We got the HBO package specifically to watch Our Boys, an Israeli policier of sorts.  In June 2014, you may recall that three Jewish teens were murdered by Palestinians.  The teenage boys attended a Yeshiva on the West Bank and were  at a bus or a hitch-hiking stop outside a Jewish settlement.  The young Palestinian culprits were found and given life sentences.  Within a week or two of the Jewish boys’ murders, a 16 year old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khdeir was abducted and murdered from a street in East Jerusalem.  This was clearly payback  by two Yeshiva boys and their uncle, Jews who lived in  an illegal settlement.   This fast-paced and well done series shows the investigation and the interrogations of the Jewish suspects, and the police and Shin Bet‘s worst fears that, in fact, it was Jews who did this murder.

Some of my friends also  in Independent Jewish Voices Canada told me it was a great series.  Of course the acting, the quickness, the dialogue and the production values were a cut above.  However, the series was another reminder that the Israeli media focus on their old addage “We shoot, then we cry.”  This became a well known trope with the release of Waltz with Bashir.  The 2009 “cartoon” or graphic film recounted the horrors of the 2000 plus Palestinians who were murdered in cold blood at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp in Lebanon in 1982.  The bloodbath was carried  out by the Phalangists at the behest of the Israeli government, which at the time were occupying part of Beirut.  For a very brief newsreel on Sabra and Shatila watch this.

Our Boys suggests that Israel’s police and secret police always “get their man” and though the culprits were religious Jews — they too were punished for an unspeakable murder. See for yourself.

I also watched a rather unique DVD from Romania,  Tuesday, After Christmas.  The excellent sex scene comes right at the start and promises more.  Alas  there are no more sex scenes.  There is the subtle and all too familiar drama of a country now aping the US in terms of commercialisation of the Xmas season, and the thin veneers of hospitality and boredom that also goes with the  season.  A middle class couple battles about the husband’s affair yet pretends nothing is amiss in the family celebration.  The script is good, and the acting is excellent.  Got this at the Halifax library, for free.