This is a bit short, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Israel is planning on attaching a dedicated cameraman to squads of soldiers, much in the same way that every unit would have a dedicated radio, medical, and machine gun specialist. The idea, of course, is that the army will become more accountable for its actions, and there will be an appearance of transparency. Transparency is something that Israel could use, as allegations of abuses and war crimes mount up in the war against Hamas.
Of course, there is no way that Israel can prove that any images or footage released by the Army isn't doctored or edited - this is something that Israel recognizes, in fact. It makes me wonder, then who they are trying to impress with this initiative. The US and other allies are fairly firmly bound up with Israel, but perhaps the embattled nation is trying to rebuild bridges after the debacle with the aid ships last year. The Palestinians and other Arab nations will not be impressed by this program, and it seems that Israel, as we discussed in class, just isn't really "getting it" as far as who their target audience should be.
Oooh, this is fascinating, Geoff! Thanks for the update. I'm particularly intrigued by the point you raise in your second paragraph. Even if the photos are NOT doctored or edited, there's always the question of the extent to which a photographic image can represent "reality," or whether an absolutely concept of reality even exists, if we want to get very grad-schooly about it.
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