THE GATEKEEPERS
The State of Israel was 65 in mid-April. As a native who preceded this by 18 months, I have witnessed Israel’s existence as it proceeded from the excitement and optimism of a youth fired by idealism and common cause to overweight retirement age clouded by smugness and sectoral violence, both verbal and physical.
Sadly, somewhere along the way, a national Tardis whipped the nation from one to other without passing through a period of maturity.
I was also there in the run-up to the general election in January, and witnessed the mood of national near-despair throw up two new parties led by men with no experience of government. One, Naftali Bennett, rose from nowhere to capture 10 per cent of the 120 seats in the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) and has joined Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet. His manifesto is based on refusing to talk to the Palestinians, never mind offering them a state. In that, he echoes His Master’s Voice and that of his master’s extreme right-hand man, Avigdor Lieberman, who is awaiting trial for fraud, but remains all-powerful.
I am telling you this because, as I watched The Gatekeepers, I wondered whether any of them had seen this seeringly impressive Oscar-nominated documentary.
There is little to say about it as a film. I will not wax lyrical about the cinematography or the special effects. Indeed, as I close my eyes and recall it, it might as well have been shot in black and white. And so is its message, which comes via interviews with six of the most recent heads of the Shin Bet, Israel’s fearsome security agency.
The massive, seemingly impossible achievement of director Dror Moreh was to persuade these hardened soldiers not only to speak to him, but to open their hearts, too. All six confessed to having made horrific decisions, from ordering, after their capture, the killing of the suspected hijackers of a bus; the torture of terror suspects in ‘ticking bomb situations’, and the ‘targeted assassinations’ of terror leaders. All six achieved enviable successes in their field. And all six agreed that their activities, and the military action – to protect illegally occupied and settled territories – it informed and complemented, were ultimately futile. Peace, they all agreed, requires withdrawal from the West Bank and talking to the Palestinians about the future of both nations.
The most disillusioned, Ami Ayalon, said: ‘We win every battle, but we lose the war.’
The oldest, Avraham Shalom, one of the team that kidnapped Adolf Eichmann and brought him to trial in Jerusalem, says simply: ‘We must talk to the Palestinians. There is no other option.’
Anyone interested in the region, which may well yet spawn Armageddon, should see this film, and watch it very closely.
Sadly, somewhere along the way, a national Tardis whipped the nation from one to other without passing through a period of maturity.
I was also there in the run-up to the general election in January, and witnessed the mood of national near-despair throw up two new parties led by men with no experience of government. One, Naftali Bennett, rose from nowhere to capture 10 per cent of the 120 seats in the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) and has joined Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet. His manifesto is based on refusing to talk to the Palestinians, never mind offering them a state. In that, he echoes His Master’s Voice and that of his master’s extreme right-hand man, Avigdor Lieberman, who is awaiting trial for fraud, but remains all-powerful.
I am telling you this because, as I watched The Gatekeepers, I wondered whether any of them had seen this seeringly impressive Oscar-nominated documentary.
There is little to say about it as a film. I will not wax lyrical about the cinematography or the special effects. Indeed, as I close my eyes and recall it, it might as well have been shot in black and white. And so is its message, which comes via interviews with six of the most recent heads of the Shin Bet, Israel’s fearsome security agency.
The massive, seemingly impossible achievement of director Dror Moreh was to persuade these hardened soldiers not only to speak to him, but to open their hearts, too. All six confessed to having made horrific decisions, from ordering, after their capture, the killing of the suspected hijackers of a bus; the torture of terror suspects in ‘ticking bomb situations’, and the ‘targeted assassinations’ of terror leaders. All six achieved enviable successes in their field. And all six agreed that their activities, and the military action – to protect illegally occupied and settled territories – it informed and complemented, were ultimately futile. Peace, they all agreed, requires withdrawal from the West Bank and talking to the Palestinians about the future of both nations.
The most disillusioned, Ami Ayalon, said: ‘We win every battle, but we lose the war.’
The oldest, Avraham Shalom, one of the team that kidnapped Adolf Eichmann and brought him to trial in Jerusalem, says simply: ‘We must talk to the Palestinians. There is no other option.’
Anyone interested in the region, which may well yet spawn Armageddon, should see this film, and watch it very closely.