Following my posting of an example of Israel’s mother-washing comes this post on an example of baby washing.
A photo of a professor at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University holding a baby during a lecture has gone viral across the world, and the story behind it is incredibly sweet.
A baby had started to cry during the organizational behavior class of lecturer Sydney Engelberg, his daughter, Sarit Fishbaine, told BuzzFeed News.
Fishbaine explained that her dad, a native of South Africa who has taught for 45 years, teaches for the master’s degree program, so he has a lot of older students.
“There’s a lot of young moms and a lot of them have babies, and he encourages them to just bring their babies to class,” she said.
The mom stood up to leave with the crying infant, but instead Engelberg took the baby in his arms, calmed it down, and “continued the class as if nothing had happened,” Fishbaine wrote on a viral Facebook post of the photo.
“My dad just loves kids and loves babies, he has five grandchildren, so he just takes the baby,” Fishbaine told BuzzFeed News. “He’s the one that’s in motion, he’s walking around the class. So he just takes the baby and continues teaching.”
Normally I would have assumed the Zio-professor was holding the baby as a human shield. Alas, in this case, this is not what happened.
The truth behind this picture is way closer to home. My home.
The original version of the photo was taken at a lecture I was giving on “Israel and Iran: Go Iran!” I was really in form if I do say so myself (then again, I am quite the orator). At one point, a baby cried. So I did what any wonderful person like me would do – I took the baby and held it while delivering my lecture.
Needless to say, everyone loved my lecture, including the baby, evidenced by his passing of gas as a form of applause.
Then before I know it, I see the photo online but with me photoshopped out of it and a backstory invented to absolve Israel of its horrific crimes. Babywashing, if you will.
The hasbarafia had struck again!
Donation: This is a story you couldn’t read anywhere else in the media but my blog Chicken Olam. Mainstream outlets either cannot or will not publish such stories. Donate or I’ll instruct my dingo to eat your baby.
Warning: The above is satire based on the views of a real person. At least, we think he is.
