Israeli soldiers march back into Israel from Gaza during the offensive of January 2009. Photograph: Jerry Lampen/Reuters (Source: The Guardian)
This documentary is produced by the BBC World Service and narrated by Rashid Sekag, a Muslim who works for the Arabic section of BBC. Only 23 minutes long, it is a very interesting piece that takes its listeners to Israel. It explores how Muslims make up 10 percent of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), meaning that hundreds of Muslims sign up every year.
This topic is very interesting because I have only heard rumors of how some Muslims do indeed join the Israeli army. I've never officially seen it documented before. The documentary explores how these Muslim soldiers face oppression and discrimination from their own people because of the fact that they join sides with Israel. They also face discrimination from Jewish citizens, when it comes to being hired for jobs. Many of these soldiers suffer an inner conflict because sometimes they have to fight against their own families in Palestine. However, they are technically Israelis because they are given Israeli citizenship upon their entrance into the IDF. Some of these Muslims even prefer speaking Hebrew and some Muslims view it as treason, others view it as the exact opposite. These Muslims believe that they are being loyal to their country by fighting in their country's army. The impression that I got from this documentary is that many of these Muslims want to belong to a nation so they assimilate themselves into the Israeli lifestyle in order to be protected by its laws; and technically they become Israelis anyway.
The narrator interviews a Muslim mother whose son allegedly died accidentally while he was in the army. She expresses how she regrets his decision to join and she explains that he joined because he was in desperate need for money and help with his career. He also speaks to a Muslim religious leader who discusses a Fatwa that was issued to keep these Muslim-Israeli soldiers from being buried by their mosques. The reporter also speaks with Israeli citizens, who many of them were not aware that there were Muslims in the IDF.
The length of this documentary was very appropriate. It was not too long or too short, it was just right in order to explain the situation throughly and fairly. The quality of the narrator's voice, however, is not very good. I feel that while he covered the story very well and reported all sides of the story, his voice was not suitable because he is very monotone. I understand that he might not want to show emotion in such a documentary, but his voice had to be less boring and more engaging. He speaks very slowly so his listeners can understand him, however, this just makes his monotone voice even more boring. The quality of the interviews throughout was very effective. Not only did he interview people from every side of the story, but the things that they said added a lot to the effectiveness of the story. However, the music throughout is very irrelevent in my opinion. It does not add to the meaning of the piece. However, the music right at the very end is dramatic and it goes very well with his ending comment when he states: "And as one soldier put it to me: We're doomed if we serve and we're doomed if we don't."
