The Jerusalem Car Accident Video -Lenny Ben-David
A YouTube film clip [above] spreading around the world showing an Israeli car hitting two Arab children in the Silwan neighborhood of Jerusalem was horrifying. Thank God the children were not seriously injured.
Then came the subtext: The children were part of a gang attacking the driver with rocks. The boys, emboldened by some militant organizer, covered their faces to avoid identification. There's no doubt of their intention and premeditation. The driver was David Be'eri, a leader of the Jewish residents in Silwan. Be'eri's son was in the car.
Arab witnesses charged that the "settler" deliberately ran down the children. But I've now watched the clip scene-by-scene and in some parts frame-by-frame, and there's a deeper, even sinister, subtext.
There were as many photographers as rock-throwers. There were at least seven still photographers in addition to the video cameraman. There could have been more. Most filmed the scene from the same vantage point.
Who invited them and coordinated the time and place? Who recruited the boys? Did they particularly plan to ambush David Be'eri's car?
Watch the clip and see how the photographers buzzed around the boy taking pictures while he was on the ground. Only one photographer went through the motion of extending a hand. Also watch as the wounded boy is manhandled and forcibly stuffed into a car against his will. That was no way to evacuate a casualty.
Every photographer at the scene bears responsibility for the children's injuries. They were tools in the hands of a dangerous propagandist, and their presence incited the kids. Then the cameramen stood by as a child laid injured.
Until the photographers fess up as to who dispatched them, they should be treated as accomplices to the crime of endangering the children.
(Jerusalem Post)
Media & Stone Throwers Collude
Press photographers showed their true colors on Friday, colluding with Palestinian rock-throwers in Silwan.
The results: Photographers walked away with graphic photos and video footage. Imran Mansur, age 11, was left with a broken leg; Israel was smeared as the images rapidly hit the news stream.
The Guardian published an AFP/Getty Images photo with the following tip for photographers, nothing could be further from the truth:
The photographer, Ilia Yefimovich, is in the right place at the right time and captures this dramatic scene using a large depth of field and fast shutter speed.
But Yefimovich wasn't the only photographer who simply got lucky. The incident was also captured by the Associated Press, the European Pressphoto Agency and Al Jazeera, among other news services. How did everyone manage to be in "the right place at the right time?"
Silwan isn't really the most tense place. Photographers waiting for stone-thowings would be more likely to go to places like Bilin or Hebron. You wouldn't hang around Silwan unless you knew ahead of time that something was going to happen.
If the stone throwing were really spontaneous, the kids should've been throwing from above. It's safer for them, and they can do as much damage, if not more. But that's less photogenic.
When a car's coming at you, and hits a kid, your first thought is your personal safety and what's happening to the boy. But when you watch the video, nobody looks scared, nobody screams in horror. The children just continue throwing stones and the photographers keep snapping photos.
[T]he photographers should've warned the police. But today's Mideast photographers are a different breed. Because of the nature of the business -- it's a cash cow -- why spoil a good picture?
[HonestReporting.com]
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