Where terrorists are created

A Season Inside God's Bunker: The Story of the Hebron Massacre

By Micha Peled

SBS TV, Tuesday, May 3, 8.30pm (8 Adelaide)

Reviewed by Nikolai Haddad

This documentary is a chilling look at life in the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, "God's Bunker", home of the perpetrator of the Hebron massacre. Micha Peled captures the life and thoughts of the settlers through a series of interviews with a family — a rabbi, his wife and their children.

The shock effect of A Season Inside God's Bunker is drawn from the words and actions of those filmed and interviewed. What kind of society is it in which children, under 10, sing openly in the back of a bus: "All the world hates Arabs, the main thing is to kill them one by one ..."?

The film devotes some time to gauging the opinion of the settlers on the Hebron massacre and the Kach movement, yet it does not go into detail about either, leaving the viewer with an incomplete picture of the event.

The documentary has an obvious pro-Israel bias and at times seems apologetic for the words and actions of the settlers. It never refers to their violent deeds as "terrorism", though it is a common label for actions of Palestinians. Although Peled films and refers to Palestinians, he never interviews them or presents their opinions, leaving the film incomplete.

From GLW issue 140