Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumIn "The Gatekeepers," Israeli Security Chiefs Say What US Leaders Can't
"What's unnatural is the power you have to take three people, terrorists, and take their lives in an instant," says Yuval Diskin, the 12th director of the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, during the opening sequence of The Gatekeepers. His blunt testimony sets the grave and mournful tone that defines the rest of this illuminating and devastating film.
The Oscar-nominated documentary, directed by Israeli filmmaker Dror Moreh, uses interviews with all six living ex-directors of the Shin Bet to paint a stark portrait of the agency and how it figures into the Jewish state's past, present, and future. For those who haven't heard of this security service, here are a couple lines from my crib sheet: Imagine the FBI, only tremendously more efficient, brutal, and terrifying. Now, imagine if the war on terror were half a century old, and if we had drone strikes and black sites in Florida and Montana.
That's what the Shin Bet is like for Israelis.
It's a juggernaut of counterterrorism and intel gathering. Shin Bet directors answer directly to the prime minister. The agency's greatest blunder was their failure to protect Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli leader who came closest to making peace with the Palestinians, from being murdered by a right-wing Israeli terrorist.
"I didn't want any more live terrorists in court," explains Avraham Shalom, who led the organization from 1980 to 1986. "In the war against terror, forget about morality." He's talking about the agency doctrine of targeted assassination against Islamic
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http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2013/02/film-review-gatekeepers-documentary-israel-shin-bet-palestine
Response to Purveyor (Original post)
Alberto Ceras Message auto-removed
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Purveyor
(29,876 posts)I suspect that when I do finally get to watch 'The Gatekeepers', memories of "By Way Of Deception" will be revived.
Had the israeli gov't not been so adamant about having this book banned, I doubt I would would have realized, what I realized about israel to this day.
Tell me you don't want me to 'read/watch' something and I'll go out of my way to do so, as this was this case with BWOD.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)They also have the doc The Invisible War; hopefully The Gatekeepers will follow.