

Israeli Army’s Social Media Director Poses as Obama in Blackface - bitcartel
http://www.yourblackworld.net/2012/11/black-news/israeli-armys-social-media-director-poses-as-obama-in-blackface/

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krembo
This is one of the more biased articles I read in the last few years. As an
Israeli I think most of it is just rubbish. Take the part where they say
Israel treats Africans like "animals". Let's ignore for a moment the side the
writer takes and the part of inclusion they do on all Israeli. Israel is
flooded with immigrants from all over Africa who cross the border between
Israel and Egypt to find better lives and jobs. Now, while it's arguable if
this kind of immigration should be accepted or not, the treatment to those who
already came to our country is much different than what's described in the
article. The gov for example, gives the immigrants working permits by the
source of the country they cam from. Immigrants who declare (it's just a
declaration which cannot be confirmed whatsoever) that they come from war-
zones, are given work-permits and temporary visa to stay in the country. Those
who are just coming to improve their lives and forget to lie to the
immigration police on their birth country, are nicely expelled, as nice as
this process can be. This is the practice most western countries take these
days.

Moreover, in the last summer there was one time a small mob protested against
Africans in a demand that the gov will take control of them, while the crime
rates between them is very high. To take this exceptional event and throw it
as the writer describes "Israeli protesters had begun attacking them in the
streets with rocks and sticks" is just a try to give bad name to all Israeli.
If you care enough for the facts, go and try to find the number of times such
behavior was done, and don't blame the media for lack of sources since the
media in Israel is pro-immigrants most of it.

There, I can continue on and on defending Israel against such shitty blames,
although I lost hope in the recent years that my voice will be ever heard
among all the reddit-israeli-hating mob.

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yossilac
Two things to note here -

1\. The concept of "blackface" does not exist in Israel.

2\. Looking at the picture, it was taken at the Dead Sea - where people go to
put black, mineral rich mud all over their body (faces include). So this
wasn't even someone pretending to be black, it was just someone putting mud on
his face, taking a picture, than making a lame (private?) joke when uploading
to Facebook.

Not only a non-HN story, but also just a non-story.

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davidkatz
Could someone point out what the story is here? The linked article seems to
suggest that an Israeli official painting his face black and captioning it
'Obama style' is racist, but I fail to see why. People dress up as other
people all the time, and usually it's a sign of appreciation.

Flagged pending clarification.

~~~
bitcartel
The story here is how could the person responsible for delivering war
news/propaganda over social media actually paint their face black and not
realize many people would find it racially offensive.

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jerrya
With respect, it's not clear to me that outside of the US, many people do find
it racially offensive.

Sacha Dratwa is a _26-year-old immigrant from Belgium_.
([http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-
politics/117235/the...](http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-
politics/117235/the-kids-behind-idf-media))

Does Dratwa understand what blackface is all about? Or as the website states
it, _Apparently, he’s also into some good ‘ol fashioned Jim Crow styled
blackface as well._

Does it make sense to say that a 26 year old Israeli from Belgium is into Jim
Crow styled blackface?

~~~
bitcartel
Yes, things can be lost in translation across cultures. However, given the
context is war, the head of social media should expect their personal Facebook
account to come under scrutiny. The target audience of the IDF's social media
strategy is an English speaking Western audience, who most definitely find
blackface offensive.

~~~
sharkweek
As someone who doesn't pretend to understand the conflict over there, the
IDF's social media efforts have come across as terribly crass; this picture
and caption could explain a little bit of the immaturity of the person behind
the social effort

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nivertech
Mud is applied to a soldier’s face as part of a training session about
camouflage.

[http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/09/09/sunday-
review...](http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/09/09/sunday-
review/09ISRAEL2/09ISRAEL2-popup.jpg)

