Football game or tear gas and bullets? Palestinians put racist ad to test
By Haitham Sabbah • Jul 23rd, 2009 at 19:59 • Category: Haitham's Choice, Israel, Newswire, Palestine, Resistance, Video, War, ZionismThe row over a racist advert of Cellcom – an Israeli mobile phone operator, which shows Israel Occupation Forces soldiers playing football with Palestinians on both sides of the Apartheid Wall, continues.
In the Cellcom advert, IOF soldiers on patrol along the Wall stop their army jeep when it is hit by a soccer ball from the Palestinian side of the Wall. A game ensues, back and forth with the unseen Palestinians after a soldier dials up "reinforcements," including two smiling women in uniform, to come and play.
The advertisement made by McCann Erickson, part of U.S. Interpublic Group, ends with the upbeat voiceover: "After all, what are we all after? Just a little fun."
The advert has been extensively criticized for making light of the Palestinian suffering inflicted by the West Bank Apartheid Wall.
The Palestinians put controversial ad to test. A video recently posted on YouTube has tried to reenact the game in reality, and found that the result could not be further removed from the situation on the ground: when the Palestinians kick the ball to the other side of the Wall, what they get in return is a salvo of tear gas grenades and bullets.
Protesters in Bilin tested the "fun" claimed by Cellcom to find that it "smells" and can "kill you" if you play it with Israelis.
One of the activists in Bil'in said: "We wanted to show everyone how the soldiers really behave, contrary to what was shown in the ad. This is a message from the protestors on what really goes on at the separation fence – this is what we get from the soldiers, tear gas."
The Israeli ad prompted Arab lawmakers in Israel to demand it be taken off air. MK Ahmed Tibi called to scrap this television commercial.
What the Israelis sees as "Just a little fun" is actually an Apartheid Wall that separates families and prevents children from reaching schools and clinics, yet the advertisement presents the Wall as though it were just a garden fence in Tel Aviv.
Cellcom, however, has remained defiant and stood by the commercial.
"We are a communications company that facilitates human interaction," they said. "We don't deal with politics. We've had very positive feedback about the advert. There was absolutely no cynical intention behind it."
The ad went out during the same week as Palestinians marked the fifth anniversary of a World Court ruling that Israel's walls and fences in the West Bank were illegal.
Hagai Matar, an Israeli activist, said that the violent atmosphere near the fence was far from resembling the pastoral, pleasant atmosphere reflected in the Cellcom advert.
"While the people of Bilin suffer from frequent and repeated harassments by the army, while the residents are subjected to nightly arrests, violence and tear gas, not only during rallies but also in their yards, the people of Bilin continue to use amusing and creative ways to protest the separation fence," he said.
I got really too nauseous watching the ad. You see the Israeli occupation forces playing with ?!… the people that they are incarcerating behind the Apartheid Wall. But the most grotesque and disgusting part of this TV ad is the fact that the Palestinians basically aren't seen. Why? Because they are not there waiting for the football, but for … This ad correctly portray the occupation as monsters or aliens … This is the alienation that Israeli society feels toward the Palestinian people. In reality, if a Palestinian comes close to the Apartheid Wall to return a football … he is likely to get shot.
Cellcom should take this racist commercial off the air immediately and appologies for the Palestinian people. Refusing to do so only confirms the fact that racism is a culture that is widely adopted, believed and practiced in Israel.
Haitham Sabbah is an uprooted Palestinian blogger. He is the webmaster and editor of Palestine Blogs, also webmaster and co-editor of Palestine Think Tank. His personal blog is Sabbah's Blog: http://sabbah.biz/
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[...] palestinethinktank.com/2009/07/23/football-game-or-tear-gas-and-bullets-palestin ians-put-racist-ad-… About :I'm just a American patriot who believes in freedom for all, even the ones I don't like. [...]
[...] Silver Lining Food for thought « Eastern Europe and the Habit of Servitude Football game or tear gas and bullets? Palestinians put racist ad to test July 24, 2009 Prepare yourselves before you view the ad, patronizing to say the least. By Haitham Sabbah, Jul 23rd, 2009, Palestinian think tank [...]
Salaam,
Here are videos made in Gaza during a month long visit there. I came with a Code Pink Delegation for International Woman's day, invited by the UN. The Delegation departed, I stayed on, that I might show a bit the world behind the siege.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8030E34DC8051C01
–
Tyler Westbrook
http://www.whynotnews.org/
http://www.youtube.com/user/WHYNotNews
Lincoln Vermont
[...] Football game or tear gas and bullets? Palestinians put racist ad to test [...]
Maybe the wall is there to prevent bombings of civilians. I think those incidents are down considerably since the wall was built.
[...] Football game or tear gas and bullets? Palestinians put racist ad …The row over a racist advert of Cellcom – an Israeli mobile phone operator, which shows Israel Occupation Forces soldiers playing football with Palestinians on. [...]
@Matt –
1. the attacks ('suicide bombers') are down mainly because the Hamas denounced such actions. the wall isnt even complete yet and people can find ways to go through if they are willing to take a chance of being shot at.
2. if you really want to build a wall, do it on your own land, around your own homes. this wall is not to protect you it is for jailing others,
I think this is one of the most effective comparisons I have ever seen. Taking the "illusion" that Israelis have of themselves and comparing it to the reality is something that has to be done often and shown for what it is. It is true, as you said, that Palestinians in the ad were invisible. I think there are a lot of meanings behind that. I wonder if this ad is still running?