While racist depictions of Arabs and the glorification of Israel is not new in the film and TV industry, there has recently been a surge in programmes venerating the Israeli secret services while demonising Palestinians as threats to global security and erasing their history.
The most well-known is the Israeli Netflix series Fauda (meaning chaos in Arabic) which has been a global hit. The series follows an undercover Israeli special forces unit known as the "musta'ribim", who disguise themselves as Palestinians to infiltrate Palestinian towns, villages and protests. They are particularly known for blending into protests dressed as young Palestinian men and kidnapping protesters. Fauda has been heavily criticised for dehumanising Palestinians and completely erasing the military occupation by failing to show any of the massive and visible infrastructure built across the West Bank and Gaza to keep Palestinians contained.
Another TV show, on HBO, called Our Boys, dramatises the infamous events surrounding the killing of three teenage Israeli settlers and the subsequent killing of a Palestinian boy, Mohammed Abu Khdeir. Many praised the show for being critical of Israel, particularly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced it as "anti-Semitic". However, the series not only reinforces the Israeli narrative but also shows Israel's secret police agency Shin Bet as a defender of the rule of law. Similar Netflix programmes such as The Spy (starring Sasha Baren Cohen) also glorify the Israeli secret services as an agency of good fighting the bad, which inevitably happens to be all the neighbouring Arab countries.
The latest addition to the list of TV shows supporting Israel in its propaganda war against the Palestinians is Netflix's The Messiah. In the show, a messiah-like figure from the Middle East causes concern for the CIA and the Shin Bet. In the first episode, he is seen to lead a group of Palestinian-Syrian refugees to Syria's border with presumably the occupied Golan Heights. A fictional CNN reporter declares that "as displaced Palestinians they claim they are entitled passage into the West Bank as rightful citizens". Yet Palestinian refugees in Syria come from historic Palestine, now recognised as Israel, and they do not demand to become citizens of the West Bank. Rather they demand their right to return to their villages and towns of origin from which they were displaced in 1948 - a right that is inalienable and enshrined in international law.
This is not pedantism; this kind of consistent and subtle denial of Palestinian rights seeps into what becomes hegemonic, accepted norms. This is further demonstrated when the show consistently refers to Jerusalem as Israel's capital, while international law and consensus denies it as such in recognition of the Palestinian right to the city.
We also know far too well what happens when Palestinian refugees march to Israeli military fences and demand their inalienable rights to return home. Indeed the courageous Great March of Return in Gaza shows us the horrific consequences of such an action: Israeli soldiers shot dead hundreds of Palestinians. In contrast, The Messiah shows a few Israeli army jeeps standing by as the refugees camp next to the fence.
Other Palestinian protests later on in the series are consistently referred to as riots - a word commonly used by mainstream media to delegitimise political protest, evoking connotations of senseless violence and often holding heavy racial undertones.
The show also glorifies a troubled Shin Bet agent who kidnaps and tortures a young Palestinian boy to near death, while it is later discovered that he previously killed another Palestinian boy in an act of revenge. Not only are Palestinians so dehumanised that their torture and killing is seen as justifiable, but the agent is also portrayed as a tortured soul, a heroic protagonist who works with a CIA agent for the sake of world security.
Similar to the portrayal of the CIA in the show Homeland, in The Messiah, the Shin Bet is portrayed as an ultimately virtuous organisation that sometimes has to undertake "unsavoury" activities for the sake of the greater good. Yet we have clear documentation of the Shin Bet's systematic human rights abuses and crimes against the Palestinians and others, including their torture and violent interrogations of Palestinians, which contravene international law and all considerations of morality. None of this is surprising, especially as the CIA continues to be portrayed as a force for good in mainstream media despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
While it can be expected that a large media organisation such as Netflix has no interest in humanising Palestinians or Middle Easterners or portraying their narratives accurately, it is particularly disappointing that Arab actors take part in these programmes and become complicit in racist propaganda and ultimately their own dehumanisation. Yet throughout the history of television and film this too has always been the case.
This latest surge of programmes focusing on Israel and trying to show it as a force for good is a clear attempt to win the current legitimisation battle. While it may seem like one of the less important battles, the effectiveness of such TV shows cannot be understated. They feed into global narratives on Israel and Palestine and soon become part of hegemonic norms or facts. Indeed in today's world, media services such as Netflix, and their popular TV shows, are the main sources of knowledge for many people. And although not as crude as classic Orientalist cinema and TV, these programmes are no less racist and perhaps even more dangerous in their subtlety and slick presentation.
The most well-known is the Israeli Netflix series Fauda (meaning chaos in Arabic) which has been a global hit. The series follows an undercover Israeli special forces unit known as the "musta'ribim", who disguise themselves as Palestinians to infiltrate Palestinian towns, villages and protests. They are particularly known for blending into protests dressed as young Palestinian men and kidnapping protesters. Fauda has been heavily criticised for dehumanising Palestinians and completely erasing the military occupation by failing to show any of the massive and visible infrastructure built across the West Bank and Gaza to keep Palestinians contained.
Another TV show, on HBO, called Our Boys, dramatises the infamous events surrounding the killing of three teenage Israeli settlers and the subsequent killing of a Palestinian boy, Mohammed Abu Khdeir. Many praised the show for being critical of Israel, particularly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced it as "anti-Semitic". However, the series not only reinforces the Israeli narrative but also shows Israel's secret police agency Shin Bet as a defender of the rule of law. Similar Netflix programmes such as The Spy (starring Sasha Baren Cohen) also glorify the Israeli secret services as an agency of good fighting the bad, which inevitably happens to be all the neighbouring Arab countries.
The latest addition to the list of TV shows supporting Israel in its propaganda war against the Palestinians is Netflix's The Messiah. In the show, a messiah-like figure from the Middle East causes concern for the CIA and the Shin Bet. In the first episode, he is seen to lead a group of Palestinian-Syrian refugees to Syria's border with presumably the occupied Golan Heights. A fictional CNN reporter declares that "as displaced Palestinians they claim they are entitled passage into the West Bank as rightful citizens". Yet Palestinian refugees in Syria come from historic Palestine, now recognised as Israel, and they do not demand to become citizens of the West Bank. Rather they demand their right to return to their villages and towns of origin from which they were displaced in 1948 - a right that is inalienable and enshrined in international law.
This is not pedantism; this kind of consistent and subtle denial of Palestinian rights seeps into what becomes hegemonic, accepted norms. This is further demonstrated when the show consistently refers to Jerusalem as Israel's capital, while international law and consensus denies it as such in recognition of the Palestinian right to the city.
We also know far too well what happens when Palestinian refugees march to Israeli military fences and demand their inalienable rights to return home. Indeed the courageous Great March of Return in Gaza shows us the horrific consequences of such an action: Israeli soldiers shot dead hundreds of Palestinians. In contrast, The Messiah shows a few Israeli army jeeps standing by as the refugees camp next to the fence.
Other Palestinian protests later on in the series are consistently referred to as riots - a word commonly used by mainstream media to delegitimise political protest, evoking connotations of senseless violence and often holding heavy racial undertones.
The show also glorifies a troubled Shin Bet agent who kidnaps and tortures a young Palestinian boy to near death, while it is later discovered that he previously killed another Palestinian boy in an act of revenge. Not only are Palestinians so dehumanised that their torture and killing is seen as justifiable, but the agent is also portrayed as a tortured soul, a heroic protagonist who works with a CIA agent for the sake of world security.
Similar to the portrayal of the CIA in the show Homeland, in The Messiah, the Shin Bet is portrayed as an ultimately virtuous organisation that sometimes has to undertake "unsavoury" activities for the sake of the greater good. Yet we have clear documentation of the Shin Bet's systematic human rights abuses and crimes against the Palestinians and others, including their torture and violent interrogations of Palestinians, which contravene international law and all considerations of morality. None of this is surprising, especially as the CIA continues to be portrayed as a force for good in mainstream media despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
While it can be expected that a large media organisation such as Netflix has no interest in humanising Palestinians or Middle Easterners or portraying their narratives accurately, it is particularly disappointing that Arab actors take part in these programmes and become complicit in racist propaganda and ultimately their own dehumanisation. Yet throughout the history of television and film this too has always been the case.
Boycott, Resist, Push Back: Shifting Israel narratives in the US
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released the list on Wednesday to Palestinain fanfare and Israeli condemnation.
The list names 112 business enterprises — 94 Israeli and 18 international (in the US, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Thailand and the United Kingdom. Among these, was the US-based home sharing company, Airbnb) — that have ties to illegal settlements, and are involved in one or more of the following 10 activities as stated by the OHCHR:
. The supply of equipment and materials facilitating the construction and the expansion of settlements and the wall, and associated infrastructures;
. The supply of surveillance and identification equipment for settlements, the wall and checkpoints directly linked with settlements;
.The supply of equipment for the demolition of housing and property, the destruction of agricultural farms, greenhouses, olive groves and crops;
. The supply of security services, equipment and materials to enterprises operating in settlements;
. The provision of services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements, including transport;
. Banking and financial operations helping to develop, expand or maintain settlements and their activities, including loans for housing and the development of businesses;
. The use of natural resources, in particular water and land, for business purposes;
. Pollution, and the dumping of waste in or its transfer to Palestinian villages;
. Captivity of the Palestinian financial and economic markets, as well as practices that disadvantage Palestinian enterprises, including through restrictions on movement, administrative and legal constraints;
. Use of benefits and reinvestments of enterprises owned totally or partially by settlers for developing, expanding and maintaining the settlements.
According to the council, the initial investigation began with a potential list of 321 companies, but was eventually narrowed down to the business enterprises listed below. The database is expected to be updated every year, with more companies to be added to the list.
Among the international businesses listed are several companies in the travel industry previously known to operate in settlements, like Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, and TripAdvisor.
American food manufacturer General Mills and telecommunications giant Motorola Inc. are also on the list, along with British corporation JCB Ltd. which manufactures construction and demolition equipment.
The high commissioner of the UN council is Chile's former president Michelle Bachelet. She released a statement along with the report, saying she was “conscious this issue has been, and will continue to be, highly contentious. However, after an extensive and meticulous review process - compiling the database had been a "complex process" involving "widespread discussions" with states, think-tanks, academics and the companies themselves - we are satisfied this fact-based report reflects the serious consideration that has been given to this unprecedented and highly complex mandate, and that it responds appropriately to the Human Rights Council’s request contained in resolution 31/36.”
The UN report comes in response to a 2016 UNHRC resolution calling for a "database for all businesses engaged in specific activities related to Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory".
The rights council, which is made up of 47 governments, had never before requested such a list scrutinising corporate activities.
In 2016, the UN Human Rights Council adopted resolution 31/36, requesting the OHCHR to produce a report investigating the “implications of settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”
Due to heavy Israeli and US pressure, the publication of the report was delayed for years, to the disdain of human rights groups around the world.The release of the report on Wednesday was swiftly criticized by Israel and its supporters. Whereas the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement released a statement praising the action as a “first significant and concrete step by any UN entity towards holding to account Israeli and international corporations that enable and profit from Israel’s grave violations of Palestinian rights.
“It is high time for all public institutions, city councils, churches, trade unions, cultural organizations, universities, investment funds, and others to stop contracting, procuring from or investing in any of the companies on the UN list of shame, to avoid complicity in Israel’s settlement enterprise,” the group said.
List of companies operating in illegal settlements in the West Bank, besides those listed by the BDS above:
Afikim Public Transportation Ltd.
Airbnb Inc.
American Israeli Gas Corporation Ltd.
Amir Marketing and Investments in Agriculture Ltd.
Amos Hadar Properties and Investments Ltd.
Angel Bakeries
Archivists Ltd.
Ariel Properties Group
Ashtrom Industries Ltd.
Ashtrom Properties Ltd.
Avgol Industries 1953 Ltd.
Bank Hapoalim B.M.
Bank Leumi Le-Israel B.M.
Bank of Jerusalem Ltd.
Beit Haarchiv Ltd.
Bezeq, the Israel Telecommunication
Corp Ltd.
Booking.com B.V.
C Mer Industries Ltd.
Café Café Israel Ltd.
Caliber 3
Cellcom Israel Ltd.
Cherriessa Ltd.
Chish Nofei Israel Ltd.
Citadis Israel Ltd.
Comasco Ltd.
Darban Investments Ltd.
Delek Group Ltd.
Delta Israel
Dor Alon Energy in Israel 1988 Ltd.
Egis Rail
Egged, Israel Transportation Cooperative Society Ltd.
Energix Renewable Energies Ltd.
EPR Systems Ltd.
Extal Ltd.
Expedia Group Inc.
Field Produce Ltd.
Field Produce Marketing Ltd.
First International Bank of Israel Ltd.
Galshan Shvakim Ltd.
General Mills Israel Ltd.
Hadiklaim Israel Date Growers Cooperative Ltd.
Hot Mobile Ltd.
Hot Telecommunications Systems Ltd.
Industrial Buildings Corporation Ltd.
Israel Discount Bank Ltd.
Israel Railways Corporation Ltd.
Italek Ltd.
JC Bamford Excavators Ltd.
Jerusalem Economy Ltd.
Kavim Public Transportation Ltd.
Lipski Installation and Sanitation Ltd.
Matrix IT Ltd.
Mayer Davidov Garages Ltd.
Mekorot Water Company Ltd.
Mercantile Discount Bank Ltd.
Merkavim Transportation Technologies Ltd.
Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd.
Modi’in Ezrachi Group Ltd.
Mordechai Aviv Taasiot Beniyah 1973 Ltd.
Motorola Solutions Israel Ltd.
Municipal Bank Ltd.
Naaman Group Ltd.
Nof Yam Security Ltd.
Ofertex Industries 1997 Ltd.
Opodo Ltd.
Bank Otsar Ha-Hayal Ltd.
Partner Communications Company Ltd.
Paz Oil Company Ltd.
Pelegas Ltd.
Pelephone Communications Ltd.
Proffimat S.R. Ltd.
Rami Levy Chain Stores Hashikma Marketing 2006 Ltd.
Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing Communication Ltd.
Re/Max Israel
Shalgal Food Ltd.
Shapir Engineering and Industry Ltd.
Shufersal Ltd.
Sonol Israel Ltd.
Superbus Ltd.
Tahal Group International B.V.
TripAdvisor Inc.
Twitoplast Ltd.
Unikowsky Maoz Ltd.
YES
Zakai Agricultural Know-how and inputs Ltd.
ZF Development and Construction
ZMH Hammermand Ltd.
Zorganika Ltd.
Zriha Hlavin Industries Ltd.
Alon Blue Square Israel Ltd.
Alstom S.A.
Altice Europe N.V.
Amnon Mesilot Ltd.
Ashtrom Group Ltd.
Booking Holdings Inc.
Brand Industries Ltd.
Delta Galil Industries Ltd.
eDreams ODIGEO S.A.
Egis S.A.
Electra Ltd.
Export Investment Company Ltd.
General Mills Inc.
Hadar Group
Hamat Group Ltd.
Indorama Ventures P.C.L.
Kardan N.V.
Mayer’s Cars and Trucks Co. Ltd.
Motorola Solutions Inc.
Natoon Group
Villar International Ltd.
Greenkote P.L.C.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh threatened to take international legal action against the companies named in the report, demanding they "immediately close their headquarters and branches inside illegal Israeli settlements because their presence contradicts international and UN resolutions". He added Palestinians would also "demand compensation" for what he called "their use of our occupied land illegally."
Human Rights Watch's deputy advocacy chief Bruno Stagno welcomed the publication of the database: This "should put all companies on notice: to do business with illegal settlements is to aid in the commission of war crimes".
The report highlights the international community's stance, that these settlements in the West Bank are "illegal under international law". Unfortunately, it doesn't have any legality in terms of implementing consequences for these companies, but it does open them to the potential for any Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Wednesday's report, however, stressed that companies do not have to remain on the database forever.
"Where there are reasonable grounds to believe that ... the business enterprise is ceasing or no longer involved in the relevant activity, the business enterprise would be removed from the database," it said.
The report recommended that the database be updated annually, and urged the Human Rights Council to appoint a group of independent experts to handle this task.
Trump's plan
Israel occupied the West Bank and Est Jérusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967 in a move never recognised by the international community.
Its settlements are deemed illegal under international law and widely seen as a sticking point in peace negotiations.
Some 600,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank and Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem among about 2.9 million Palestinians.
In recent weeks, Binyamin Netanyahu has pledged to annex Israel's more than 100 settlements in the West Bank, a move that he US signalled would greenlight.
The UN report came a day after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Addrressed the UN Security Council, rejecting US President Donald Trump's so-called Middle East plan.
The plan envisions a disjointed Palestinian state that turns over key parts of the West Bank to Israel and favours Israel on key contentious issues including borders, the status of Jerusalem and Jewish settlements.
The proposal was made without the input of Palestinians, who broke off ties with the Trump administration after it controversially recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in late 2017.
BRASIL
O Papa Francisco recebeu Lula no Vaticano e conversaram longamente sobre as desigualdades que avassalam a nossa América Latina e os outros continentes.
AOS FATOS:Todas as declarações de Bolsonaro, checadas
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