There’s not a focus on a single story in this week’s review. But all stories share a similar theme of Israel’s moral corruption.
Let’s start with the Two Nice Jewish Boys podcast. The hosts’ names are Eyal Weinstein and Naor Meninger. Neither of them are in government, but Meninger did digital work for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s election campaigns from 2019 to 2022. The first video comes from TRT World, the English arm of Turkey’s public broadcaster. You can find the identical comments in other videos.
The second video, from the same episode, has conversation about Israelis not caring about suffering in Gaza while they are in their “Nakba tents.”
It’s worth noting that the 1994 Rwandan genocide provides a legal precedent for convicting media leaders with genocide and incitement to genocide.
The Associated Press reports that 625,000 school-age children in Gaza have entered their second year without education.
“Anyone our age in other countries is studying and learning,” said 14-year-old Ezz el-Din Qudeh, after he and his three siblings — the youngest a 4-year-old — hauled a load of concrete chunks. “We’re not. We’re working at something beyond our capacities. We are forced to in order to get a living.”…
Humanitarian workers say the extended deprivation of education threatens long-term damage to Gaza’s children. Younger children suffer in their cognitive, social and emotional development, and older children are at greater risk of being pulled into work or early marriage, said Tess Ingram, regional spokesperson for UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children.1
Oren Ziv of +972 Magazine has a comprehensive report on the murder of Turkish-American citizen Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, by the Israel Defense Forces in Beita in the West Bank.
According to eyewitnesses, however, the stone throwing had ended around 20 minutes before Eygi was shot, and took place in a completely different part of the town. Eygi had not been involved in the confrontations, and was simply standing in the residents’ olive groves — a distance of around 230 meters from the rooftop where the shooter was positioned, +972 confirmed at the site on Sunday.
“It was completely quiet when it happened, and you would have to be an Olympic stone thrower to reach the soldiers from there anyway,” [Jonathan] Pollak said. Moreover, he added, unlike other weeks, the protesters had not tried to get close to the outpost, which is several hundred meters away from where the prayers had taken place.
Another eyewitness, a 30-year-old American volunteer who goes by the name Vivi, told +972: “[Eygi] was with other internationals trying to find some shade. There is no doubt that the Israeli army knew she was an international volunteer: first, she was standing next to other internationals; and second, there were no local women at these demonstrations.”2
Based on historical precedents, it is unlikely that any IDF soldier will be punished for Eygi’s murder.
While Netanyahu did not attend the Toronto International Film Festival, the documentary, The Bibi Files, made its debut. It overcame a legal effort by Netanyahu to block its release. The focus of the documentary is about Netanyahu’s effort to avoid prison time for facing charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three corruption cases.3 The Guardian’s story details the screening and comments from the producer and director.
“I’ve never seen the depth of moral corruption as I’ve seen in this man,” [Alex] Gibney, the director of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, told the audience following the screening. A member of what appeared to be a largely pro-Israel audience policed Gibney’s language, interrupting the producer to clarify that Netanyahu had not yet been found guilty. The attempts at seizing control of the narrative, both on screen and off, didn’t end there.
The interrogation videos shown in the film were recorded by police between 2016 and 2018 before they formally brought charges of corruption against Netanyahu. The footage includes the prime minister addressing allegations that he and his wife accepted expensive champagne, Cuban cigars and jewelry from the Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan. Netanyahu is heard minimizing the champagne and cigars as simply gifts from a friend, while denying knowledge of the jewelry.4
The Bibi Files is a work-in-progress. Hopefully, its final cut can incorporate new footage of a ceasefire in Gaza, a swap of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, a redoubled effort to create an equitable, democratic solution for everyone from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea—and Netanyahu in prison. That would be a real Hollywood ending.
The AP story is here: https://apnews.com/article/gaza-palestinians-education-war-c7e72c172f0abc336c9c364900369a19
Here’s the 972 Magazine story: https://www.972mag.com/aysenur-ezgi-eygi-funeral-beita/
The Times of Israel covered the story here: https://www.timesofisrael.com/revealing-leaked-police-footage-new-film-aims-brutal-lens-at-netanyahu-amid-war/
Here is The Guardian story: https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/sep/10/the-bibi-files-netanyahu-documentary-toronto?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1