The Gatekeepers

File photo of Prime Minister Netanyahu holding a security briefing with IDF generals, July 18, 2014. (Photo by Haim Zach/GPO)

100 ex-generals to Bibi: Reach a Palestinian, regional accord now

Security makes a comeback in peace. If the generals avoid mistakes of the past and put action behind words, they could have an impact. Over 100 retired and reserve generals, brigadier-generals and senior police officials, including a former head of the Mossad, have signed and published a plea to Prime Minister Netanyahu to reach a…

By Dahlia Scheindlin November 3, 2014

Former attorney general Michael Ben-Yair (Photo by Yossi Gurvitz)

Former Israeli AG: We should have evicted Hebron settlers

In an interview, former Israeli attorney general Michael Ben-Yair says he considers the situation in Hebron a form of Apartheid, refers to ‘Price Tag’ attacks as Jewish terrorism and regrets consenting to the construction of West Bank bypass roads for settlers. By Yossi Gurvitz, for Yesh Din About a month ago, I met with Michael…

By +972 Magazine March 25, 2014

The Gatekeepers (photo: Sony Pictures)

A ‘no-strategy’ strategy: The Gatekeepers and soldier testimonies

Do not be misled by the paranoid helplessness of the six powerful men in Dror Moreh’s film – the end goal of Israel’s military rule is the complete demise of the dream of Palestinian independence. By Oded Na’aman Ami Ayalon, former head of the Israeli Shin Bet, grew up on a kibbutz near the Sea of…

By +972 Magazine March 23, 2013

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The Gatekeepers (photo: Sony Pictures)

Can ‘The Gatekeepers’ open the gates to the empire?

Is there growing realization within Israeli society that the social, political, moral, and military basis of the occupation is unsustainable? If so, perhaps ‘The Gatekeepers’ need not change people’s minds, so much as express them. A college professor once taught me that a decaying empire clenches onto power with a chokehold. Israel’s occupation of the…

By Dahlia Scheindlin February 24, 2013

Former Mossad head Meir Dagan (R) with former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi (L) (Photo: Israel Defense Forces, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

‘Prisoner X’ and the security elite’s unchecked power

Recent actions taken by the heads of the army, Mossad and the internal security service (Shin Bet) reveal the Israeli security establishment’s unsupervised power, and the way it directs that power at the country’s own citizens and elected officials. These are the main details which have been made public in the affair of Ben Zygier,…

By Noam Sheizaf February 18, 2013

Palestinian refugees 'making their way from Galilee in October-November 1948' (Fred Csasznik, copyright expired)

Pretending away the Nakba only perpetuates the conflict

When the Czechs prefer to keep silent and repress their history, it’s a problem, but it is not an imminent danger to the country. When Israelis prefer to pretend there was no ethnic cleaning here, it’s a wholly different question: the conflict won’t end unless Israel admits to the injustice it caused. A few weeks…

By Yossi Gurvitz February 12, 2013

The Gatekeepers (photo: Sony Pictures)

The Gatekeepers: ‘If this film does not lead to change, there is no hope for Israel’

NEW YORK — “If this film does not lead to change, there is no hope for Israel,” said Israeli director Dror Moreh. He was referring to his new documentary The Gatekeepers, which has been nominated for an Academy Award. The title of the film refers to the six directors of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal…

By Lisa Goldman January 31, 2013