{"id":6584,"date":"2012-07-20T23:44:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-20T20:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/?p=6584"},"modified":"2025-01-27T00:07:49","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T22:07:49","slug":"the-gatekeepers-documentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/2012\/07\/the-gatekeepers-documentary\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;The Gatekeepers&#8221; documentary offers interviews with six former Shin Bet heads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the first time ever, six former heads of the Shin Bet, Israel\u2019s secret service agency, agree to share their insights and reflect publicly on their actions and decisions. Intimately interviewed, Dror Moreh's Oscar-nominated documentary sheds light on the controversy surrounding the Occupation in the aftermath of the Six Day War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Trailer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Gatekeepers\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mIJ82edWqWg?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Synopsis<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><a  href=\"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/the-gatekeepers-poster-artwork-yuval-diskin-carmi-gillon-yaakov-peri.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"426\" height=\"640\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/the-gatekeepers-poster-artwork-yuval-diskin-carmi-gillon-yaakov-peri.jpg\" alt=\"The Gatekeepers documentary poster\" class=\"wp-image-6585\" style=\"width:325px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/the-gatekeepers-poster-artwork-yuval-diskin-carmi-gillon-yaakov-peri.jpg 426w, https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/the-gatekeepers-poster-artwork-yuval-diskin-carmi-gillon-yaakov-peri-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 426px) 100vw, 426px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It seems inevitable that Israel\u2019s security forces play an inordinate role in the national discourse. Two of these forces\u2014the Army and the Mossad\u2014are already the stuff of legend. Ever since the Six Day War, however, the internal security force known as the Shin Bet has come to dominate the discussion among Israel\u2019s policy makers. Israel\u2019s crushing victory over its neighbors in 1967 left it in control of a vast, hostile population living under Occupation. Dealing with that population\u2014in times of calm and times of violent uprising\u2014was the Shin Bet\u2019s responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thegatekeepersfilm.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Gatekeepers<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0tells the story of the Shin Bet, perhaps the most active and certainly the most secretive of Israel\u2019s security forces, and it tells it from the perspectives of its leaders who, more than anyone, received the trust of the country\u2019s political elites. In a series of candid interviews, they talk openly about the major events that marked their tenures. At their most intimate, six former heads of the Shin Bet muse publicly about the morality of torture and terrorism, arrests and assassinations. The citizens they swore to protect may have been safer as a result of their actions, but was the country any closer to peace?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a style reminiscent of&nbsp;<em>The Fog of War<\/em>, their confessions are illustrated with archival footage and chilling computer animations based on photographs taken at the events. These offer a window into the moral dilemmas they faced as they unfolded. The audience is left pondering whether they or their governments would have responded any differently<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If Israel lies at the heart of the global War on Terror, the Gatekeepers\u2019 confessions challenge the conventional wisdom of how that war should be waged, whether in Gaza or Guantanamo, Palestine or Pakistan. Theirs is the ultimate cautionary tale of what happens to people and nations alike when they try to answer violence with violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Director Dror Moreh on \"The Gatekeepers\"<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"DP\/30: The Gatekeepers, documentarian Dror Moreh\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/edwQ8UhQt7k?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the first time ever, six former heads of the Shin Bet, Israel\u2019s secret service agency, agree to share their insights and reflect publicly on their actions and decisions. Intimately interviewed, Dror Moreh&#8217;s Oscar-nominated documentary sheds light on the controversy surrounding the Occupation in the aftermath of the Six Day War.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[926],"tags":[1070,796,1071],"ppma_author":[936],"class_list":["post-6584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-documentaries","tag-dror-moreh","tag-shin-bet","tag-the-gatekeepers-documentary"],"authors":[{"term_id":936,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"sambahour","display_name":"Sam Bahour","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bca109c333bf6d8ae807746dd512adde46265d37c923f6cd0fc4aab437f8e9aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"1","first_name":"Sam","last_name":"Bahour","user_url":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour","job_title":"","description":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Sam Bahour<\/strong> is a Palestinian-American business consultant, writer, and commentator based in Al-Bireh\/Ramallah, Palestine. He is the principal of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aim.ps\/\">Applied Information Management (AIM)<\/a>, a consultancy specializing in business development and startup advisory services.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bahour played a foundational role in establishing two of Palestine\u2019s publicly traded companies: the Palestine Telecommunications Company (PALTEL) and the Arab Palestinian Shopping Centers (APSC). He co-founded Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy (A4VPE), of which he is now an emeritus member, and served as an independent director on the board of Arab Islamic Bank P.L.C. from 2004 to 2025. He currently serves on the board of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.justvision.org\/\">Just Vision<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/mas.ps\">The Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS)<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He frequently gives talks to delegations visiting Palestine on the subjects of Palestine\u2019s political economy, Palestinian Politics 101, and a general orientation to the state of affairs under Israeli military occupation.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A prolific writer on Palestinian affairs, Bahour has been published in major international outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, Haaretz, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera America, Le Monde diplomatique, Al-Monitor, +972 Magazine, The Hill, and Arab News. He has appeared as a commentator on NPR, CNN, BBC, and other broadcast media.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bahour is the co-editor of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Homeland-Oral-Histories-Palestine-Palestinians\/dp\/1566561329\/ref=la_B00HBW71SO_1_1\">Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians<\/a><\/em> (Olive Branch Press, 1993) and was profiled in the bestselling anthology <em><a href=\"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/2017\/06\/epalestine-kingdom-of-olives-and-ash\/\">Kingdom of Olives and Ash<\/a><\/em>, edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, in a chapter authored by Chabon titled \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/lithub.com\/the-tallest-man-in-ramallah\/\">The Tallest Man in Ramallah<\/a>.\u201d He holds an Associate\u2019s and Bachelor\u2019s degree in Computer Technology from Youngstown State University, and a Kellogg-Recanati International Executive MBA \u2014 a joint program of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Recanati Business School at Tel Aviv University.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He tweets at <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SamBahour\">@SamBahour<\/a>, blogs at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epalestine.ps\">www.epalestine.ps<\/a>, and may be reached at sbahour[AT]gmail[DOT]com.<\/p>"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6584"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6589,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6584\/revisions\/6589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6584"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=6584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}