Last week I saw an interesting interview on TV. It was Avri Gilad
hosting Rabbi Dov Wolpe, an extreme right winger. Wolpe heads The
Task Force to Save the Nation and the Land, who basically give
money to soldiers who refuse to evacuate settlements.
The interview itself wasn't that interesting, we've heard
extreme right views a zillion times before, and even more extreme
than Wolpe.But I thought the whole package was kind of unique in
itself. This is semi-prime-time television, where people like Wolpe
are rarely seen. They're rarely given the spotlight. And if they
are, it's usually on the regular politics shows, not the family
talk shows with fairly high ratings.
Gilad, an intelligent man but not the best of interviewers, took
a different approach here as well: let's listen to the guy, and
hear what he has to say. No attacks, just a tad of being the devil's
advocate here and there, no more.
What you get is a quiet interview with a very dangerous man, with
almost Hannibal Lecter-ish attributes. He's cool and calm. He even
gets the crowd to cheer once (of course, when he talks about how
other nations push us around) - and notice how this crowd, as usual
in Israeli talk shows, is made up mainly of soldiers. (I never knew
why that was... guess they can't sell all the tickets.)
It's good insight into someone who really pulls strings in the
Wild
East. These are the kind of people behind the occupation, the
settler movement. You read about them once in a while in the
papers, but never really put the face to the name.
Also, yesterday I saw a link
to a Forward story about him, claiming his organization might be
in violation of U.S. tax laws. Again, another reason for my fellow
Half & Half readers in the United States to be angry - very
angry.
So, that's why I decided to spend a few hours translating the video clip of the interview, below.
IMPORTANT instructions re. the subtitles. If they do not show up immediately, click on the little arrow at the lower-right corner and choose 'cc' from the menu that pops up.
Posted
at
20 Dec 2009 9:27 AM
by
