Milking the Mural
One mural, two foreign press photographers with an eye for propaganda.
The AP’s Mohammed Ballas decided to go for the “angry palestinian boy driven to violence” angle:
I am not sure if it was intentional or not, but the boy is kicking the weapon of the IDF soldier depicted in the mural, and not at any of the soldier’s body parts, suggesting the boy is being careful not to hurt the “soldier.”
In contrast, the AFP’s Saif Dahlah went for the “palestinian boy just minding his business” route.
Again, perhaps it is a coincidence (perhaps not), but the boy just happens to be positioned in a way that it looks like the IDF “soldier” is about to strike him with his weapon.
You see what I’m getting at here?
By the way, what would make it an even more obvious case of staged photography is if the boy depicted in both these photos was the same boy (think Green Helmet Guy, or, in this case, White Cap Boy). While both are wearing what seems to be identical pants and a white cap, it is hard to tell from the facial features whether he is one and the same.
About the Author
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.Filed Under: Uncategorized
Do they wear uniforms to school? While the pants and hat look the same the colour of the shirt under the jacket/jumper seems different (light blue vs. khaki) to me.
And somehow the hat switched from backwards to forwards.
definately a school uniform, they don’t look like the same kid but the contrast does seem a lot higher in the second photo so it’s difficult to tell, then again I’d very much doubt they would have to make the kids pose for these photos, after all in the second one he is just walking by.
I think the more important question is “what does it say about them?”, not the children but the adults who want to bring them up in a culture of hate.
I tend to agree now that it is likely not the same kid, but they are clearly staged photos in any event.
hey dave, go back to the photos and check out number 100, it turns out the hat might be a promotional item for palestinian ‘land day’.
steve87, I think you are on to something.
But as I said before, it doesn’t really matter that its not the same kid.