« IDF Enters Gaza | Main | The Unbearable Lightness of the Blood Libel »
January 04, 2009
Terrorist Rhetoric: Fact vs. Fiction or What I Learned in Hollywood
Let's begin with Jack's most excellent War in Gaza Update # 8.
Also just published is Haveil Havalim #199.
Last night, Karen got all upset by the deeply biased media coverage—Fox was the best, putting the war in context, not shilling for Hamas, etc.—and the world-wide protests against Israel.
I thought to myself: what else is new? It's not as if the world loves Jews, except when they are dead in massive numbers—Auschwitz and company—and even that genocide is actively denied by the Arab-Muslim world.
And then I remembered something that Bibi Netanyahu told us at the Nefesh B'nefesh Bloggers Conference; it went something like this, and I'm paraphrasing from memory:
“The best weapon we have against our enemies is the truth.”
I've watched movies obsessively since I was a child. I've studied movies, obsessively for just as long. I've written and produced movies and TV shows for over 25 years and I'm here to tell you that fiction is far more potent than fact. In fact, fiction, well-crafted, becomes more real than reality.
Fiction carries a simple and clear message. Fiction has a story-line that is deeply personal. Fiction lays out a moral universe that is comfortable.
And that is why the big lies that dominate the media and Arab-Muslim propaganda are so powerful—they carry dramatic heat—and the cool facts we recite fall on deaf ears.
The Muslim Arabs have created a narrative whereby they are the eternal victims of Jewish Israeli aggression. The Muslim Arabs have created a narrative that, no matter how horrendously they act—homicide bombings, pogroms, Jew-hating rhetoric that makes Nazi propaganda look tame—it counts for nothing because Israel and Jews are so evil that anything is justified.
What to do?
Do we resort to endless lies, do we parade dead babies in the streets in order to score valuable minutes on CNN and the BBC?
Well, of course not. Israel-Judaism respects truth, and unlike the Arab-Mulsim world, we sanctify life.
There is only one rational path and that is to do what has to be done for self-preservation. Apologize to no one and to make it clear, especially to the media who shill for the Arab-Muslim terrorists, that their presence in Israel, or Gaza, is not welcome as long as they aid and abet Jew-killers.
Israel refused to allow UN rep Richard Falk to enter Israel. The media complained for maybe thirty seconds and then it was forgotten.
Why?
Because they were intimidated. Because they realized that if Falk can be punished, so can they. Because Israel stopped being a punching bag. Israel said enough is enough, this man is a U.Nazi and we have the right to expel such creatures.
It's almost funny, the Israeli government had little problem expelling 9,000 Jews from their homes in Gaza—which lead directly to the Second Lebanon War, and to Operation Cast Lead—but the government moans and kvetches and refuses to expel hostile reporters who, with their dispatches, enable Hamas, a proudly genocidal organization.
Busy, busy today doing stuff, but we will update as often as we can.
Morale booster—for our troops.
10:25 am PST The IDF's Greatest Hits, Take #2.
Another senior Hamas terrorist, Muhammad Hilo, was also killed in the same airstrike. Hilo was in charge of the Hamas special forces in Khan Yunis.
12:56 pm PST Hey, have you noticed that when Arabs slaughter other Arabs there are no protests from the, ahem, international community, or from the peace-loving Arab Muslim street. BTW, these alleged Israeli collaborators are, almost always, victims of private tribal and religious vendettas. Yup, for the Caliphite Islamists it's a good time to settle personal scores and blame it on the evil Jooz.
1:08 pm PST Good Lord, 35 Arab civilian casualties. Oh wait, they were slaughtered by an Arab-Muslim female homicide bomber in Iraq. Nothing to get excited about here.
1:12 pm PST Baruch Dayan Emet, Blessed be the True Judge.
1:16 pm PST The Arab Muslim world spins their false narrative using faux photography, and creating fictional scenes for the news. It's called propaganda. Naturally, the gullible western press has not a clue.
1:21 pm PST Dead babies on parade. Hey, did it ever occur to anyone that maybe the children were killed by Hamas. They have this habit of blowing themselves up as they build bombs intended for Jews. And Hamas are embedded in dense civilian areas. Barbarians.
1:25 pm PST I'm a glutton for punishment. Just turned on Al CNN and wouldn't you know, the news bunny is asking an Israeli spokesman about humanitarian aid to Gaza. I'm waiting for her to ask the same question to the Egyptians who share a border with Gaza. BTW, don't the Egyptians just love their Arab brothers in Gaza? Answer: No, they don't. Egypt would like nothing better than for Hamas to be annihilated to the last man.
1:37 pm PST The IDF's Greatest Hits continue.
1:48 pm PST Ah, Paris, city of lights, fine food, buttery croissant, the Louvre, wretched movies, and oh yeah, terrorists wild in the streets calling for Jewish blood.
1:56 pm PST The Utility of Force in Gaza, a fine and rational analysis by a man I'm proud to call a close friend.
2:03 pm PST Per Rahel's request. Most combat soldiers in the IDF are male, but women also serve, and they are beautifully deadly.
And of course:
2:36 pm PST My mate Aussie Dave continues to live-blog the war. Awesome coverage. Next time I'm in Israel I'm going to buy Aussie Dave a beer or ten.
2:38 pm PST Jameel, not his real name, is also blogging the war live and for this man we will buy, what else, waffles.
2:44 pm PST Digression for the sake of sanity: Doris Kenyon (1897 - 1979) was a lovely actress of the silent screen. Today she's pretty much forgotten. But she was the favorite star of a woman named Alma Sophia Kappelhoff of Cincinnati. When Alma gave birth to a little girl in 1924, she named her Doris in honor of the star. Doris Kapelhoff went to Hollywood and became Doris Day. Talent via osmosis.
Doris Kenyon
Doris Kapelhoff AKA Doris Day
Seraphic Secret has to take a break, helping a young screenwriter with a script.
4:38 pm PST Rule #1 of screenwriting. Figure out what your main character wants, why he can't get it, and then how he gets it. If you neglect this simple narrative progression you are screwed.
4:40 pm PST One of my favorite military bloggers, Op-For, hangs at the Erez Crossing.
4:57 pm PST This from Jameel at the Muqata:
Zvi Yehezkeli (Channel 10 TV) reports that the machine gun weaponry firing at IDF troops now in Gaza City were given to the PA and Fatah by Israel as a "sign of goodwill, confidence-building measure."
In screenwriting this is called irony. In real life it's suicidal insanity.
5:01 pm PST Hey, I have a fab-u-lous idea: let's divide Jerusalem and hand it over to the Arabs! What could possibly go wrong?
5:02 pm PST I'm overflowing with brilliance. Let's expel every Jew from Judea and Samaria AKA The West Bank, hand it over to the Arabs and heck, they will be so touched that peace will break out and everyone will sing Kumbaya. Oh wait, we tried that in Gaza. Didn't quite work out. But gee-willikers, let's try it again. What could possibly go wrong?
5:13 pm PST Soccer Dad trains his laser sights on terrorist spokesman Christian Al Amanpour. I look at her on CNN and two words come to mind: Leni Riefenstahl.
5:42 pm PST ABC news just reported that the reason Egypt has not opened its border with Gaza is because they have been advised not to by Israel. If you believe this you are a first-class moron. Hamas is a splinter group of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist terror group at war with the Egyptian regime. The Brotherhood assassinated Anwar Sadat. In fact, in spite of their public pronouncements, Egypt is delighted that Israel is finally rolling over Hamas.
5:51 pm PST Middle Eastern politics alert: the peace-loving Persians have just put a bounty on Mubarak's head—literally.
5:57 pm PST Mugabe—Jimmy Carter's bestest pal—is using hunger as a weapon in Zimbabwe. Look at all the protestors in the streets. Oh, wait, they're far too busy calling for Israel's destruction. Nothing going on in Zimbabwe but mass murder. Ho-hum.
6:12 pm PST Save the poor starving Gazans. H/T Elder of Ziyon via Joshua Pundit.
6:59 pm PST Gaza City Surrounded. From Joshua Pundit:
...the IDF have pretty much closed the ring around Gaza City, using variations of similar tactics they've used before to divide the Strip into three sections.
The IDF already controls the ground at the Hamas launching sites in the North Strip in what used to be Jewish communities around Netzarim and at Beit Hanoun in the north and has captured parts of the Zeitun refugee camp. They also took over the old airfield at Dahaniya.
At the same time, the Israeli navy dropped off IDF troops in an amphibious landing in the southern Philadelphi enclave which is the main artery for the weapons smuggling tunnels which supply Hamas and the IDF has almost completely taken this area over from Hamas.
The idea (which appears to have been fairly successful) is to isolate the diferent Hamas commands from one another, kill off or capture the Hamas jihadis outside the ring around Gaza City and isolate Hamas' main force in the tunnel complex known to Army intel as 'underground Gaza'. That's where Hamas' leaders and what's left of their fighters are holed up. And of course, it's built underneath civilian areas.
Full story, here.
7:20 pm PST You know who's not happy? The Iranians. They have spent millions arming and training the Hamas terrorists and in just a few days thousands of their missiles have been destroyed, Hamas capabilities seriously degraded, and terrorist bodies are piling up like cordwood. In addition, the Mullahs can't help but notice that Israeli intel is scary accurate, indicating top notch electronic surveillance patiently compiled over years, and, no doubt human intel from Arabic speaking Israelis agents—that's what the Arabs get for expelling the Jews from their lands—and Arabs in Gaza and Egypt who are sick of Hamas, plus Arab states—Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia—who are anxious to see Hamas liquidated. The Mullahs realize that the IDF has the Nantaz nuclear facilities in their sights, and a plan that will turn it into ashes. Believe me, behind their dopey bluster, the Persians are plotzing.
Seraphic Secret has to sign off now. Gonna sit down and watch Harold Lloyd's last silent film Speedy (1928).
Say goodnight BB:
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at January 4, 2009 09:16 AM
Comments
Seraphic Secret is private property, that's right, it's an extension of our home, and as such, Karen and I have instituted two Seraphic Rules and we ask commentors to act respectfully.
1. No profanity.2. No Israel bashing. We debate, we discuss, we are respectful. You know what Israel bashing is. The world is full of it. Seraphic Secret is one of the few places in the world that will not tolerate this form of anti-Semitism. That's it. Break either of these rules and you will be banned.
Victor Davis Hanson has a good write up on the moral climate today and the Gaza War:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmI4MWRiODAxNzhkN2QwOTk4NGIyYzFmNzdlOTk4MjI=
Entitled "Creepy Times"...."Again all very creepy — the stuff of Tolkien's Mordor. It is now clear that the so-called and much praised "international community," the hallowed U.N., the revered EU, all pretty much are indifferent to the survival of a democratic Israel, or are actively supportive of its terrorist Hamas enemy. Only the U.S. (for now) stands by a constitutional state in its war against a murderous terrorist clique, with annihilation its aim and religous fascism its creed."
Posted by: Bill Brandt at January 4, 2009 10:46 AM
Of all the mistakes Israel made in abandoning Gaza, the most egregious was its failure to secure the Philadelphia corridor. Had it retained control of this vital area, Hamas would not have been able to smuggle anywhere near the vast quantities of weapons they have. Israel could have kept control of the Philadelphia corridor even while evacuating civilians from Gaza. Let's hope they learn from their mistakes this time around, though I'm not confident they will.
Posted by: kishke at January 4, 2009 11:34 AM
I just read a moving post (actually, it was an email) from a family who made aliyah some years ago with young children. Now their youngest is in the regular army, and their oldest daughter just got called up for reserve duty, and had to leave her studies indefinitely in order to serve. Please, would you consider putting up some morale-boosting photos for the women who are serving, too? I know that the guys are very much in the majority, but I'm sure that the women soldiers would appreciate it!
Posted by: Rahel ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.seraphicpress.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 4, 2009 01:54 PM
"fiction is far more potent than fact"...is it fiction vs fact, or is it the carefully-crafted *image* vs the *word*?
I'd be interested in your thoughts on this post: metaphors, interfaces, and thought processes, which relates to this topic.
Posted by: david foster at January 4, 2009 02:32 PM
Hi David - well it was a very long post and my attention span was a bit shorter - but if the gist of the article was that "better to have a sensory based flow of info vs factual (text) - that has been the problem with much of the media - and schools - and it applies directly to the Gaza war.
Show a crying baby without any knowledge of the background - a sensory basis is worse than no info as it allows one to short circuit their logic and connect with their immediate "feelings".
Now you add this to the typical relativism of the left and you can see where we are today.
Posted by: Bill Brandt at January 4, 2009 04:43 PM
From a geopolitical standpoint this and similar conflicts seem to benefit Iran because they keeps Israel occupied.
Posted by: Quantumburrito at January 4, 2009 05:48 PM
Well my morale has been boosted. ;)
Posted by: Jack at January 4, 2009 11:01 PM
Dear Robert: I really didn't like it when you compared Christiane Amanpour to Leni Riefenstahl. Leni Riefenstahl, may she rot in hell, had talent.
I assume you're fasting tomorrow. I wish anyone on this website who is fasting tomorrow an easy one.
Posted by: Miranda Rose Smith at January 5, 2009 03:23 AM
Hamas Cowards
Hamas terrorists are hiding out in Gaza hospitals, disguised as doctors and nurses. In the U.S., terrorists also hide out in hospitals, disguised as health insurance adjusters.
Posted by: Jake at January 5, 2009 04:28 AM
I'd second David Foster's point - is the difference whether the narrative is factual or not, or is it a matter of how well it's dramatized?
Posted by: alterbentzion at January 5, 2009 12:32 PM
David, Alter:
A narrative that is factual, badly presented, is close to useless. Alan Dershowitz, G-d bless him, presents his arguments beautifully. But he comes across like an academic wonk in the courthouse, and the passionate Arabs who oppose him blow him out of the water with their white hot lies.
An image that is true and brilliantly presented is best.
And sometimes, image is all.
Example: Marlene Dietrich chowing down with the troops during WWII. What people saw was a great Hollywood star supporting the allies. This was invaluable propaganda and she did not have to say a word beyond, “Hey, boys.”
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at January 5, 2009 12:52 PM
Bill:
Thanks so much for the great link
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at January 5, 2009 12:54 PM
Kishke:
I'm with you, not sure Israel has learned from past mistakes. Only time will tell.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at January 5, 2009 12:58 PM
Rahel:
Done, with image-making pleasure.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at January 5, 2009 01:00 PM
Quantam:
I write about the Iranian factor at the end of my post. Thanks so much.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at January 5, 2009 01:02 PM
Jack:
We aim to please.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at January 5, 2009 01:04 PM
Miranda:
Point well taken.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at January 5, 2009 01:06 PM
Jake:
I'm waiting for the dinosaur media to report this well-known fact.
Sigh.
Will wait till hell freezes over.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at January 5, 2009 01:07 PM
Mr. Avrech,
I decided to take a break from watching the relatively fair coverage of this crisis on Fox News to see what those oh so biased individuals at CNN were talking about. I've always known of CNN's one sided pro Palestinian/Hamas reporting, but I have to say I was shocked, and angered by the absolutely ridiculous "reporting" of these so-called journalists. Ms. Amanpour in particular seems to have abandoned any professionalism or integrity she may have had, if she ever had any to begin with.
CNN cannot wait to get into Gaza and lap up every last bit of disinformation the murderers of Hamas will feed them. CNN seems to have gone off the deep end and has gone from biased, to blatantly Anti-Israel pro Hamas. They have become terrorist sympathizers, and the new propaganda arm of Hamas. It's sickening, and infuriating to watch. I found your article to be very interesting, and very informative. Well done Sir.
Mr. R. Veale
P.S. It's always good to see pictures of the very dedicated, and beautiful female members of the IDF. Thanks for posting them.
Posted by: R. Veale at January 6, 2009 01:18 AM