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The photo that shocked Israel in 1984 and sparked a change in self-image.
 Alex Levac
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Last update - 14:32 28/04/2009
Revisiting the photo that exposed a Shin Bet lie
By Alex Levac
Tags: Bus 300, Israel News 

I'm returning here to my infamous Bus 300 photo, in which one sees - obviously alive and well - one of two Palestinian hijackers whom the Shin Bet security service claimed had been killed during a hostage rescue. I wouldn't think of bringing the subject up again if it hadn't been for the changes in Israeli attitudes toward the Palestinians over the last 25 years. The photo shocked the country in 1984 because it was proof of the lies and criminal acts of the security apparatus.

Who would respond these days with the same powerful emotion to the murder of two Palestinian bus hijackers as we did in those innocent times when every injury to a Palestinian, not to mention a killing, led to an investigation? Since then, mutual hatred has only worsened and summary executions have become routine. We have long become insensitive to death, of Jews as well as Palestinians.

Today the military censor would not close a newspaper for three days, as it did to the now-defunct Hadashot, which published the photo. And who would set up an investigative committee, who would punish those responsible, who would change the laws governing the Shin Bet? But the thought that evokes the greatest sadness is whether we can say with certainty in 2009 that the Israeli media is the watchdog of democracy.
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The Bus 300 photo has been the high point of my career as a photojournalist. It's not just that I collected a first-rate scoop; the picture sparked a change in the way Israeli society looked at itself. It confirmed the truth in the cliche that a picture is worth a thousand words.

A short philosophical remark is in order here about the essence of photographs. The power of this photo lies in what it doesn't show, the moment after, the moment when skulls were smashed, an act former Shin Bet agent Ehud Yatom later admitted to. The moment of the unbearable lightness of death.
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  1.   Is there news here? 13:04  |  Proud Israeli 28/04/09
  2.   Jihadi terrorists should be killed 13:07  |  Dani 28/04/09
  3.   Should apply to every pals terrorist with blod... 13:20  |  Jean 28/04/09
  4.   #1 & #2 haverim iekarim.... 13:27  |  pj 28/04/09
  5.   The watchdog of Israel 13:31  |  vernon marriott 28/04/09
  6.   execute all terrorists who commit murder immediately 13:42  |  Andyboy 28/04/09
  7.   Israel simply did what everyone else does 13:53  |  Welshman 28/04/09
  8.   most moral? 13:57  |  TimothyL 28/04/09
  9.   I guess he`s entitled to his opinion, but 14:03  |  Eric 28/04/09
  10.   Jew and Israeli criminals 14:04  |  Taha Mokhtar 28/04/09
  11.   to#2 Dani, excellent 14:08  |  maurice 28/04/09
  12.   No wonder racist Israel feared... 14:25  |  Maureen Ann 28/04/09
  13.   To Taha Mokhtar 14:26  |  Civilized Israeli 28/04/09
  14.   His 3 Killers Are Identified in the Photo! Prosecute Them! 14:26  |  Monitor 28/04/09
  15.   Pathetic, guilt-ridden leftists 14:33  |  Ari 28/04/09
  16.   Sorry, Eric, there is a difference 14:33  |  Murray 28/04/09
  17.   funny how nobody mentions the irgun and lehi 14:34  |  ramin 28/04/09
  18.   I remember that day, the killers murdered a pregnant woman at.. 14:34  |  maurice 28/04/09
  19.   The photo that exposed a Shin Bet lie 14:35  |  Paladin 28/04/09
  20.   #1, the writer is telling the truth 14:36  |  Egalitarian 28/04/09
  21.   The shin bet agents did what has to be done, excellent 14:36  |  maurice 28/04/09
  22.   for israel`s good, anything and everything is justified 14:42  |  bashar 28/04/09
  23.   Why lie? The Shin Bet should ave been proud to have shot him 14:42  |  Mark Leaman 28/04/09
  24.   Just War 14:52  |  Santa 28/04/09
  25.   Great Article 14:59  |  EM 28/04/09
  26.   The worse thing is, they tried frame Mordechai 15:02  |  Inyaki 28/04/09
  27.   That incident is well remembered, every word said here is true!!! 15:23  |  نضال 28/04/09
  28.   Every Palestinian injury or death led to an investigation?! 15:33  |  Tcherkessi 28/04/09
  29.   In Israel Lying is OK 15:36  |  Free_Thinker 28/04/09
  30.   ramin - funny you don`t mention the marauding Arabs 15:37  |  ChanahS 28/04/09
  31.   Who called it Murder when a Handcuffed Jew was Butchered on a Bus 15:56  |  UsedToPostHere 28/04/09
  32.   Why Yom Hazikaron if we do not act upon it? 15:57  |  Tom Lobo Meyer 28/04/09
  33.   Left is an untreatable mental condition . 16:00  |  TOMY 28/04/09
  34.   #8 16:07  |  Moshe 28/04/09
  35.   Something interesting 16:24  |  Quebec observer 28/04/09
  36.   More desensitized? 16:34  |  Zach 28/04/09
  37.   Shin Bet is a terror organization 16:39  |  mehmet 28/04/09
  38.   You said it, EM 16:39  |  sh 28/04/09
  39.   From the Archives 16:46  |  Knott Bushman 28/04/09
  40.   And What Happened the Ehud Yatom? 17:04  |  Binyamin 28/04/09
  41.   #19 The fig leaf called hasbara 17:07  |  jens 28/04/09
  42.   And where is Ehud Yatom now ? 17:41  |  Dave heidenfeld 28/04/09
  43.   Thank God for SHABAK 17:45  |  Scott L. Havsy 28/04/09
  44.   Yatom became a Knesset member for murdering the 2 Pal. 17:57  |  Avraham Schlosseman 28/04/09
  45.   Now instead we have Israelis kidnaped to free these murderers 18:03  |  McQueen 28/04/09
  46.   terrorist-another samir kuntab 18:13  |  michael 28/04/09
  47.   Nature of this discussion point 18:18  |  Mike 28/04/09
  48.   Instead we have dead body,s of Israelis 18:24  |  Eva 28/04/09
  49.   He did die during the rescue attempt! 18:35  |  tooclose2detroit 28/04/09
  50.   No prisonners = no kidnaping, very sample 18:48  |  maurice 28/04/09
  51.   Yes there is news here, Israel has not changed 19:22  |  Secualr 28/04/09
  52.   Mehmet in Istanbul 19:44  |  Christopher 28/04/09
  53.   Maurice is correct-no prisoners=no kidnappings 20:22  |  Arie 28/04/09
  54.   Revisiting phot reveals what it is to be an Israeli 00:01  |  Leon Chase 29/04/09
  55.   to 2 00:23  |  jorge 29/04/09
  56.   We should not be shame 00:40  |  Avi 29/04/09
  57.   Will the press ever expose all the Palestinian lies? 01:08  |  Joe Sittizen 29/04/09
  58.   Execute terrorists!!! 07:34  |  Dr.Dan Elstner 29/04/09
  59.   #22 bashar, you forgot to mention one thing about this mentality: 08:01  |  eric 29/04/09
  60.   If your loved one was killed on that bus, you`d praise the Shabak 08:25  |  Aaron 29/04/09
  61.   #51 and the arbas still just murder jews 09:28  |  JfromC 29/04/09
  62.   Is this what happened in Ben Haggai two weeks back? 11:42  |  Rod 29/04/09
  63.   what an animal 14:34  |  Palesinian 29/04/09
  64.   Most posts here seem to.. 19:03  |  American 29/04/09
  65.   # 57 news for you aaron 07:32  |  eric 30/04/09
  66.   # 57 news for you aaron 09:54  |  eric 30/04/09
  67.   to #47 Mike - Nature of this discussion point 18:20  |  elZeide 02/05/09
  68.   Bus 300 14:48  |  Lavi Ben-Yaacov 17/08/09
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