Fred Teng Gets It

January 14, 2009 - 9:58 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, Life, Politics, Profiles, War 

Given the avalanche of hate against Israel on the internet, at anti-Israel protests around the world, and in the media (of course!), it’s easy to believe that “nobody” likes us. By “nobody,” I mean, of course, folks from the wide world. And even if they are willing to overlook our “crimes” in Gaza (no, of course I don’t mean that), they still don’t “get it” – they just can’t understand what we’re up against. missile1

So I wanted to share with you a message I got from a friend who’s in New York right now. There was a big pro-Israel rally this past Sunday, featuring speakers from the Jewish and general community. According to the message I got,

“The most powerful speaker at Sunday’s massive rally for Israel was Fred Teng, president of the Chinese Community Relations Council of NY. His words would have been exceptional even coming from an Israeli — and how much more striking for having come from the heart of a New Yorker and a member of the Chinese community.”

Suffice to say Mr. Teng “gets it.” He’s got Hamas’ number – comparing them to the gangs of big American cities who get their jollies running drive by shootings against innocent people. In the words of Mr. Teng,

“Enough is enough”

“These Qassam Rockets and the people behind them are like Drive-by Shootings. We have to put every gang member away for good, not just the ones that did the shooting. These Qassam Rockets and the people behind them are like a Fire in the Forest, You can’t STOP only half of the fire in the forest, and thinking you will be safe. If your house is next to the fire, you won’t think so. It is not the Qassam Rockets; it is the people behind the Qassam Rockets that we need to go after. This is an epidemic threat to the entire world.

“In the last 60 years, every gesture of peace by Israel only met with escalated violence. Every peace proposal, whether it is multi-lateral, bi-lateral, or uni-lateral was never honored by the terrorists. However, in this time of extreme difficulties, we shall not lose hope. We shall say yes to Peace. We shall say yes to Life. And we shall forever say yes to an eternal Israel Am Yisrael Chai.

Maybe someone should tell this guy we have an election coming up? Sounds like he’d make a good prime minister!

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Combat cameramen

June 26, 2008 - 9:09 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General 

In the ongoing debate over how to handle hasbara — loosely translated as public relations, spin or propaganda — in the Israel Defense Forces, it’s enlightening to learn how the Israeli army is handling this area and meet some of the people behind the scenes. Somewhat apropos of Nicky’s entry regarding the 60 Minutes show about female helicopter pilots, I had the opportunity this week to meet members of the IDF Film Unit, part of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

The overall unit handles all matters with the local and foreign press, from interviews and information to film footage and photos. That includes the IDF website, which is available in both Hebrew and English, and any images, from still photographs to raw video footage. A good chunk of the raw footage, taken by IDF photographers, as well as combat cameramen — all soldiers on active duty — is made for use by the press, although some is taken for video clips created for various hasbara purposes. For the soldiers in this unit, many of whom have been photographers and videographers since they were kids, the chance to be active filmmakers in the field is a great opportunity, and they often go on from their army service to studies and careers in the film and photography industry.

Here are some examples of their work from the website, which also features some of the video clips made by the Film Unit.

reservists hermon.jpg

soldier training_2.jpg

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