Israel and Palestine--Behaving Badly

In alphabetical order, the Israeli story first:

The Israeli army is at the centre of a second controversy over the moral conduct of its soldiers in as many days. The printed t-shirts were discovered by an Israeli newspaper. ... The revelations centre on t-shirt designs made for soldiers that make light of shooting pregnant Palestinian mothers and children and include images of dead babies and destroyed mosques. The t-shirts were printed for Israeli soldiers at the end of periods of deployment or training courses and were discovered by Israeli newspaper Haaretz. One, printed for a platoon of Israeli snipers depicts an armed Palestinian pregnant women caught in the crosshairs of a rifle, with the disturbing caption in English: "1 shot 2 kills". Another depicts a child carrying a gun also in the centre of a target. "The smaller, the harder," read the words on the t-shirt. According to a soldier interviewed by the newspaper, the message has a double meaning: "It's a kid, so you've got a little more of a problem, morally and also the target is smaller."

Really wrong. Not necessarily unexpected in a war zone among soldiers, but this should have been stopped by Israeli army authorities long ago. From the Palestinian side:

For religion angles, I’ve actually been going to Al Jazeera. They’re slanted pretty noticeably toward the activists and have trouble with facts at times (confusion over what the standards are for boarding in international waters a ship attempting to thwart a blockade) but they do cover some of the religion angles. This live blog was updated throughout the day with helpful new information.

But if you really want to find some religion ghosts, it helps to find translations of Al Jazeera’s Arabic broadcasts. Unfortunately, I’m not aware of a neutral source for translation. Palestinian Media Watch, which you can read more about here, translated one such broadcast. You can watch the video but here’s the PMW translation and explanation of a May 29 broadcast:

Reporter: “Despite the Israeli threats and several unexpected delays, the arrival of the ships at the meeting point before sailing to the Gaza Strip inflamed the emotions and the enthusiasm of the participants.”

Visuals from Gaza flotilla ship of young Muslims shouting Islamic battle chant invoking the killing and defeat of Jews in battle:

“[Remember] Khaibar, Khaibar, oh Jews! The army of Muhammad will return!”

[Khaibar is the name of last Jewish village defeated by Muhammad’s army and it marked the end of Jewish presence in Arabia in 628.]

Reporter: “While singing songs reminiscent of the Palestinian Intifada (Palestinian terror war against Israel, 2000 - 2005), participants expressed their longing to reach Gaza.”

A participant: “Right now we face one of two happy endings: either Martyrdom or reaching Gaza.” [Based on Islamic call before battle: “Either victory or Martyrdom”.]

If you’re reading Western papers, the information is fairly sanitized. But some of these transcriptions show a wealth of religious language. There’s a significant dichotomy between the way, say, the New York Times presented the flotilla activists (the words “Muslim” “faith” “jihad” or “martyr” are not used in reference to them) versus the piece above or this interview with Gaza-based professor Dr. Abd Al-Fatah Nu’man. This interview was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute:

“My message is to those heroes who are, as we speak, at mid-sea, in pitch darkness under the skies, their palms raised to Allah in supplication. What are they asking for? The Prophet Muhammad said: “He whose feet have been covered with dust for the sake of Allah is saved from the Hellfire, and he who has fought even for only the time it takes to milk a she-camel secures a place in Paradise.” These heroes were selected by Allah to carry out this mission — the mission of awakening the nation, and this will bring honor upon them.

“Yesterday, the commander of the fleet said: ‘We will not allow the Zionists to come near us, and we will wage resistance against them.’ With what will they wage resistance? With their fingernails. These are people who wish to be martyred for the sake of Allah. As much as they want to reach Gaza, the other option is more desirable to them.

“We pray to Allah that they be awarded both good things: That they reach the shore of Gaza safe and sound, and that they be granted martyrdom, along with us, on the walls of the Al-Aqsa Mosque — as conquerors.”

It’s hard to gauge how representative these views are among Muslim supporters of the flotilla but I sure wish some of these voices could be included — and given context — in English-language media reports. It’s quite a shock to go from American mainstream media to Al Jazeera in English and even more of a shock to read some of these Arabic broadcasts.

Are there any other religion angles that need to be covered? Of course. As Israelis debate how the military handled the raid, what are religious voices saying? And is there anything else to learn about the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation, which backed the flotilla?

I hadn't seen this entering the discussion about the flotilla, really.