No Trophies for Terrorists; Israel should keep cameras away from scenes of carnage

AT SOME POINT ISRAELIS are likely to start asking themselves: Why should we continue to let TV reporters and news photographers take pictures of terrorist murder scenes? Of dead and maimed Israelis, shocked bystanders, grieving families, blood in the streets?

Who gave TV cameras the right to be there in the first place? Exactly why should we allow the shoving of cameras in the faces of suffering people?

In any place at any time, it is intolerable that a hurt or grieving person should be required to run the TV-camera obstacle course for the gratification of spectacle-aficionados. In Israel today it is intolerable times ten, because we have every reason to assume that some Palestinians do not merely watch, they gloat. Surely the least any society owes to the wounded and their stricken friends and families is to shield them from cameramen catering to this bloodlust. After a terror-bombing we see the wounded rushed past on stretchers in their ripped-up clothing, covered in blood and dazed with pain--but with dignity intact, and so they do their best to shield their faces from the leering lenses. The intrepid cameramen must be proud.

Israel (in any case) is at war, and what could justify the bizarre practice of showing the enemy exactly what his latest attack has accomplished? In April 1941, the British government discontinued its weekly announcements of shipping lost to the Nazis. Thereafter announcements were made monthly. It seemed unnecessary to keep the Nazis absolutely up-to-date on their progress in strangling Britain. Churchill wrote to his Minister for Information: "When the comment is made that we are afraid to publish weekly because, as you say, 'we desire to cover up,' . . . the answer should be, 'Well, that is what we are going to do anyway.' Friends and enemies will no doubt put on their own interpretations."

More is at stake, though, than honor and dignity and wartime prudence. There is reason to believe that proto-terrorists aren't merely thrilled when they see Jews murdered and other Jews undone by grief; they are inspired. Such video sequences are the trophies of the TV age. The world's philosophers have fooled around with TV but haven't put into simple words TV's fundamental role nowadays in ratifying reality. If you haven't seen it on TV, it hasn't quite happened.

We know how important videotapes and TV have become in various parts of Arab society. We have heard about Al Jazeera. We know about videotaped messages from master terrorists, and videotaped murders. We can remember a generation back to the audio cassettes recorded in Paris that helped sweep Khomeini to power in Iran.

Suppose there were no more photos or videos of terrorist crime scenes; suppose they were banned under Israeli law. Suppose relatives and responsible authorities were notified immediately, and everyone else had to guess. Israel is a small, talkative country, and word would get out right away. Proto-terrorists would hear all about the latest attack--but their cherished trophies would be missing. No videotaped misery to celebrate. Mere word of mouth, which is pale by comparison. Words are powerful (or used to be), but the modern terrorist wants video.

Of course Israel is a democracy, where the government must report and be held accountable. But it could report in words instead of pictures. It could report weeks after the fact. All rational people accept limitations on their right to know in time of war.

TERROR GROUPS would no doubt respond at first by boasting about ever-increasing death tolls. But without pictures, the actual crimes would gradually dematerialize in proto-terrorist minds. Perhaps they'd be gassed up into great, zeppelin-sized myths--but myths are less inspiring now that they must compete with TV footage. Of course, suicide murderers who crave admission to the super-hot whorehouse on high have a reason to kill that is unrelated to TV coverage. But prospective murderers do want to be famous, like everybody else; we have seen their suicide notes, videotaped for worldwide distribution. If the great deed itself is not going to be on TV after all, if your posthumous career as a TV personality is going to be cruelly curtailed--does it still pay to kill and die? Not all potential murderers are the same. But if even one decided that, on second thought . . .

"Cycle of violence" is a phony phrase, suggesting that Israelis and Palestinians kill each other as part of some sort of tiresome Punch and Judy show. There is no "cycle of violence" in the Middle East; there are Jews being murdered, and there are consequences when they are murdered. (When anyone is murdered there are consequences--the "cycle of violence" is called "justice," except where Israelis are involved.) But it is possible that by allowing terrorist murders to de-materialize in the Palestinian mind (they will remain all too real to Israelis), Israeli governments could buy themselves some time and flexibility in planning their military responses. There might be many advantages to the only decent course.

Some people claim that, in an age of terrorist murder, Israel needs those TV pictures so that the world will understand her. But surely those who do not by now understand never will; and those who do understand will go on understanding without the gruesome pictures.

In one of history's great elegies, the future King David mourns Saul and Jonathan: "Your glory O Israel lies slain on the heights; How have the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath, Proclaim it not in the courts of Ashkelon --lest the daughters of the Palestinians rejoice; lest the daughters of the Gentiles exult..." (II Sam. 1:19-20). The Hebrew "P'lishtim" is usually translated "Philistines," but can also be rendered "Palestinians." Three thousand years later, there is a brand new crop of "Palestinians" but the Jews are still fighting for a safe handhold in the land of Israel. They are still mourning, and their mourning is still nobody's business but their own, and (as usual) the future king said it exactly right.

"Ill bet the media showed the Rodney King video more then they did the WTC attack one."

I don't know if that's true or not. It's neither here nor there. Arguably, the Rodney King tape is more important.

We expect our enemies to hate us, and we expect them to do horrible things. And we should kick their asses when they do. This is in no way an apologia for the scumbags responsible for the attacks of September 11th.

However, in a democracy we should not be afraid of the agents of our own government. As good Americans we can rally around and help defeat the evil people from the outside that attack us, but we need to be secure from those we appoint to help protect us.

At the WTC, nearly 3,000 people died. This is a great tragedy, and we need to make sure that those who are responsible pay for it. But an external attack on a free state shouldn't surprise anybody.

The Rodney King beating may have only physically affected one person, but it raises questions that go to the bedrock of democracy, and ultimately affects us all.

The article makes some very good points. The grief caused by these homicide should not be exploited, and I am certain that the Palestians thrive on viewing the devastation they have caused.

On the other hand, without the videos the world would have less understanding as to why Israeli tanks are moving through Palestinian neighborhoods. Unfortunately, the war between the Palestinians and the Israelis is continuously subjected to world opinion, and the Palestinians use the media to exaggerate and flat out lie about carnage caused by the Israelis. The Palestinians play to and for the cameras in their efforts to sway world opinion and it has been effective -- even when they are caught lying.

World opinion has caused the Israelis to all but apologize for killing a Hamas leader because the Palestinians paraded a dead two-month-old baby through the streets (one of the civilians the Hamas leader was hiding behind!).

So yeah, unfortunately the world needs to see the videos so that we better understand Israel's rataliation strikes.

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