SNAPSHOTS-TOP.jpg

« Hamas Detains Palestinian Journalists | Main | Hamas Silences More Media »

August 01, 2007

Journalist: The French 'Understood Nothing'

annette levy willard.jpe

Ha'aretz has a fascinating feature today about Annette Levy-Willard, a journalist with the Frency daily Liberation and author of a book about the second Lebanon war, Trente-trois Jour en Ete: Chroniques d'une Guerre Surprise (Summer Rain: A Reporter's Diary of the 2006 War Between Israel and Hezbollah). Levy-Willard recounts:

"It was important for me to narrate this in an eye-witness style," she says. "I understood that the French, who had been fascinated by the war in Lebanon, understood nothing about it.

"On the one hand, they saw the strong Israeli army and on the other, the poor Lebanese victims. But what was in between, what came between the two sides - Hezbollah - they did not see."

Levy-Willard, who to a large extent balances this picture in her book, stresses that French radio and TV, not press, tilted the balance in favor of the Lebanese and against Israel.

"There is some logic to this," she says. "The footage from Lebanon looked better than that of an empty Haifa. Especially since there were numerous pictures of bodies in Lebanon - something Israelis do not permit. And a body will always be more photogenic than a pool of blood on the ground."

Levy-Willard says the State of Israel will always lose in the French media, and not merely because of the refusal to photograph bodies.

She recalls an interview with a soldier who had just left the battle in Bint Jbail and was shaking all over, clearly in a state of trauma. Next to her stood a reporter for French radio, who completely ignored the soldier's plight and asked him: "Don't you feel arrogant?"

"He in no way wanted to hear what the soldier had to say," Levy-Willard says.

"To a large extent, to this day, De Gaulle's well-known saying about the Israelis, that they are 'a domineering nation that is full of itself,' is still emblazoned on the minds of Frenchmen."

Some members of the French press are also aware of this: A critique of her book in Le Monde stated that "Levy-Willard portrays what has never been seen in the European press - the mood of the Israelis. She allows them to speak. More than that, she listens to them."

Posted by TS at August 1, 2007 04:56 AM

Comments

The Ha'aretz article contains this paragraph:

"To a large extent, to this day, De Gaulle's well-known saying about the Israelis, that they are 'a domineering nation that is full of itself,' is still emblazoned on the minds of Frenchmen."

De Gaulle's use of the word, "domineering" was applied to Jews, not Israel. How typical of Ha'aretz to misinform in this way.

Posted by: Brad Brzezinski at August 1, 2007 07:07 AM

Guidelines for posting

This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material.

Post a comment




Remember Me?

(you may use HTML tags for style)