Lo spot censurato dei pacifisti israeliani che rende furiosa la destra

IBA, la TV e Radio pubblica israeliana, ha rifiutato di trasmettere un spot realizzato dall’organizzazione pacifista B’Tselem dove sono elencati i nomi dei bambini morti durante l’invasione di Gaza effettuata durante l’operazione “Protective Edge”. La radio pubblica ha motivato la sua decisione di non diffondere questo spot alla luce della sua “controversia politica”, rimarcando come un simile contenuto fosse di tipo informativo e non pubblicitario. B’Tselem ha realizzato questo video per incoraggiare un dibattito pubblico sul tema delle vittime dell’operazione “Protective Edge”, e sul suo sito l’organizzazione pacifista che documenta le violazioni dei diritti umani nei Territori occupati evidenzia come “il rifiuto non sia affatto neutrale. La decisione di non trasmettere lo spot è una significativa dichiarazione in favore del silenziamento del dibattito pubblico sul massiccio prezzo che i civili di Gaza stanno pagando per questa operazione”. B’Tselem ha reagito alla “censura” diffondendo il video sulla sua pagina Facebook e sugli altri canali social, così raggiungendo un numero significativo di visualizzazioni. I principali giornali israeliani stanno inoltre riferendo dello spot non trasmesso dalla Radio pubblica del paese, IBA.
Il direttore esecutivo di B’Tselem Hagai El-Ad ha evidenziato come i media israeliani non stiano diffondendo i nomi delle vittime palestinesi. «Per portare il pubblico a conoscenza di questi fatti abbiamo dovuto realizzare uno spot radiofonico noi stessi. La nostra richiesta però è stata bocciata in base all’ipotetica asserzione che gli organi di informazione debbano trasmettere i nomi. Il risultato di questo ragionamento circolare è che un tema così urgente ed importante sui diritti umani sia stato effettivamente silenziato e cancellato dai media, sia nelle trasmissioni di informazione e sia nella pubblicità radiofonica”.
 http://www.gadlerner.it/2014/07/25/lo-spot-censurato-dei-pacifisti-israeliani-che-rende-furiosa-la-destra

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I am the woman who translates the names of the dead

In these frenzied days, I look for routine and find it in the task of translating names. Not that anyone reads all of them, but here’s another child, and another, and a last name that gets repeated again and again. And then I realize that a whole family has been wiped out.
By Michal Rotem (Translated by Sol Salbe)
For several days now I’ve been translating the names of those killed in Gaza to Hebrew. It was not my idea, and I’m not an expert in literary Arabic, but I volunteered my meager translation skills to help John Brown, because it seemed the right thing for me to do, for some odd reason. Every day my capabilities seem to grow, and I freely scan though Palestinian news sites and the website of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, plucking out more and more names of the dead.
But I’m oblivious to it. Like a robot, I sit and translate more and more names of the deceased and I do not comprehend at all what this list really is. Every so often it hits me, when suddenly in the middle of the list, I encounter a series of names that are too similar, with too big an age range and from the same locality, and it dawns on me that these are the names of members of a family that was wiped out in a single moment. I press on with the list, which expands by the minute, unmindful of its various meanings. But then comes a familiar last name, and I realize I may know people in the Negev/Naqab from this family, and I come back to reality. The names that share first names with close friends of mine also make me sad, because I remember that ultimately these are human beings.

Bodies are carried from the morgue of Al Shifa Hosptial, Gaza City, July 13, 2014.

There’s something very anodyne about this list: name, place of residence, age. Some people have their details missing, some are updated in the days following. I’m not sufficiently versed in these matters to know who was a senior Hamas commander, who fired rockets and who is just trying to live their life – a life that was taken in a minute. All the names are listed one after the other, without notes about the deceased’s degree of involvement in the situation. When I start to think about it, some things become clearer. Dozens of children, aged one-and-a-half, three and 11, and even 16, along with older women aged 73 and 80, are all victims of this intolerable situation.
In my quest for routine these days, I seem to find it in updating this list. I don’t think anyone really sits down and reads the list name after name, thinking who s/he was and what s/he did just before it was all over. But out of desperation I want to believe that there are people for whom this awful list of names will have some impact, turn their stomachs, make them want to stop everything and choose a different path.
The list is updated every few hours, and for every person involved in the fighting there are several other names of victims who have no connection to the fighting. Dozens of names are added every day. Regardless of your stance on Gaza, open the list and try to read out loud one name after another. You can choose to read just the kids’ names. Then please try tell me that this killing must not stop.
Read this article in Hebrew on Local Call.

3 Attorney General asks Court to adopt new policy formulated in response to B’Tselem’s petition, aiming to preventing broadcast of radio spot with names of children killed in Gaza

On 6 August 2014, Attorneys Hagai Kalai and Gilad Barnea submitted B'Tselem's response to the attorney general’s position as presented to Israel’s HCJ earlier this week as part of the state’s response to the organization’s petition. B’Tselem’s response emphasizes that the existing rule clearly establishes that it is permissible “to broadcast a political advertisement provided that it concentrate solely on a factual message.” B’Tselem’s proposed radio spot meets these conditions. The Attorney General’s recommendation to change rules as B’Tselem’s radio spot awaits approval raises concern of improper discrimination.

 

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Israeli media is not listing the names of children killed in Gaza. These are their names: