American Jews in the IDF: One Day at the Border Crossing > Comments > "Review of American Jews in the IDF: One Day at the Border Crossing"
Piece Comment
Commenter Profile
- John Biewen
- Username: jbiewen
- Location: Durham, North Carolina
- Joined PRX: Dec 21, 2005
Piece Information
- "American Jews in the IDF: One Day at the Border Crossing"
- Summary: An IDF soldier detains a Palestinian family at a border crossing and comes to an epiphany.
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Review of American Jews in the IDF: One Day at the Border Crossing
John Biewen
Posted on April 01, 2006 at 08:19 AM
This is a worthwhile piece, a story about one "minor incident" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The storyteller, an American Israeli Defense Force soldier, inconveniences, humiliates and probably frightens a couple of Palestinian civilians, a father and son, by holding them at a checkpoint to relieve his own boredom. He later regrets his actions and writes about the incident in his hometown Jewish newspaper, prompting responses of denial that even such a routine act of dehumanization could happen in the Israeli occupation. The soldier's monologue is placed over accompanying music. This by-now-familiar device is effective, though at times the music gets monotonous and could stand to change or go away. The piece may not be easy for stations to place, given its length. It could work as a set-up to a talk show about the Middle East conflict or the Israeli occupation.