Laura Webster: What happened when I was invited to Israel
Last year, I was asked by some officials representing the state of Israel if I wanted to come on an all-expenses-paid trip to their country to see what it's really like.
Organisations like the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) pay for reporters in the UK to go to Israel. BICOM are not, as they describe themselves, an organisation simply "providing timely and accurate news, analysis and briefings on Israel and the Middle East". If you take one look at their website you'll see very quickly that they exist as a pro-Israel advocacy group, defending the IDF and blindly publishing their press releases. A recent addition to the page focuses on the IDF's killing of 15 emergency aid workers. "Due to poor night visibility, the deputy commander did not initially recognise the vehicles as ambulances," BICOM tells us. Well, that's okay then. We understand now!
BICOM has been one of the most active pro-Israel organisations, quietly working behind the scenes to give Israel's side of the story and justify genocide.
Back to last year. I didn't accept the invitation. Obviously. I didn't consider it for a fraction of a second.
At the time I had no idea which organisation would be carrying out the visits, but a simple rule to live by as a journalist is to say no to free press trips suggested to you by representatives of a state, particularly those that breach international law on such a frequency that you could set your watch to them.
I often wondered who would accept the invitation, and whether I would see any articles emerge from it. Sadly, this week I did see UK journalists return from their visits. They wrote what you would expect. I also wonder how many journalists have been on these visits and not disclosed it publicly, while representing a pro-Israel perspective in the media.
No Other Land
This week I was lucky to catch a screening of Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land at my beloved Glasgow Film Theatre. This exploration of how Israeli forces systemically destroyed a collection of villages in the West Bank was hard to watch, but crucial to see.
Some of the footage captured in this film is shocking. One particular scene that keeps replaying in my mind features an IDF soldier suddenly shooting an unarmed villager during an argument over whether he could keep a generator, to at least have access to power after his home was bulldozed. The man, named Harun Abu Aram, was paralysed and later died. Another moment I can't get out of my head saw Israeli forces pour concrete into a well, and destroy infrastructure providing water to the villagers, in an effort to remove them from their homes.
The filmmakers behind No Other Land
For most people, No Other Land is just a film. They can watch it, feel moved or horrified, and go back to their lives. But for its co-creator Basel Adra and the people it follows, it's reality.
In the film, the residents speak regularly of their wish for global media to pay attention to their suffering and help bring it to an end. They tell of how one highly publicised visit from Tony Blair led to a pause in demolitions. Their argument shows exactly why The National is so committed to telling the stories we do. We may not be CNN or BBC level, but maybe we can help in our own small way.
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