Page 54 - issue
P. 54
his eccentricity leading him by the nose framing the story for for a second, and then decides to com-
to a crazy showdown with the authori- her, instead of let- pletely ignore it.
ties? Who knows? To paraphrase the ting her investigate
words of Abba Eban: Like the it without pre-con- Was Margolit on target? Or was he
Palestinians, the Yemenites never ceptions? What trying to reframe the issue and toe the
missed an opportunity to miss an about Meshulam’s line of the government and the rest of
opportunity. assertions and his the media? 8
intentions? Why
So he sets up his compound. Six was Maariv and all Prime Minister Rabin was quoted in
men, all combat veterans carrying legal the rest of Israeli the film stating that this state of affairs
weapons, are among those with him. media singularly cannot continue. (Was Rabin hinting
His goal: for the Israeli government to aligned to one objective – to malign that there would be bloodshed, if nec-
establish a public investigative commis- and discredit Meshulam as a menace essary, to break the impasse? It made
sion to investigate the affair of the miss- to the public order? What about the me recall his sinking of the Altalena
ing babies. most basic questions: not whether he ship, carrying members of the Irgun,
was nuts, not whether he was a menace under the orders of his commander
The film shows one of the police to the public but was there any cre- and mentor David Ben Gurion.9) A new
officers assigned to the case, a tough, dence to his claims?! police chief, Asaf Hefetz, former head
secular man. Part of his assignment This perversion of journalistic ethics of the Israeli Border Police Yamam anti-
was to study Uzi, so he began listening troubled Madmoni and did not subside terrorism unit, was installed. A man
to Meshulam’s audio tapes. The officer over time. Years later she became an with steely cold eyes, he was ready to
shrugged and admitted that he was associate professor of journalism at follow orders without hesitation. Dorit
inspired by them: “I always enjoy listen- Suffolk University in New York. She Beinush, later to become a judge in
ing to my musical cassettes while I was wrote a book about her experience Israel’s Supreme Court, also declared
driving, but I slowly began replacing titled: Israeli Media and the Framing of the situation to be “intolerable.”
them with Meshulam’s tapes!” Internal Conflict: the Yemenite Babies
Affair.5 Madmoni wrote how the Israeli There was a standoff of 47 days.
The police chief in charge is inter- media: Hundreds of police, sharpshooters
viewed. I sense an aura of humanity …played a significant role in shap- with scopes, sappers with a canine
about him – that in his pursuit of law ing public perception of the SWAT team and helicopters flying
and order, to him, Jewish life is sacro- Yemenite Babies Affair. They por- over this tiny house, wanting to evict
sanct, even the lives of violators. He trayed Rabbi Meshulam as insane, Rabbi Meshulam and his students.
seemed hesitant to use force if it meant and ignored the deep context in Neither side would budge.
unnecessary bloodshed. A standoff which his protest was embedded.
ensued for a number of weeks. The media shifted the focus from 5 New York: Palgrave, Macmillan, 2009
the political aspects of his protest 6 Cited in: Claris Harbon, “The
Meanwhile, the press was having a to his “disturbed” personality. This Yemenite Babies Affair and the Israeli
heyday with Meshulam. How long is crucial to the Kidnapped Babies Media”, Holy Land Studies 10.2 (2011),
would the government allow this crazy Affair…. It was an effective way to p. 233. Harbon comes across to me as
man to create his own little private fief- dehumanize him and depict him as extremely left wing but I caution the
dom in the middle of the State of Israel a danger to society.6 reader not to “throw out the baby with
(like the cult compound in Waco, the bathwater.”
Texas)? One of the reporters assigned An example of this is depicted in the 7 He’s still around, writing for the pro-
to the case was Shoshana Madmoni- film. Dan Margolit, a respected journal- Netanyahu daily Yisrael Hayom.
Gerber, who was working for the news- ist who hosted a popular TV program,7 8 Years later, Margolit interviewed adults
paper Maariv. Perhaps because she is invites Uzi to appear for an interview of Sefardic ethnicity who were suing the
of Yemenite descent, she was a little on his program. Uzi accepts on the government for using them as guinea
more sensitive regarding the situation. condition that the police do not arrest pigs when they were schoolchildren by
She wondered why her editors were him and will let him return. Margolit exposing them to dangerously high lev-
keeps hammering on Uzi’s bizarre els of radioactive material. In that show,
behavior, while Uzi keeps begging he did not discount their claims.
Margolit to open the folder he brought, 9 Rabin was a great man, a national
which is lying on the table in front of hero, and a tragic figure. The associa-
them, and skim through what he claims tion I made while watching the film
is damning evidence regarding the kid- does not imply that I think of him as
nappings. Margolit looks at the folder performing a criminal act. But as a mil-
itary man he had problems with learn-
ing how to create consensus when he
returned to civilian life.
50 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
to a crazy showdown with the authori- her, instead of let- pletely ignore it.
ties? Who knows? To paraphrase the ting her investigate
words of Abba Eban: Like the it without pre-con- Was Margolit on target? Or was he
Palestinians, the Yemenites never ceptions? What trying to reframe the issue and toe the
missed an opportunity to miss an about Meshulam’s line of the government and the rest of
opportunity. assertions and his the media? 8
intentions? Why
So he sets up his compound. Six was Maariv and all Prime Minister Rabin was quoted in
men, all combat veterans carrying legal the rest of Israeli the film stating that this state of affairs
weapons, are among those with him. media singularly cannot continue. (Was Rabin hinting
His goal: for the Israeli government to aligned to one objective – to malign that there would be bloodshed, if nec-
establish a public investigative commis- and discredit Meshulam as a menace essary, to break the impasse? It made
sion to investigate the affair of the miss- to the public order? What about the me recall his sinking of the Altalena
ing babies. most basic questions: not whether he ship, carrying members of the Irgun,
was nuts, not whether he was a menace under the orders of his commander
The film shows one of the police to the public but was there any cre- and mentor David Ben Gurion.9) A new
officers assigned to the case, a tough, dence to his claims?! police chief, Asaf Hefetz, former head
secular man. Part of his assignment This perversion of journalistic ethics of the Israeli Border Police Yamam anti-
was to study Uzi, so he began listening troubled Madmoni and did not subside terrorism unit, was installed. A man
to Meshulam’s audio tapes. The officer over time. Years later she became an with steely cold eyes, he was ready to
shrugged and admitted that he was associate professor of journalism at follow orders without hesitation. Dorit
inspired by them: “I always enjoy listen- Suffolk University in New York. She Beinush, later to become a judge in
ing to my musical cassettes while I was wrote a book about her experience Israel’s Supreme Court, also declared
driving, but I slowly began replacing titled: Israeli Media and the Framing of the situation to be “intolerable.”
them with Meshulam’s tapes!” Internal Conflict: the Yemenite Babies
Affair.5 Madmoni wrote how the Israeli There was a standoff of 47 days.
The police chief in charge is inter- media: Hundreds of police, sharpshooters
viewed. I sense an aura of humanity …played a significant role in shap- with scopes, sappers with a canine
about him – that in his pursuit of law ing public perception of the SWAT team and helicopters flying
and order, to him, Jewish life is sacro- Yemenite Babies Affair. They por- over this tiny house, wanting to evict
sanct, even the lives of violators. He trayed Rabbi Meshulam as insane, Rabbi Meshulam and his students.
seemed hesitant to use force if it meant and ignored the deep context in Neither side would budge.
unnecessary bloodshed. A standoff which his protest was embedded.
ensued for a number of weeks. The media shifted the focus from 5 New York: Palgrave, Macmillan, 2009
the political aspects of his protest 6 Cited in: Claris Harbon, “The
Meanwhile, the press was having a to his “disturbed” personality. This Yemenite Babies Affair and the Israeli
heyday with Meshulam. How long is crucial to the Kidnapped Babies Media”, Holy Land Studies 10.2 (2011),
would the government allow this crazy Affair…. It was an effective way to p. 233. Harbon comes across to me as
man to create his own little private fief- dehumanize him and depict him as extremely left wing but I caution the
dom in the middle of the State of Israel a danger to society.6 reader not to “throw out the baby with
(like the cult compound in Waco, the bathwater.”
Texas)? One of the reporters assigned An example of this is depicted in the 7 He’s still around, writing for the pro-
to the case was Shoshana Madmoni- film. Dan Margolit, a respected journal- Netanyahu daily Yisrael Hayom.
Gerber, who was working for the news- ist who hosted a popular TV program,7 8 Years later, Margolit interviewed adults
paper Maariv. Perhaps because she is invites Uzi to appear for an interview of Sefardic ethnicity who were suing the
of Yemenite descent, she was a little on his program. Uzi accepts on the government for using them as guinea
more sensitive regarding the situation. condition that the police do not arrest pigs when they were schoolchildren by
She wondered why her editors were him and will let him return. Margolit exposing them to dangerously high lev-
keeps hammering on Uzi’s bizarre els of radioactive material. In that show,
behavior, while Uzi keeps begging he did not discount their claims.
Margolit to open the folder he brought, 9 Rabin was a great man, a national
which is lying on the table in front of hero, and a tragic figure. The associa-
them, and skim through what he claims tion I made while watching the film
is damning evidence regarding the kid- does not imply that I think of him as
nappings. Margolit looks at the folder performing a criminal act. But as a mil-
itary man he had problems with learn-
ing how to create consensus when he
returned to civilian life.
50 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
