Last week, Israel's Channel 1 broadcast a documentary about an incident that occurred in the Sinai during the Six Day War. According to the Egyptian media, the film shows that MK Binyamin (Fouad) Ben Eliezer, then an IDF officer, ordered the massacre of unarmed Egyptian POW's. According to the director of the film (which I did not see, because who watches Chanel 1 anyway?), the film makes no such claim and the Egyptians have totally misinterpreted the film. Meanwhile, some Egyptian members of parliament are supposedly calling on their government to declare war against Israel (uh huh) over this alleged incident and it is - naturally - all over the Egyptian press. (Haaretz's article is here). Things got so bad that Ben Eliezer was "advised" to cancel his trip to meet the Egyptian minister of energy (he took the advice).
Yup, a major diplomatic incident over a documentary film about a wartime event that may or may not have taken place 40 years ago.
Israeli Blogger wonders why the Israeli and Egyptian versions of this story vary so wildly:
"Why are the Israeli and Arab versions of the same event always so different? I can think of three possible explanations:
- Option 1: Arabs are saints. Israelis are evil. Arabs always tell the truth, and Israelis always lie and distort reality.
- Option 2: Israelis are saints. Arabs are evil. Israelis always tell the truth, and Arabs always lie and distort reality.
- Option 3: Arabs are human and Israelis are human. Arabs think that they are saints and that Israelis are evil. Israelis think that they are saints and that Arabs are evil. When Israelis speak - Arabs think Israelis are lying to cover up crimes. When Arabs speak - Israelis think this is anti-Israeli propaganda. Neither side is willing to accept that no one here is a saint. No one likes to belong to a group which is not "Just" or "Moral". People defend their own side, and try to prove that the other side is evil. It is so difficult to accept that your own side is also wrong, that people find it much easier to believe that the other side has evil intentions and is twisting the facts. As a result, both sides see the other as evil or crazy, and the words and actions of one side are constantly misunderstood by the other (e.g., the Al-Aqsa events).
Israeli blogger has been hosting some very interesting comment threads, with Israeli and Arab readers / bloggers participating in the dialogue, so you might want to surf on over there to take a look and express yourself - not about the documentary (unless you've actually seen it), but about his question.
