Ilana Teitelbaum

Ilana Teitelbaum

Posted January 5, 2009 | 10:16 AM (EST)

Photos From Israel That You Won't See on the News

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Cameras, television and the internet: All of these have changed the way war is waged. These technologies are indirectly responsible for civilian loss of life in Gaza, as Hamas drags mothers with babies to rocket launching sites. They know that photos of the inevitable carnage will appear on the international news; that people will see these actions of the IDF as deliberate and become enraged.

Israel is not media savvy--we have installed warning systems and bomb shelters. When a Hamas rocket hit a kindergarten in Beersheva last week, no children were killed, because they had already been herded into a bomb shelter. No casualties means no photos, which means that the incident wasn't even covered by the media.

Worse yet, we haven't publicized explicit photos of our own victims over the years--blood, severed limbs and all. I think it has something to do with respect for the dead. One thing is certain: It's not working for us on the world stage.

A friend of my husband who is in an elite unit in the army was once telling a story that happened to begin with, "It was after we had stopped a suicide bomber--"

And I broke in with, "You what? How often does that happen?"

My husband's friend looked at me quizzically. "It happens all the time," he said, as if that were obvious. "It just doesn't make the news if they don't manage to get through."

It doesn't make the news. And then we wonder why checkpoints and barriers are deemed inhumane by the international community. Israel doesn't tell the whole story--not even to its own people. Until that night in our living room, I had no idea that suicide bombers are constantly trying to slip through the checkpoints into populated areas.

Living in a media-dependent world, where sensational images are thought to tell the whole truth, can be draining to one's soul. I see the PR war that is being waged and I feel helpless, and so sad. Sad for Gazan civilians being used as human shields, sad for the traumatized children of southern Israel, and saddest of all for the 21 year-old IDF soldier who died protecting us yesterday. If not for him and others like him, I would not be sitting in a café in downtown Jerusalem right now, typing these words.

I think it's a pity that only successful attacks, only death and destruction, are considered newsworthy. The following images of IDF soldiers in the West Bank and Samaria have probably never appeared in the news. When I see these photos, I feel hope in my heart that peace is possible. On a day like today, when hope is in such short supply, that in itself is worth a thousand words.

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Cameras, television and the internet: All of these have changed the way war is waged. These technologies are indirectly responsible for civilian loss of life in Gaza, as Hamas drags mothers with babie...
Cameras, television and the internet: All of these have changed the way war is waged. These technologies are indirectly responsible for civilian loss of life in Gaza, as Hamas drags mothers with babie...
 
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Dear Ms. Teitelbaum,

Please don't miss the pictures in another HuffPost article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-shapiro/war-crimes-accusations-mo_b_160441.html

Yours,
D

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:10 PM on 01/23/2009

So the Israelis can afford to build bomb shelters to defend against homemade rockets. How nice for them. Maybe they could build some for the Palestinians when the same military in your puerile propaganda photos are bombing them with cluster bombs, depleted uranium and white phosphorus.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:00 PM on 01/23/2009
- Zonie I'm a Fan of Zonie 12 fans permalink
photo

Why did Israel bar journalists from Gaza? Since November, 2008, Israel has restricted foreign journalists into Gaza. After Israeli army launched the Cast Lead Operation in Gaza on Dec. 27, the Israel further tightened the ban.

Recently, I've read that journalists may enter Gaza.........

The photos above are too obvious for what they are..........

So......if the photos above represent the reality...­..........­Why the ban on journalists? Do tell....... .what was the problem?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:20 PM on 01/22/2009
- wml209 I'm a Fan of wml209 5 fans permalink

Beautiful pictures!!
Thank you for sharing them. Peace is possible. We are all human beings who can coexist.
As for your written words, you may consider watching this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx7bBfsbuK4

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:57 AM on 01/22/2009

Thank you for shedding light on a black world.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:40 AM on 01/19/2009

It think that what most of the commentators just don't get that for months, during an official cease-fire, Hamas has been firing rockets (several thousand before Israel retaliated) at civilian populations.

What did they think would happen?

Would any other country in the world have waited so long before retaliating?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:36 AM on 01/13/2009

I think it si you who is getting the facts wrong! Israel is the one that broke the cease fire in November 2008 and did not fulfil its part of opening the borders. The rockets fired while the cease fire lasted were fired by mostly Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions like Fatah. Do your research properly!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:30 AM on 01/13/2009
photo

This is simply not true.

Israeli forces intercepted HAMAS terrorists that were digging tunnels in order to kidnap Israeli soldiers, a'la Cpl Shalit....

Perfectly justified..

Michale.....

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:17 AM on 01/14/2009
photo

Actually, you are wrong.

The 5 Nov incident had an Israeli strike team intercept a group of HAMAS terrorists, making tunnels into Israel for the purpose of kidnapping an Israeli soldier, a'la Cpl Shalit...

You DO remember Cpl Shalit, don't you??

Regardless the terrorists were caught and killed..

A righteous shoot in ANY jurisdiction....

As for doing research properly, du auch...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rocket_and_mortar_attacks_in_Israel_in_2008

Michale.....

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:24 PM on 01/14/2009

Maybe you could read this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rocket_and_mortar_attacks_in_Israel_in_2008

One thing I find interesting is the fact that Hamas is beginning to kill their own people with rockets that never maKe it to Israel. "A dozen rockets and mortar bombs were fired from Gaza into Israel, one accidentally falling short and striking a northern Gaza house and killing two Palestinian sisters, aged five and thirteen, while wounding a third
Two Palestinians were hurt when a rocket that did not clear the security fence at the border landed on a home in a northern Gaza town."

Even more glaring is the fact that Hamas broke the cease fire before the ink was even dry.
A cease-fire was agreed to by both sides and began on June 19, 2008

June 24, 2008
Three Qassam rockets fired from Gaza on Tuesday struck the Israeli border town of Sderot and its environs, causing no serious injuries but constituting the first serious breach of a five-day-old truce between Israel and Hamas. Blame whoever you like. Hamas is responsible since they were fired from territory Hamas rules.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:07 PM on 01/18/2009

Photos From Israel That You Won't See on the News:

http://talkonly.blogspot.com/

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:47 PM on 01/12/2009
photo

Thank you for these pictures. Made me misty-eyed.

And look... Not a tail, horns or pitchfork amongst the whole bunch.

Michale.......

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:34 AM on 01/12/2009

Oh! But Israel IS media savvy. Try this link for what the real IDF is like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW1-_JmXQt0

Cheers!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:31 PM on 01/11/2009
- gakabani I'm a Fan of gakabani 20 fans permalink
photo

These are very few, I am Druze and my extended clan is in Israel. We support the Pals but serve the Israeli military, for her to say that these picture are some how 'realistic' is a distraction. The reality is very different.

These pictures point to something she is not telling. These are pictures of MILITARY people. They are occupiers. They do come to Palestine to make friends with the Pals. They come to occupy it.

This is the same propaganda we got from WWII during the occupation of Poland and other territories by the war machine of Germany.

I want so see picture of Israelis, no military people, in the same conditions.

Pathetic article.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:15 PM on 01/10/2009

Evil and goodness coexist. The same soldier who lends a hand to an old man, will kill civilians the next moment. So, Ilana - what is your point? That a few kind or sincere gestures counterbalance the hideous crimes against civilians? Speaking of PR saviness, how is it that the main American media (TV, newspapers and the blogs of the establishment) are not showing the images of dead babies and children ,emaciated figures, and mourining mothes? The Gaza invasion is a sanitized military operation that is analyzed by pundits discussing military or strategic aims, tactics, politics, etc, etc.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:36 PM on 01/10/2009
photo

There is something about the photos with children in them that just doesn't seem right -- I don't know what it is -- It just seems a little too Norman Rockwell-esque.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:28 PM on 01/07/2009
- maddie0001 I'm a Fan of maddie0001 2 fans permalink

How about this picture (http://www.stolenchildhood.net/entry/israel-lebanon-war-a-conflict-between-israeli-lebanese-children/)

In the public relations battle brewing on-line, there is a new eye to the center of the storm surrounding the war with Hizbullah - a series of photos showing Israeli children writing messages on shells meant for targets in Lebanon.

Questions over the photos' authenticity have been put to rest by authorities that were present during the incident, which occurred on July 17 near the northern border. The mostly local children had been brought to see the shells by their parents. Although it remains unclear who encouraged them to write the messages, their colorful scribbles, including a Star of David, hearts, and "From Israel, with Love," have appeared in dozens of blogs, or on-line journals, and on-line photo hosting sites.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1153291980307

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:55 PM on 01/06/2009
- sq1972 I'm a Fan of sq1972 3 fans permalink

Ms. Teitelbaum's article can only be described as Orwellian in light of Israel's preventing journalists from entering Gaza in defiance of their own Supreme Court's order to allow access.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:07 PM on 01/06/2009

Israeli PR at work...

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:26 PM on 01/06/2009

What's wrong with a little "Israel" PR seeing as how the rest of the world and media is against them. If a rocket landed in your neighborhood, I'm sure you'd want it stopped as well.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:11 PM on 01/16/2009
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