Cruel Theater

Israeli troops humiliate Palestinians - and put it on YouTube
It's hard to say which is most disturbing -- the nasty video on You Tube showing a young Palestinian being forced to sing the praise of the Israeli Border Police and slap himself or some of the approving comments viewers posted on the YouTube website. Either way, the video -- posted by Border police officers themselves _--is yet another sharp reminder of the moral rot of occupation. "That's how it should be!!!! Stinking Arab," wrote one viewer, according to a piece about the video in the Haaretz newspaper's weekend edition.
"The faces of the tormentors are rarely seen, and it's not clear where the clips were filmed. But what is clear is the atmosphere in which this cruel theater is played out," the newspaper said.
In the clip _ posted on You Tube's comedy channel _ you can hear border guards laughing off-camera and goading their victim. "Harder!" a voice says as the man slaps himself and recites the ditty "Wahad hummus wahad ful. Ana behibak Mismar Hagvul." _ "One hummus, one fava, I love the border guards."
The video has attracted nearly 3,000 viewers since it appeared on You Tube last year and Haaretz said it has found other exercises in humiliation like it _ all of them apparently posted by Border police officers.
A spokesman for the Border Police, who are charged with keeping Palestinians in the occupied West Bank from entering Israel illegally, told Haaretz that if the force can identify the officers who posted the videos they would be "called in for clarification."
Haaretz said one video it discovered shows a series of still photos of border police while in the background someone sings: "Let every Arab mother know that the fate of her children is in the hands of the Company, C Company in the Old City. With protective vests and clubs we break apart gun clips on Arab mothers..." Another shows an elderly Palestinian man being humiliated.
(Posted by Cranky)