Wednesday, July 16, 2014

156 "THE GATEKEEPERS"

Highly recommended and now available in the Christchurch libraries.

For the first time ever, six former heads of Israel's secret service tell their story.
Israel's crushing victory over its neighbours during the Six Day War in 1967 left it in control of a vast, hostile population living under Occupation. Dealing with that population-in times of calm and times of violent uprising-was the responsibility of Israel's secret service agency, Shin Bet.

The Gatekeepers offers a riveting and intimate insight into the Israeli-Palestine conflict told by the six former heads of Shin Bet. In a style reminiscent of the Fog of War, their confessions of torture and terrorism, arrests and assassinations are illustrated with archival footage and chilling animations. These offer a window into the moral dilemmas they faced as they unfolded. The citizens they swore to protect against terrorism may have been safer as a result of their actions, but was the country any closer to peace? Theirs is the ultimate cautionary tale of what happens to people and nations alike when they try to answer violence with violence.

Footnote: Shin Bet reminds me of the Hitlers 'Gestapo' (Geheime Statz Polizei) during World War 2