Working for the Enemy.
Script 34 final
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It's been called the world's largest open prison
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Wall gun-turret shot
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COMM
Penned in by Israeli walls, barbed wire and gun turrets
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COMM The 1.8 million people living in
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Passport checks etc |
COMM As a foreign journalist, I can come and go
But for Palestinians to see relatives, have essential medical treatment, or just visit the outside world, Gazans need the express permission of the Israeli authorities
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Gun turrets etc in Eres
Salwa |
COMM
They asked her questions, like “you want to be treated, Khulood, you want chemotherapy? You have to talk.”
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Abu Hassan |
COMM
This is the story of the desperate choices people have to make
If someone from us collaborated with the government, it was to prevent an attack or to stop a person from doing an attack. |
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Tel Aviv beach
Dichter |
COMM
It's the story of how the Israeli state seeks to protect its citizens
Better the tears of the mothers of a thousand terrorists, than the tears of my mother |
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Bird |
COMM
And of those who now live tortured by shame
We didn’t withhold anything from
the State of
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Murad walking along Eres |
COMM This is a film about Palestinians who collaborate with the Israeli state - those who would work for the enemy |
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TITLE |
WORKING FOR THE ENEMY
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Hamas investigation video |
Upsot |
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COMM
In May 2017, Hamas in
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Hisham Al Aloul |
I call on all who cooperate with the Israeli occupiers to turn back to God
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Confessions in Hamas video
Abdulah Nashar
Abu Layla 0335
0403 |
COMM
Three Palestinian men had apparently been caught working for Israel in Gaza I started collaborating in 2010
while applying for permission to travel and see my wife in the
COMM Abdullah Nashar hadn’t seen his wife for 3 years before he was recruited
In 2004 someone from abroad started chatting online to me. He told me he believed in extremist ideology and embraced Jihad
COMM Ashraf Abu Layla was a militant drawn to
jihadis opposed to Hamas in
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more Hamas video upsot Ashraf |
COMM
The three men are confessing to involvement in an Israeli plot to kill a senior leader of Hamas' military wing, al-Qassam Brigades.
Mazen Fuqaha
He said shoot him and finish him by shooting in the head and chest. I said okay. |
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Fuqaha archive |
COMM Fuqaha was one of those behind a series of bombings
in 2002, killing and wounding Israeli citizens.
He received nine life sentences for murder.
But was released in a controversial prisoner exchange in 2011. |
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Zahar: 07:52 A071C252_171117Q3_MAREK
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COMM
Mahmoud al-Zahar co-founded Hamas. He helped broker the release of prisoners.
Mazen pained (find a
better translation, this is unclear)
They thought that Mazen was
active in the West Bank while based in
Interviewer: 09:15: And was he active?
Zahar: 09:16: I don’t know.
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Murad on trail of event etc 10.28 |
COMM Someone seemed to think Fuqaha was still active, though
On 24 of March 2017, Ashraf Abu Layla received his instructions
The officer called me on Friday
evening and told me to go to the Tal al Hawa district in
I entered the street where the Al Quds Hospital and Mazen Fuqaha’s building stand
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Hamas video / CCTV And Murad on trail, drone etc |
COMM Hamas officials say this is Ashraf, caught on cctv as he walks past the hospital Into the yard And towards his target’s parking lot |
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Murad aerial, PTC |
COMM Fuqaha had spent a family day on the beach. He was alone in his car
PTC The gunman followed him, knocked on his window, and shot him five times
Ashraf’s job was done
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Press TV report |
COMM Hamas had lost one of its key assets They picked up three suspects, who confessed.
The Hamas authorities executed them as traitors, and as a warning to others. |
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12:52 Abdulah Nashar |
The intelligence officers said we were important to them, that they would never abandon us
They made us feel like they’re our guardians and are looking out for us.
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COMM
We cannot verify the testimonies in the video
The Hamas authorities were unwilling to share any of their evidence or investigative material.
But how could |
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Into prison |
PTC - Working for
COMM
At this
This inmate - I’m calling him Ibrahim - runs a self-help group for those who have worked for the Israeli state.
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A072C454_171119N0_MAREK Check Arabic, he is not saying what is in the script, you may have made a cut. He does not use the word ‘criminal’. |
Inmate: 00:17: People should
understand that no-one is born a criminal. Most people who fall into this
trap – 90% or more – are victims. 00:53: We in |
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A072C454_171119N0_MAREK
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COMM Ibrahim told me that Israeli recruiters prey on the needs of people in Gaza
02:16: They use financial problems to put pressure on some young men. To start with, they say they’re not asking for anything serious. Just a word. And then you fall into a bigger trap. |
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A072C454_171119N0_MAREK
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Murad: 04:10: Who are they targeting?
Inmate: Firstly it’s those in need of medical treatment. This is the biggest problem because it faces us all. Secondly it’s people with financial problems. And thirdly those who are vulnerable and turn to drugs. |
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Prison |
COMM
Most of those imprisoned here for collaboration have been prosecuted for simply giving information to the Israelis.
Ashraf Abu Layla went much further. |
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Murad on computer |
COMM
How might the Israeli security forces have found and recruited the man who shot Mazen Fuqaha?
It doesn't take much to discover that the Fuqaha murder confession wasn’t the first time Ashraf was noticed
He was active in the violence that had brought Hamas to power here in 2007
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PTC on balcony |
PTC It turns out that Ashraf Abu Layla was a member of Hamas
security forces. He was heavily involved in fighting against Hamas opponents. Then, back in 2007, he started to adopt more radical views.
COMM
In 2007, Ashraf kidnapped and murdered the owner of a Christian bookshop in Gaza
When Rami Ayyad’s body was recovered, it was disfigured by multiple stabs and gun wounds
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Murad in car
PTC in car |
PTC Jihadists aren’t welcome with Hamas authorities here in |
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Mysterious shots around car etc |
COMM
Did Ashraf share his plans with other radicals here?
Jihadis have been arrested in
Was Ashraf motivated by revenge?
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Murad emerges from meeting with jihadi |
PTC
So I met him. He doesn’t want to be filmed, but he told me very interesting stuff. Ashraf Abu Layla approached the jihadists claiming he’s a member of the so-called Islamic State. But the jihadists rejected him.
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More mysterious pics / Ashraf |
COMM
As a loner, Ashraf might have
been easier to control.
But would the Israeli security forces really
recruit a jihadi - someone dedicated to the violent destruction of
It seemed an extraordinary risk
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Tel Aviv beach etc |
COMM
The sea-front in Tel Aviv feels a
different world from
These joggers, swimmers and holiday-makers seem to take their safety and protection for granted
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Shin Bet video
Pedestrians, writing, boy bouncing ball etc
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What do you think you see here?
Calm
Routine
But the real question is…
What don’t you see?
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Shin Bet video |
COMM But as this Israeli Security Agency promo tells its viewers, safety comes thanks to the constant vigilance of the security services
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Shin Bet video / more beach shots |
COMM
It’s about Shin Bet, the Israeli security agency which is supposed to have recruited the killers of Mazen Fuqaha. |
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More Shin bet video |
COMM
In the film, Shin Bet agents are aided by high tech surveillance, resources - and of course, informers.
Only with Palestinians giving information are the agents in the film able to prevent a devastating terror attack. |
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Boy drops ball etc / disappearing agents |
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Murad enters building for Dichter |
COMM
In reality. Shin Bet is just as
mysterious as its agents in the film It doesn’t speak to the public
Communication with the media is via an impersonal email address
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COMM But I'm coming to meet a man who headed the organisation in one of its most critical phases
Avi Dichter now heads the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of the Knesset |
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0768
Dichter |
If I just take the second intifada, during three years - 01, 02, 03 - we've lost 900 people. Mainly civilians, mainly in suicide bombings. In many cases we've succeeded to foil those terror attacks. So if the number of people got killed is 900, I wouldn't rule out that 9000 people are still alive, they don't even know they were about to be killed.
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767
Dichter
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COMM
I asked Dichter how easy it was to recruit reliable informers
When you’re interested in someone, you try to map - what are his skills, what are his weaknesses, but above all, what are his strengths,. Otherwise you don't need him. You can take another one, |
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0766
Dichter |
Q 0256: Would SB recruit a jihadi to target someone from Qassam?
AD: Everything is possible in this fight against terrorists - everything. There's one very strong principle in my eyes. I always used to tell it to my people.
Better the tears of the mothers of a thousand terrorists, than the tears of my mother (in Arabic[ )
if you decide to become a terrorist, then you better know that the Israeli SB, military Mossad, police, doesn't matter - an Israeli. In one way or another, you reach your cell in prison, or your grave in the cemetery. |
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Whistleblower Aaron in park |
COMM
In a Tel Aviv park, a reserve officer from Israeli military intelligence tells me more.
He’s talking because he has doubts about the morality of how the security forces operate
We are protecting his identity, and he has to be careful about what he says in order to avoid arrest.
I’ll call him Aaron. |
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960 Aaron |
0215 when you're having a military regime over millions of people, you have to have a strong kind of intelligence over any kind of person that is a threat to this kind of regime, so this means many innocent people who have nothing to do with this violence per se.
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0966
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COMM
The role of Aaron's unit was to recruit informers among the Palestinian population in places like Gaza
And that meant mass covert monitoring - of phones, email, and social media
WB: People's lives are like an open book for us. We know so much about people's personal lives, their ... romantic affairs, their sexual affairs, their health problems - everything
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WB 960 |
If you want to gain cooperation from people, it's obviously best if we have something to use to extort, blackmail this person.
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WB 960 |
WB: in some basic courses of Arabic in the unit you learn specific words like different synonyms for homosexual in Arabic, like ‘luty’
Q: So you will tell this guy, for instance, you are luty, in order to break him, or why?
WB 0632: That's a possible method of action, yes.
0961 0216 WB: You practically put this person in a lose-lose situation. Either way, his life is in great risk. |
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960
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COMM But it’s not just sexual orientation that can make people targets
0962 WB: if someone's daughter has cancer. And he wants to get treatments in one of the Israeli hospitals, which is known to have better treatment than Palestinian hospitals. And if we know about it, maybe we can stop him and tell him, OK, you can have this, but only if you cooperate |
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Back to |
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Salwa and granddaughter in
kitchen |
COMM
Salwa al-Saedni knows all about cooperation.
Today she is with her grandchildren
A year ago, their mother Kholoud needed urgent treatment for cancer
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COMM
The Israeli authorities granted her permission to go to a hospital in Jerusalem |
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Driving to Eres |
COMM
It was 6 o’clock and barely light when Salwa and her daughter Kholoud arrived here, at Eres Crossing, one morning in January 2017
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Salwa interview at Eres |
00:08: It was a very difficult day. She was tired. We entered the waiting hall and sat for about 4 hours. 00:30: Then we were called and taken into the interview room. 01:09 They asked her, “do you want to be treated, Kholoud? You want chemotherapy? You have to talk.” |
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Crossing / border shots |
COMM
The officers wanted information about a man married
to Kholoud’s cousin. She said he was an olive tree farmer. |
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He told her, yes, but he plants rockets. He plants rockets with Hamas. 04:15: So said, if you know that he plants rockets, what’s that got to do with me?’ I’m sick and need to be treated. I want to be able to raise my kids. |
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COMM
Salwa says her daughter was not able to give any information about the man. |
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Salwa: 04:26: |
He told her: ‘There’s the bus you need’. Only a glass screen separated us from it.
COMM But the Israeli authorities
did not allow Kholoud to board the bus
04:46: Fate was against her. We had to turn back
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COMM
Three weeks later, Kholoud died. The Israeli authorities told us that they do
not condition entry to They denied any irregularities in their dealings with Kholoud |
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07:22 Many
people in
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Tel Arad |
COMM
Some Palestinians work with
I’ve come to a tiny village in the Negev Desert in the far south of Israel
It’s an entire Bedouin community that has been moved from
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Hassan shows photos on wall
A067D077_171115Y0_MAREK |
This is my brother Abdel Raouf, he was older than me. He was killed by Palestinians. [I: Really, why?] 00:31: They claimed that he was a collaborator |
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Sitting with Hassan |
COMM Hassan is the community leader for the dozens of families that live here - a role he inherited from his father, a Bedouin sheikh from the Sinai Desert |
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A067D065_1711150Q_MAREK
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I: 00:45: So this is your father, the one wearing black sunglasses. M: God bless his soul. This was the Israeli commander in charge of the Gaza Strip and Northern Sinai
M: 01:24: His eye was injured during a mission for the state. I: 01:33: What kind of service? M: 01:34: A mission with the secret intelligence. I: 01:39: So he was unable to see? M: 01:40: He lost his eye completely.
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COMM
Hassan’s father
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Abu Hassan A067D067_171115RQ_MAREK
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He decided to work with them, so that he and his people could live. 02:50: But to fight them? He wouldn’t be able to. If 14 Arab countries weren’t able to, do you think my father was going to? No. He worked it out in his brain. He decided to shake hands with the Israelis, the Israeli state, and to support it, help it, and also make people help it, and make the state help the people. |
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A067D067_171115RQ_MAREK A067D073_1711157K_MAREK |
I: 08:59: How do you feel when you or your father are called a traitor or a spy?
Find me one person who can say “you imprisoned me or my father or my brother or so and so.” 02:49: If someone from us collaborated with the government, it was to stop an attack or to stop a person from doing an attack. 03:01: But never to imprison someone or to ruin someone’s life. Only imprison someone who wanted to attack in a bus. My brother could be in the bus, my mother could be in the bus, my sister could be on the bus, my cousin could be on the bus. |
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COMM
Abu Hassan’s community is safe, deep in But Israeli counter-terror operations have also been far more aggressive
Over the last 15 years, more than 300 Palestinian militants have been assassinated in Gaza
How often have collaborators helped in these killings? How often have they even carried them out?
In a side-street in a provincial Israeli
town, I’ |
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A067D131_171115NM_MAREK Need to mask his face when he turns left, because he could be identified. |
04:03: We didn’t withhold
anything from the State of
Interviewer: What do you mean, hands stained with blood?
04:18: They worked with the state to murder people. Some of them killed well known Palestinian militants.
Interviewer: You did this?
04:39: My hands are stained with blood.
Interviewer: Why?
04:51: I did thing that so my
hands are stained with blood. I was sentenced to death. Interviewer: Where are you sentenced to death?
I’m sentenced to death. Interviewer: Where?
In
Interviewer: Murdering who?
05:01: The terrorists |
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Murad, close-ups etc |
COMM
I could now understand why this man wanted his identity concealed.
He told me he had worked in
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A067D132_171115O0_MAREK |
COMM But that was before he had to get out
When I became well known all over
Murad: Where locally?
02:44: In various places. I worked for 10 years in prison.
Murad: In prison. What were you doing?
02:54: Sharing cells with inmates, pretending I was a prisoner too.
Murad: What are people like this called?
03:01: Birds. You extract information from them and then hand them over to the interrogator. |
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Prisons Need to blur him, he could be
identified. |
COMM
Over the past 20 years
And all of the jails have their birds - working to secure long sentences for militant and terrorist suspects
This bird told me his testimony had ensured many Hamas cell-mates remained behind bars for decades
But it’s taken its toll
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A067D132_171115O0_MAREK |
11:10: I regret every minute I spent working for these people. I regret it.
11:31: It completely destroyed us. I live on stress relief medication. I see a therapist for all the terrible memories I have.
Murad: Like what?
11:46: Memories. Nightmares. My past is haunting me. My past is haunting me.
People like us did not lead normal lives.
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COMM Normality - more than anything - is what Gazans crave But for Perpetual scrutiny, suspicion and
human need mean collaboration will persist in shaping and poisoning lives And some |