of stress release. Whether it is the structured forms of the waltz, dervish, swing or ballroom to the unstructured forms of techno and trance it is a divine blessing. Only the stiffest and most restrictive of cultures abhors dancing. It doesn't matter if this was a set up. It is refreshing to see. The IDF should not investigate them. The young soldiers were probably very aware of the surrounding dangers. It was only a minute out of their day. Some light must be injected into grave situations at times. Switching the dynamic acts as a catalyst to other potentialities. King David liked to dance didn't he ? Of course he knew there was a time to dance and a time to make war. I would like to see much more dancing in the Holy Land. I’m sure the Arabs like to boogie as well.
It is good to dance,we
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Mon, 12/07/2010 - 11:27.It is good to dance,we should have it mor often,instead of war
Joel,I got to hand it to
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Sun, 11/07/2010 - 07:37.Joel,I got to hand it to you,youre one smooth anti semite.
Maybe that explains why he
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Mon, 12/07/2010 - 07:16.Maybe that explains why he is in Germany.
Germany and Israel
Submitted by Joel Schalit on Mon, 12/07/2010 - 10:55.Hi Unregistered,
Germany is one of Israel's closest allies, second only to the US. It provides an enormous amount of economic and military aid to Israel, as well as ongoing reparations to victims of the Shoah. It also has one of the fastest-growing Jewish populations in Europe. In Berlin, I hear Hebrew several times a day. Not just local Hebrew, but Israeli Hebrew.
When rightists ascribe anti-Semitism to Jews who choose to live in Germany, they conveniently ignore such facts, and the importance that both German Jews, and German Israelis, serve in fostering this situation. It is not only ignorant (witness the strong diplomatic-military alliance). It is similarly insensitive to the significance of German support for Israel.
Best, Joel