The Devil Sings Again By Gilad Atzmon
Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 5:41PM Gilad Atzmon
It was at the beginning of last week. I returned home early enough to watch the BBC News at Ten. I placed myself in my TV couch and prepared myself for the usual, boring broadcast. My interest waxes and wanes. Another privatization, the Queen Mother, foreign affairs. In short, nothing to write home about. As a matter of fact, I love boring news; it justifies my emigration to Britain. The news starts: "Two Palestinian children were killed today by a missile fired from an Israeli helicopter". Within seconds my TV screen is filled with the familiar images of the landscape of my homeland. Yellowish sandstone mountains dotted with olive trees, a calm Arab town visible in the valley below. Suddenly the camera points up to the sky and searches for something. It captures two Israeli Cobra helicopters high up in the blue. A sudden cut and we are taken back to the ground. The camera zooms into the town where dozens of Palestinians are running for their lives desperately trying to escape. They fail to understand that by running they become a target. The camera pans up to the sky and captures the two helicopters again. It looks as if one of the helicopters fires a missile and the camera follows its track. An explosion is seen. The missile has arrived at its destination, a crowded traffic jam in the centre of a highly populated Palestinian city. We learn from the BBC reporter that the missiles were aimed at a Hamas militant leader. According to the Israelis, he has 'fresh blood on his hands'. At the time of the strike, the Hamas man was trapped in his car. Apparently, he was only lightly injured but two children who were travelling with their father in the car behind were blown to pieces. The father was lucky. He just lost his legs.
