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Israel Speaks
The Israeli security Agency, the Shin-Bet,
operates under the authority of the Israeli Prime Minister.
Its duty is to address internal security threats on the state of Israel.
In the year 2012 the Israeli documentary movie called
"The Gatekeepers" was released,
which describes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through
interviews with the six latest heads of the security agency.
The movie was awarded with numerous awards and
was one of the nominees for the Oscar prize of 2013.
The heads of the security agency arouse lot of interest because it is
responsible for many of the state's stories of heroism.
The heads of this organization don't appear in the media very often,
or discuss their operations publicly. On the other hand,
the director of the movie and some of its interviewees express
harsh criticism over the Israeli governments and the actions of the army.
Asa Kasher is a professor of Philosophy in Tel Aviv University,
who has received the Israel-prize for his
research on general philosophy.
Professor Kasher is also one of the authors
of the Israeli defense forces code of ethics and of many other documents
on the morality of the war against terrorism.
He has been teaching military ethics for over 25 years
in academic institutes and in different army units.
What you do? Shoot or not?
The movie has been criticized for a partial and
one sided description of the historic events.
The sequence of events begins in the year 1967,
in which the Israeli army occupied Judea and Samaria,
also known as 'the West Bank', and took over its Palestinian cities.
Until the year 1967 Judea and Samaria
were under the rule of the Jordanian kingdom,
which did not enable the Palestinians to form their own state there.
Israel was not the first to attack, but was rather dragged to a war
when the Jordanian army bombed some Israeli cities.
In only six days Israel occupied East-Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
The Jordanian kingdom gradually gave up on these areas and
did not request them back even in the peace treaty of 1994.
These facts are not presented in the movie.
Dani Dayan is the former chairman of the council of Jewish settlements
in Judea and Samaria. He has lived in Samaria for 30 years.
The director of "The Gatekeepers" movie presents the occupation of 1967
as the main reason for the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.
Efraim Inbar is a professor of political science at Bar Ilan University
and the director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.
Professor Inbar is an expert on Israel's strategy of national security
and has participated in few rounds of peace-talks with the Palestinians.
The word occupation sounds very negative these days.
Nevertheless professor Inbar wishes to relate to it in a rational
and not emotional way.
We want security but get more terror.
The first suicide attack within Tel Aviv.....
Hundreds and thousands marching....
He wakes up one morning and shoots the prime minister.
Since the director of the movie decided to present only
the events following 1967,
the viewers get the impression that the Palestinian terrorism began
as a reaction to the Israeli occupation of Judea and Samaria.
The heads of the Shin-Bet in "The Gatekeepers" movie
broadly describe the counter-terrorism methods.
The movie presents the Israel army as harsh and brutal.
The palestinian terrorists on the other hand raise empathy
when seen kidnapped from their homes in the middle of the night
or taken away in long lines.
Some of the Shin-Bet heads raise questions
on the morality of the Israeli soldiers.
The most harsh quote is by Avraham Shalom
who headed the agency in the 1980's, who compares the Israeli soldiers
to those of the German army during World War II.
You don't have time.
These situations take few seconds or minutes.
People expect you to decide and mostly they expect you to act.
Not acting sounds easier but mostly it's the harder choice.
Another controversial quote is said by Yuval Diskin
who headed the ageny between the years 2005-2011.
Speaking about Palestinians who took part in attacks against Israelis
he says: One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
The movie repeats claims that are heard worldwide,
that the building of Israeli settlements stops the peace process
and amplifies Palestinian terrorism.
Many Israelis wonder why some of the Shin-Bet heads
criticize the government under which they operated,
yet none of them chose to resign from duty.
For example Yuval Diskin, who headed the Shin-Bet for few years
under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, criticizes him harshly.
The director of the movie Dror Moreh has been invited to
numerous movie festivals worldwide and used these opportunities
to criticize Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government.
When asked of his opinion,
Netanyahu said he has no plans to watch the movie.
Many Israelis, including the states Minister of Culture,
expressed their relief when the movie did not win the Oscars.
The conclusion one may get after watching "The Gatekeepers"
is that the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank
would solve all the problems in the Middle East,
but the state of Israel is not willing to find a real solution
to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.