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Israel TV Ad Fight Continues, with Tear Gas!

Latest response to cell-phone ad mocks IDF

by
Marc Tracy
July 22, 2009

First came the controversial Cellcom ad featuring happy IDF soldiers gamely kicking around a soccer ball with unseen Palestinians on the far side of the West Bank wall. Then some Israeli filmmakers popped up, pointing out that they’d made a very similar short film a few years earlier, except with volleyball instead of soccer (and, well, designed to criticize the wall, not make light of it to sell mobile minutes). Now there’s a third video, posted to YouTube. Titled “A response to Israeli Cellcom advert,” it shows multiple real-life instances of Palestinians kicking a soccer ball over the fence—to which Israeli soldiers respond not with a return punt, as in the Cellcom ad, but with tear-gas canisters. The new video’s authenticity is unconfirmed, and it doesn’t entirely present the soldiers as the bad guys: it is understandable that these young people on the front lines would not mess around when the other side is launching objects at them, even apparent soccer balls. But as for Cellcom, it’s probably time to admit a mistake.

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.