Last Wednesday night, the Channel 12 newscast aired an article by Ben Mittelman, centered on a rising star in Israeli football: Billiard Assert, the son of a Christian father who immigrated to Israel from Africa as a refugee.
The story of the 16-year-old boy's life does not leave you indifferent.
Plot Summary: About a decade ago, the father and his son Billiard left Sudan to evade the murderous regime, embarking on a grueling journey to Egypt to the Sinai border, and from there escaped to Tel Aviv, where he worked for a living as a hard worker. The future does not look promising, but at some point dawn dawned: Hapoel Tel Aviv football club members recognized the boy's talent, signed him to a long-term contract, employed the father as a maintenance man and rented an adequate apartment for the two. He currently plays billiards in the youth department of Hapoel Tel Aviv, and is wanted by the Israeli youth team. The quiet and modest boy explains in Hebrew-Israeli: "The state helped me, and now I want to help it." The voice is heard, and it is woven into the story of Cinderella: not a spoiled child from the northern neighborhoods, but a footballer who grew up from the bottom - the area of the old central station of Tel Aviv.
But, too bad.
The story may end badly.
Mittelman explains: "Unlike many European teams that benefit from refugees in Africa, a billionaire lacks citizenship and therefore will not be able to join."
Provincials like us.
In the meantime, there is a chance that the article will ignite the feelings of the masses of Beit Yisrael who see before their eyes a local version of Lionel Messi, who in the future may join the national team and bring achievements, the Israeli flag will fly proudly and everyone will sing the anthem.
Come on hapoel.
On the face of it, Mittelman's article stems from a healthy desire and deserves to illuminate the human side of life, a side that has often gone unnoticed by government officials, who at the stroke of a pen may impose a cruel fate on entire families.
But the story presented in a rather simple way masks a complex truth.
Even disturbing.
Israelis who have accumulated years of mileage in front of Israeli journalists will move uneasily at the sight of the article.
In the end, this is not a personal case.
Dozens of articles of this kind are published every year in the main media channels.
Once upon a time, the protagonist is a child who acquired friends in the Israeli school, whose deportation threatens to observe the social hoops that hold him;
Another time it was an orphaned girl from a father who came from Eritrea.
A deportation order awaits everyone.
In this genre of articles, the journalist will always stand to the right of the refugees / infiltrators;
The authorities, and in particular government ministries, will always turn out badly: as institutions whose decisions are not rooted in values and national solidarity, a cold and alienated system that operates arbitrarily.
Viewers see before their eyes weak-weakened in the face of a strong and alienated establishment.
For the most part, viewers will not get to see the big picture: the harm to the quality of life of the veteran residents of South Tel Aviv;
The erosion of local identity and the rising crime as a result of illegal immigration.
Residents of South Tel Aviv who have been harmed by the refugees will not receive sympathetic and empathetic framing, like the one they received from Billiards.
Point and point connect to the picture: Articles of this kind, repeated over and over again with slight differences, evoke the inevitable feeling that these journalists are sitting on a common cultural infrastructure, centered on sensitivity to human rights, to human distress as a person.
The rights of this person take precedence over the rights of the Jewish people, which protects its interest and identity through the same state apparatus.
Therefore, articles of this kind act like a ram, who repeatedly strikes at the consciousness of national solidarity and Israeli sovereignty, and threatens to widen the gap in the fence and train it in public opinion.
It begins with an exciting, personal-point story, and may end in a "state of all its citizens."
Anyone who remains indifferent to articles of this kind - has no heart.
But those who are left without a critique of the agenda of journalists and manipulation - have no head.
So you guys up there, stop mixing us up.
Literally.
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us
