What Nazi Shootings Tell Me About West Bank Killings
By Jordan Kutzik
Watching
horrifying tapes of Nazi executions can tell us a lot about the
authenticity of a video depicting the killings of two Palestinian teens
in the West Bank
While
studying Yiddish in Lithuania during the summer of 2008 my fellow
students and I visited Ponar, the site where 100,000 people, including
nearly an entire branch of my family, were murdered in mass shootings.
Visiting
the scene of such an incomprehensible crime committed on an industrial
scale I became aware of the physical details of how the killings were
carried out. After reading (and translating) accounts from survivors I
found that I still could not visualize what had occurred so I sought out
videos of similar massacres committed by Einsatzgruppen, mobile SS
killing units. During the following fall I saw nearly every such film
that is available, as well as films of war-time atrocities in El
Salvador. At the time I was considering studying forensics in order to
work with criminal investigations of war-crimes. I soon realized,
however, that I wasn’t psychologically cut out for such work.
My
experience with viewing films of shootings did, however, leave me with a
well-trained, albeit non-expert eye that I use to critically evaluate
films of disputed incidents. One thing I’ve learned watching films of
such material is that the human body reacts to the trauma of a gunshot
wound in a wide variety of ways. The Hollywood stereotype of a person
being shot and keeling over like a felled tree is just that, a
stereotype. It does happen. But people also sometimes run and suddenly
collapse after being shot. People sometimes twitch involuntarily after
being shot. And in a few instances I’ve even seen a person be shot,
fall, catch himself with some apparent coordination and then lie still
shortly thereafter.
Since
the filmed deaths of Palestinian teenagers Nadim Nawarah and Muhammad
Salameh, on May 15 during a demonstration in the West Bank town of
Bitunya were released to the public many people have commented on social
media that the films must have been faked because such a display of
coordination is not possible. Among them is Rabbi Kenneth L. Cohen, the
founder and director of the Vine and Fig Tree Project, a religious
pro-peace organization.
Related
In
a series of Tweets sent on May 21, which are no longer publicly
viewable, Cohen responded to tweets about the footage by claiming that a
person catching himself in such a way was “inconsistent” with his
having been shot and that the films were therefore staged. Cohen used
the term “Pallywood,” a term combining Palestine and Hollywood, as a
hashtag to refer to his belief that the films were staged.
Before
I go any further I would like to look more closely at the films in
question. The Israeli army has stated that they are either staged or
edited in a dishonest way and having no relevant experience with
film-doctoring I cannot evaluate such claims. Either way I can, with
absolute certainty, say that the way that Nadim Nawarah reacted on film
to being shot was in no way “inconsistent” with his being shot. In fact,
looking at the film it strongly appears that he did not catch himself
as Cohen alleges. In the first two films, shot from behind, Nawarah can
be seen to fall forward, his arms blocking his fall.
Although
at first glance it may appear to be a voluntary coordinated motion,
another video of him being shot filmed from a different angle strongly
gives the impression that although his arms blocked his fall there was
no coordination behind their movement. Even so, had Nawarah caught
himself as Cohen alleges this would in no way in and of itself deny the
veracity of the footage. I’ve seen films with people doing just that
after being shot.
Cohen’s
claim that the footage was part of a “Pallywood” conspiracy due to
Nawarah’s having caught himself is profoundly disturbing to me, not in
the ignorance it evinces about how people should appear after being shot
but in its continuation of the idea that Palestinians are inherently
liars. Unlike Cohen, I am not an expert in peacemaking. But I do know
that peace is built on trust, goodwill and mutual respect. And there is
nothing more disrespectful and indeed dehumanizing than stating without
evidence that a child didn’t die correctly.
What
message does it send to Nawarah’s mother shortly after burying her son,
to hear that a prominent rabbi in America said that the way her son
fell after being mortally wounded wasn’t “consistent” with how he should
have fallen? Does such a statement encourage peace?
I
do not know what happened in this case. I was not there and have only
seen the same films that are publicly available that many of you have
seen. Although footage taken by CNN released yesterday clearly shows
that an Israeli soldier fired the shot that killed Nawarah, I would
reserve judgment as to why two young men lost their lives. I have no
information with which to judge the soldiers’ actions.
But
neither Cohen nor the thousands of other “Pallywood-ers” have any
information with which to judge the way that Nawarah died, either. I
wish that they too would reserve judgment and acknowledge the
Palestinian witnesses common humanity enough to consider the idea that
they might just be telling the truth. Sadly it appears to me that these
people are more concerned about controlling the narrative than getting
to the truth.
Read more: http://blogs.forward.com/
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