Israeli Cell Phone Company's Ad Angers Palestinians

[Eleanor]

An Israeli cell phone commercial showing soldiers playing football near Israel's West Bank separation barrier has angered Palestinians who say it is in poor taste and exploits their suffering.

The company behind the ad, Cellcom, said that in showing the soldiers kicking a stray ball back and forth across the wall with unseen Palestinians it wanted to send a positive message about communicating beyond barriers.

At least one Israeli peace group agreed, calling the ad "brave." Some Palestinians disagreed.

The commercial, which began airing in Israel this week, shows soldiers patrolling along the barrier's towering concrete slabs. A football hits their patrol jeep, setting off an impromptu game with people on the other side. "What do we want, after all? A bit of fun," a narrator says.

"It is weird and despicable to use the suffering and occupation as a means of advertisement," said Saeb Erekat, a top aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Erekat said he found the ad "distasteful and sickening."

The Palestinians say the barrier, which runs largely inside the West Bank and leaves about 10 percent of its territory on the Israeli side, serves to sever them from their land, disrupts their lives and cripples their economy. Israel began building the fences and walls that make up the barrier in the midst of a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings targeting Israeli cities, and maintains that it is a crucial security measure.

In a response to the criticism, Cellcom said it did not intend a political message and that its only goal was to "allow a connection between people."

"The goal of the campaign was to get the message across that when people separated by religion, race and gender want to communicate they can, under any circumstances," read a statement from the company. "The campaign has no cynical or hurtful intention and does not take any position."

An Israeli Arab lawmaker called on the company to pull the ad, but the Israeli peace group Peace Now weighed in on Cellcom's side.

"I think the message of this advertisement is that there are people, normal human beings, on the other side of the fence who simply want to play football. For a commercial advertisement it is a brave move and I believe it is welcome," Peace Now's director, Yariv Oppenheimer, told Channel 2 TV.

Cellcom is not the first to make creative use of the barrier. In 2004, the Israeli fashion company Comme il Faut used the cement slabs as a backdrop for a catalog in what it said was an attempt to draw attention to the hardships caused by the barrier.

In the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, which is hemmed in by the barrier, one owner of a seafood restaurant had his menu painted on the wall, saying last year that he was "making something positive out of a negative situation."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ifVHBCJkH32iApHkiZkXFeVA70gwD99DNAJ00

Here's the ad:
iROM7rf_r6s

Really? They find this offensive? I don't understand what they're saying in the ad, but I highly doubt it's racist or offensive in any way.

[OH-EIGHT]

Originally posted by Eleanor

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ifVHBCJkH32iApHkiZkXFeVA70gwD99DNAJ00

Here's the ad:
iROM7rf_r6s

Really? They find this offensive? I don't understand what they're saying in the ad, but I highly doubt it's racist or offensive in any way.

you don't understand because you are white and/or ignorant

[FullMetal]

Originally posted by OH-EIGHT


you don't understand because you are white and/or ignorant


wahahahaha :rofl: :thumbsup: yeah they are angry cuz in that vid the ball went over the wall and look how the "army" reacted. Then they call in back up, but it turns out its only a damn ball and nothing more, they are angry cuz Israeli's army thinks any thing that comes from Palestinian is some sort of bomb and thats how the army reacted when the ball hit there jeep..

[OH-EIGHT]

Originally posted by FullMetal



wahahahaha :rofl: :thumbsup: yeah they are angry cuz in that vid the ball went over the wall and look how the "army" reacted then they call in ball up but it turns out its only a damn ball and nothing more, they are angry cuz Israeli's army thinks any thing that comes from Palestinian is some sort of bomb and thats how the army reacted when the ball hit there jeep..

GO INVADE ANOTHER INNOCENT COUNTRY YOU WARMONGERING BULLY

[thetransporter]

that barrier needs to come down. thats like putting a barrier around the native reserves not allowing them to travel between reserves.

[FullMetal]

Originally posted by OH-EIGHT


GO INVADE ANOTHER INNOCENT COUNTRY YOU WARMONGERING BULLY

im with u on this u ass wipe

[SJW]

The Israelis pissed of the palestinians? OMG someone call CNN.

[FullMetal]

Originally posted by SJW
The Israelis pissed of the palestinians? OMG someone call CNN. :facepalm: its the other way around noob lol

[ZEDGE]

Originally posted by OH-EIGHT


you don't understand because you are white and/or ignorant

You have to be an alias or some parody. There is no way you can be serious with the complete stupidity you type. :confused:

[ICEBERG]

http://tinypic.com/7xt927a.gif

[Eleanor]

Originally posted by OH-EIGHT
you don't understand because you are white and/or ignorant What does me being white have to do with anything? :dunno:

Originally posted by OH-EIGHT
GO INVADE ANOTHER INNOCENT COUNTRY YOU WARMONGERING BULLY I can only assume that you're referring to Iraq, in which case you'll have a hard time proving their "innocence".

Originally posted by thetransporter
that barrier needs to come down. thats like putting a barrier around the native reserves not allowing them to travel between reserves. If the natives starting volleying rockets into Calgary, you might change your tone a little bit.

[black13]

Originally posted by Eleanor

Really? They find this offensive? I don't understand what they're saying in the ad, but I highly doubt it's racist or offensive in any way.
Well I don't think anybody would play soccer with a bunch of people that killed their relatives and bombed their houses.

Regardless I don't think the Ad is a big deal anyway, it's not gonna change fuck-all in that whole situation.

[Xtrema]

I'm not going to lie, I was waiting for the ball to turn into IED.

[OH-EIGHT]

Originally posted by Xtrema
I'm not going to lie, I was waiting for the ball to turn into IED.

that was so wrong i lol'd

[Legless_Marine2]

Originally posted by black13

Well I don't think anybody would play soccer with a bunch of people that killed their relatives and bombed their houses.


Additionally, it makes light of the West Bank "Separation Barrier", which imprisons over 2 million Palestianians, and whose construction resulted in the confiscation and destruction of a great deal of Palestinian farmland.

On one side of the wall, Palestinians are being trapped in their prison, yet on the other side, the Jailers are having a great time with a soccer ball. Yay.

It takes a real lack of compassion to fail to see how this is offensive to Palestinians.

If there were a similar commercial, showing a bunch of Nazi gards making merry with a soccer ball at the gates of Aushwitz, I'm sure it would be met with similar disapproval.

[OH-EIGHT]

Originally posted by Eleanor
What does me being white have to do with anything? :dunno:
I can only assume that you're referring to Iraq, in which case you'll have a hard time proving their "innocence".
If the natives starting volleying rockets into Calgary, you might change your tone a little bit.

because white people are the most violent people on earth. always starting wars! always killing people! you people make me sick. you're a pathetic bunch of criminals, always resort to violence, always push around the little guy. you can't even beat the europeans in basketball anymore. the dream team is dead. even your skinny women disgust me...halle berry...


if natives started volleying rockets into calgary? i guess it wouldn't affect me too much because i don't live there... or anywhere close to there

[FivE.SeveN]

Hahah troll detected :poosie:

[ICEBERG]

Originally posted by OH-EIGHT


even your skinny women disgust me...halle berry...




Halle disgusts you? Are you gay?:D

http://www.halle-berry-pictures.com/hb30.jpg

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by Xtrema
I'm not going to lie, I was waiting for the ball to turn into IED.

+1... after they called in "back-up", I was thinking, man, what a perfect time for someone to toss a few grenades over.

[Eleanor]

Originally posted by OH-EIGHT
because white people are the most violent people on earth. always starting wars! always killing people! you people make me sick. you're a pathetic bunch of criminals, always resort to violence, always push around the little guy. We're all super racist too, you forgot that.

you can't even beat the europeans in basketball anymore. Aren't most European basketball players white? :dunno:

the dream team is dead. The "Dream Team" is mostly black.

even your skinny women disgust me...halle berry... Newsflash, Halle Berry is black.

if natives started volleying rockets into calgary? i guess it wouldn't affect me too much because i don't live there... or anywhere close to there Do you live in the West Bank or Gaza? I'm guessing not, which means that this doesn't affect you either then, so you could just leave the thread and hopefully the forum :thumbsup:

[DRKM]

I am not taking an Israel/Palistien side but...
I can see what they are saying, it is kinda horrifying that there is a three story wall separating the people like that. I don' think it is right to make light of that situation.

The Nazi analogy is accurate.

[kaput]

.

[ZEDGE]

Hes allowed to reproduce? ;)

[xecutivip]

Originally posted by OH-EIGHT


because white people are the most violent people on earth. always starting wars! always killing people! you people make me sick. you're a pathetic bunch of criminals, always resort to violence, always push around the little guy. you can't even beat the europeans in basketball anymore. the dream team is dead. even your skinny women disgust me...halle berry...


if natives started volleying rockets into calgary? i guess it wouldn't affect me too much because i don't live there... or anywhere close to there

so what color are you big boi

[OH-EIGHT]

Originally posted by kaput
OH-EIGHT is clearly Toma's son.

nah him and FlySi are just my homies


Originally posted by xecutivip


so what color are you big boi

I make boys fly,
I make dirt sing,
Bunny's love me,
Buffalos hate me.
What color am I?

[kaput]

.

[Jonel]

um .. if anything, isn't the ad sending a positive message?

[slinkie]

best troll around

[B4tMan]

Originally posted by ICEBERG


Halle disgusts you? Are you gay?:D

http://www.halle-berry-pictures.com/hb30.jpg
hates her cause her skin is showing ?

[eljefe]

Originally posted by OH-EIGHT


nah him and FlySi are just my homies



I make boys fly,
I make dirt sing,
Bunny's love me,
Buffalos hate me.
What color am I?

The answer btw is green

[l/l/rX]

I can see this commercial from 2 perspectives. 1) it could be offensive cuz it shows what the Palistien people have to put up with being barricaded within their own country and the commercial sort of seems to depict the wall as a joke sort of thing.
2) it could also be seen as Palistien and Israeli people can get along
But I honestly thought when the ball came back over the wall for the first time it was going to be a bomb.

[charizard]

Originally posted by Eleanor
We're all super racist too, you forgot that.
Aren't most European basketball players white? :dunno:
The "Dream Team" is mostly black.
Newsflash, Halle Berry is black.
Do you live in the West Bank or Gaza? I'm guessing not, which means that this doesn't affect you either then, so you could just leave the thread and hopefully the forum :thumbsup:

apparently you havent seen Rush Hour 3, haha