A Palestinian woman whose house has been occupied by Jewish settlers
argued with Israelis who came to celebrate Jerusalem Day in the mainly
Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, Wednesday. (Ahmad
Gharabli/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)
Leaving aside the politics of the region for the moment (if that's possible), the behavior shown is egregiously improper.
Addendum: I ran a Google Image check with calendric restrictions and found this same image posted on the internet as early as Dec 25, 2007. I don't understand why the Wall Street Journal was recycling old material as one of their "pictures of the week" in 2010.
One of the Pictures of the Week in the Wall Street Journal, via Reddit.
The Jews look down right evil here.
ReplyDeleteTotally staged picture and commentary.
DeleteThis is really awful - change the country, change the ethnic groups, and this could be a photo from 1930s Germany.
ReplyDeleteSad. Very sad.
What does it mean that the "house has been occupied"?
ReplyDeleteIt is also interesting how context frames how we interpret the situation. If the caption had read told us that the woman was telling jokes, it would look like everyone was having a great time.
ReplyDeleteBut to clarify my question above, does the fact that her house has been occupied mean that someone stole her house?
This part of Jerusalem is occupied territory and Israel is violating international law by letting fanatical settlers (aided by police/thugs) violently force Arab families from the homes they lived in since the early half of the last century. What short memories......
Deletehttp://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=264364
"If the caption had read told us that the woman was telling jokes, it would look like everyone was having a great time"
I see what you did there...
Jerusalem day was not Wednesday, It was toughly 2 months ago. I will say that the picture does look like it was taken in an Arab area, and if so, and there is no Israeli presence, then the boys should not have been there. On the other hand, if someone else is now living in her house (and what you think of as "occupied" homes are bought and paid for and mortgaged etc just like any other home in Israel), why is she there with a steel garbage can lid?
ReplyDeleteThe way they are standing indicated the boys in the background are/were singing (a norm for Jerusalem day all over the city). While bigmouth's reaction may be completely out of line at any time, she may have instigated (As I said, does not make the look on bigmouth's face any less frightening, but to be fair we can't see her face).
Full disclosure. I am a Jewish Israeli who lives in a city not far from Jerusalem.
Interestingly, Rachel, in response to your comment I did some more checking and found other postings of the image years ago. The earliest I can find is dated Dec 25, 2007 -
Deletehttp://montaghemefateme.mihanblog.com/
The page is in Arabic, so I can't confirm the content, but it does appear the WSJ is recycling old material.
And now I see the WSJ item was posted in 2010. I wouldn't have posted it had I realized at the time this was such old material. I'm in too much of a hurry these days.
DeleteOh, and from the look of it those boys are not settlers. They are American boys here for their gap year and are roughly 18. Again, not that it makes the picture any better, this was more an FYI
ReplyDeleteThere's a reason why good fences make good neighbors, Frost's wishful waxing notwithstanding. Human nature is human nature. Just because one generation wasn't there for the dispute/wrong that inspired a wide-swath hatred/rejection of X people by Y people, doesn't mean we're just more evolved. It just means we weren't there and we simply don't get it. It'll never be different. Never. Humans are verrrrrry stubborn. --A.
ReplyDeleteNot letting me use reply for some reason, but just wanted to say thanks for responding. I read your blog regularly and was quite surprised to find something so inaccurately posted.
ReplyDeleteHang on a sec - Why does that woman have a large metal plate on her left, with her right arm extended in a manner to suggest she was banging the plate to make noise? Was she there to disrupt an israeli celebration? Was *she* the provocateur? Was she simply banging her 'plate' to make noise for a song.
ReplyDeleteCalling this "egriously improper" or comparing it to nazi germany is extremely presumptuous. You absolutely cannot tell from this picture what the context is.
A large percentage of the respondents on this post aggressively defend these religious kooks, or at least try to deflect criticism. Don't you know that what goes around comes around? Many islamic terrorists site Israeli oppression of palestinians as important inspiration for their career choice. Religion ... sheesh!
DeleteHow much do we send these bastards every year?
ReplyDelete