This summer’s blockbuster hit: The IDF assassins
by Gideon Levy
le temps des assassins
Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/this-summer-s-blockbuster-hit-the-idf-assassins.premium-1.535096
The Israel Defense Forces is proud to present: assassinations − the film version. “The Snipers,” a propaganda clip produced by a snipers’ unit about four years ago and now available on the Internet − about a quarter of a million people have already seen it on YouTube − is the big hit of the summer, the blockbuster of the ground forces’ “department of developing, training and learning.” The film is meant to tempt young Israelis to become snipers. It is nauseating.
Dammit. It’s interrupted in the middle by a commercial for a baby product: “From the very first day you did everything possible to protect your baby.” You will protect your baby, and the IDF will corrupt him when the boy turns 18. The soft music of the baby product is replaced by a tune that accompanies cheap crime films. The expertise of the unit is presented as though this were an ad for insect exterminators: “Precise sniping at short and medium range. You specialize in camouflage and in building a military outpost, in open and built-up areas, day and night.” The guardian of Israel will not slumber or sleep. Volunteer for the snipers.