TV review In documentary about settlers, Theroux omits its characteristic light undertone

Whether he was a Palestinian. Issa Amro nodded, with the resignation of someone who has to answer that question several times a day. The soldier who had given him this time looked young, adolescent; Far too young and adolescent to be equipped with guns and authority. As a viewer, that image did not want to get used to it, even if you had it three -quarters of it The Settlers Frequently seen. Louis Theroux and his team were held up in the documentary about Israeli religious nationalist settlers by heavily armed teenagers. Then the British had to show their passports and tell what they came to do in Israel. Or in areas that are not Israeli, but were already considered by the soldiers for convenience. As if it was just a matter of time.

After the identification check in Hebron, the soldiers often finished again. But now Theroux was in the company of Amro, who lived here, and for Amro applied other rules. A passport would not help him. As soon as he had answered ‘yes’ to the question if he was a Palestinian, the soldier pointed to a pedestrian crossing a few meters away. « Do you see that line? You can’t get over it. » Theroux was allowed to stay. While Amro disappeared into the background, the documentary maker asked: « Why can’t he stand with us? » « There are limitations for Palestinians, » said the soldier. His answers became more confused, his tone cooler as Theroux continued to ask. It was policy. It wasn’t allowed. Stop filming. Salt.

In England this BBC documentary was broadcast in April, in the Netherlands it happened on Thursday. In the meantime, Theroux spoke The Guardian About the many reactions that The Settlers – the sequel to The Ultra Zionists (2011) – Loosened with the public. Many viewers were shocked about what they had seen: the constant threat of violence, the indiscriminate Landjepik, the fierceness of the setlers In question. Theroux said about those reactions: « If you were shocked by my film about Israeli settlers on the West Bank, you didn’t pay attention. »

Unthinkable

None of the things he has recorded is new, says Theroux, although the expansion drive of this movement has been considerably increased since the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. That fact was the reason for him to make a follow-up, in an on-characteristic sober way. The light undertone from earlier work as Weird Weekends Has fully given way to the seriousness that fits the subject. Where in the past he sometimes wanted to act as a benevolent bruise to elicit people, that was not necessary here either: the settlers interviewed liked to work out their extremist vision that could not arise against.

For example, you had Ari from Texas, who thought it would defend the entire Western society in Israel. « And not only the Western world – everyone who wants any freedom in his life. » « Yet there are millions of people, everywhere in the region – Arabs, Muslims – who do not live free, » said Theroux. Ari’s voice became louder. « I don’t feel so sorry for a society that has an unqual, genocidal, theological blood thirst. » If you put Palestinians so away, Theroux said, « you can almost create a mirror image of it: » If they want to do that to us, we should do it.  » But Ari was unwavering. This was not a man who looked in mirrors.

You could feel just as powerless through the conversations with Daniella Weiss, who has had a pioneering role in founding illegal settlements in Palestinian territories for fifty years, and then having those settlements recognized by the Israeli government. At the current government she has a big finger in the porridge. She watched amused how Theroux explained to her that moving citizen populations to occupied territory is a war crime and laughed when he was pronounced. A woman of almost eighty, giggling, with her reading glasses in her hand. She said, « It’s a slightly offense. »

With those ‘slight offenses’, Issa Amro, who has been arguing for non -violent resistance in the shadow of all the weapons disposal, was very well known. They made the situation in Hebron unlivable for the Palestinian population. That was not a new development, but one that worsened faster and faster. « Did you know this was going to happen? » Theroux asked him after Amro had been sent away by the soldier. « No, » Amro said. He was used to that he was not allowed to come in many places, but this line was new. Moved. « They have expanded the forbidden area. » For example, the movement room shrinks a bit every day, until nothing remains.

To share

Mail the editors