Little Green Footballs

Monday, March 01, 2004

Charles Johnson's child abuse

LGF supremo Charles Johnson is not known for pulling his punches. Repeatedly Johnson has used the image of Palestinian children - often dressed as 'martyrs' or fighters - on protest marches to denounce Palestinians for abusing their children (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=9899. Whatever one's opinion of this practice may be, it is hard not to take into consideration that these are people under immense internal and external pressure, and that such pressure can lead some to do things which outsiders find difficult to comprehend. A parellel can be found in the observations that photographer Jan Grarup made when he visited the Israeli community in Hebron, a predominantly Palestinian town. Numbering only a few hundred they are under constant protection by the Israeli army. The Israeli settlers, under constant threat by Palestinian fighters, have also taken it upon themselves to launch repeated attacks against Palestinian civilians in Hebron. The most infamous of these is the killing of 29 Muslims in a mosque on 25 February 1994 by Baruch Golstein, who has since become a martyr figure for Israeli extremists.

Grarup's pictures (below and here) show the fear and loathing that Israelis have for their Palestinian neighbours.



Settler children look on as an Israeli soldier stands guard amid the rubble of a Palestinian home bulldozed by the IDF.




A settler girl in fancy dress makes her way past an IDF armoured personell carrier.






Jonathan, a 20-year old soldier, is proud to be carrying the same assault rifle that his idol Baruch Goldstein used when he killed 29 Arabs in a mosque. The words "Kill them all, may God choose his own" are inscribed on Jonathan's magazine. A little boy is playing next to him, pretending to be a fighter dressed in a uniform jacket and with a beard painted on his face.






Settler children taking part in an armed march of Israeli settlers protesting against the Palestinians. Some children are dressed as fighters while others brandish machine guns.

No comments: