Opinion

‘Everyone’s a Suspect.’ Six Former Israeli Soldiers Speak on Their Time in Hebron.

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‘Everyone’s a Suspect.’ Six Former Israeli Soldiers Speak on Their Time in Hebron.

The director Rona Segal learned filmmaking in the Israeli army. Now she turns the camera on her fellow soldiers.

Nov. 16, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET
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By Rona Segal

Ms. Segal is a documentary filmmaker.

I joined the army when I was 18 years old. Military service is mandatory in Israel (with few exemptions) and we’re instructed to never doubt its necessity. But I wanted to make films, so I maneuvered my way into the Israel Defense Forces’ film unit.

The army is where I learned the craft of filmmaking, and making the short documentary above allowed me to go back to those years. But now, as an independent filmmaker, I have a different perspective, a perspective that most 18-year-olds simply don’t have.

Here, ex-soldiers share their accounts of day-to-day operations on the ground in Hebron, the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank. They offer a view that has rarely been seen by the public.

Rona Segal is an Israeli director and screenwriter.

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