Translator: Omri Anghel Reviewer: TED Translators admin
Hey! Don't get shot, alright?
My name is Itai Anghel
As a journalist
I prefer to be on the ground
in the field
where the action is really happening
That is not Iran, No!
That is not Khomeini!
That's the people looking for freedom!
There is a sniper out here somewhere
he has hit three people
two head shots and a chest
Marines?
Yeah
Anyone hit?
I know who ISIS are
They are just human beings
I'm also a human being
ISIS has guns
I have guns too
The difference is they are fighting to die
I am fighting to live
How many people have you beheaded?
Around...
70 people
As an Israeli journalist
most of my travels are especially dangerous
In some places, if someone finds out I'm an Israeli...
"Death to Israel"
I'll be gone in a minute
You may find it hard to believe
but I am the normal one
You see, I’m covering world conflicts,
mainly in countries where Israelis are forbidden to go
I try to bring Israelis,
who...some of them often succumb to stereotypes
that anyone beyond our border is an enemy,
a different view of how things really look like from within
Some of my documentaries are broadcast all over the world
And from the very beginning of my career I realized that only when I'm there,
in the field, can I really understand what's happening.
In hindsight,
when I try to think about it, about my inspiration,
it came from a black & white TV show that we all were watching as kids:
It was called 'The Time Tunnel’.
The idea was: Two American scientists, Doug and Tony,
And they can step into a mysterious tunnel in their lab
And within a few seconds, they are thrown in time to some point in the past.
They could land at a middle of a decisive battle of king David
Or they might find themselves in the room of Leonardo da Vinci
While he was painting the Mona Lisa.
And me,
More than being fascinated with 'traveling in time',
I was inspired by the idea that I could be present
at the most interesting points in history, and to document
the most dramatic events of our lifetime.
My first opportunity came with the war in Bosnia,
and already there I learned the most valuable lesson in my life
What you think of as your disadvantages, just might turn to be your big strengths.
Bosnia… the capital Sarajevo was a city under siege,
People were being shot at and I did everything I could
in order to get inside and tell their story.
I was very excited to know that I’m about to fulfill my journalistic values for the first time
But, just as we arrived
we were caught in a sniper fire, and me…
I completely lost it.
I was terrified
I was trembling
my feet literally couldn't stand it, I fell on the ground
And besides the paralyzing fear it was the sad realization that
"Hey, admit it, you ain't got it…
You wanted to be a field correspondent, to feel the heartbeat, to go deep
You ain't got it"
While on the ground, things became even worse
I saw, all around me...
soldiers, but also journalists, and everybody was so big and muscular
And I remember looking at the people
from the ground,
telling myself...
"Now, this is a real man, unlike yourself…
Look at you...skinny boy, on the verge of tears.
This is not a place for you”.
You're laughing now but I was so sad back then
And I ran away to the nearest hotel You know, I locked myself inside
and I was convinced that I'm not macho enough for this line of job.
But the following day, there was a ceasefire for few hours so I did get out
and something interesting happened.
People talked to me.
I was less interested in guns, grenades, war tactics…
I’m interested in people, victims of all sides
And to my surprise they talked to me more than they talked
to the other journalists who I adored,
those who were well built and looked a bit like warriors themselves.
I remember one of my macho colleagues telling me about this horrifying phenomenon
of women who were raped in the war, but, he added, these women wouldn't talk.
It took me a while to figure out why they wouldn’t talk
to him, or his alikes.
I mean, think about victims of militia soldiers,
Think about women who are being raped.
When they encounter the macho style journalists,
even if these journalists are good people,
Something in their appearance just might remind them
of the thugs that attacked them.
And that was not the case with me.
I mean, you can say a lot of things about me
but no one, nowhere, will spot me approaching and would say:
"Oh, my god, look who's coming. Let's run away..."
No.
I ain’t got the look.
No one will run away from me, and this is why they talk to me
And I realized,
being non-macho in a macho place
gained me an access that other journalists didn't have.
And for the first time in my life, I felt like "Doug and Tony" from the time tunnel.
I could be present at the most interesting place on earth
and tell the story of these people.
Now, you see here, that’s me, working alone.
And that’s also one of the things that I thought of as a disadvantage of mine
Back at the time.
You know, at the beginning I envied the big crews, the TV networks
A typical TV crew had a correspondent, cameraman, assistant cameraman,
sound man, translator, producer, bunch of bodyguards,
some of them ex-navy seals, well-armed.
They looked so impressive.
Me...
I have no budget. I am a one man band. And as you see...
No one seems to be impressed by me. Actually no one seems even to relate to me
But after this little blow to the ego I realized that it just might be a good thing
Because, In places like Bosnia, Rwanda at the time,
Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, Syria
Media, sometimes, can be perceived as a bit intimidating,
I mean, think about the locals over there
They know that besides brave soldiers,
they are surrounded by quite a sketchy group of people
Thugs, gangs, militias, war criminals
prisoners who were released out of prison
because back then they were the only ones who had the guts to fight
And with that notion of all these people around you,
you will think very carefully before opening your mouth,
let alone to the big media.
I remember a suicide bombing in Iraq, in Baghdad, in the market,
and there was a merchant in the market
and he was approached by a very famous TV crew
They put camera in his face
lighting,
long microphones,
Two bodyguards came with machine guns, stood by him,
and a correspondent with a flak jacket approaches and asks: "How are you"?!
And you see this poor merchant on the verge of a heart attack. Why?
Because all of a sudden he became the focus of attention,
Everybody in the market looking, what is he going to say…
So he just answers: "Everything is ok. No problem”
The correspondent would insist,
I mean, there are bodies, you see people scattered all over…
Please! No problem! Sir! Everything is OK. Leave me alone!
And so the TV crew leaves.
But, when I approach them the attitude is different.
Not because personally it is me, they don't know me,
but because I don't look like the 'threatening media'.
People in the market at that point of time think to themselves:
"well, the serious media has just gone and we are left with this guy…
in comparison to the big media I don’t look serious
and it is ok.
because when I open my camera they are free to feel at ease
They are open.
They are real.
This is me while in there
I never become the story, I never stand out.
I'm sort of a shadow
Anyway, since Bosnia I've been to dozens of conflicts all over the world
and I learned not to develop assumptions.
Not only about myself and my abilities,
but mainly about the people I was about to document,
because every sort of stereotype I had prior to arriving in the place
proved to be shallow and superficial when I encountered real life,
when I was there.
I just wanna come open and document everyone, everything
But then a different challenge, a new challenge came to my life.
The biggest, most dramatic events came to my neighborhood, the Middle East
Historical revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya,
Wars in Yemen, Iraq, Syria.
It was a new challenge because as an Israeli you can't get to these places,
And me, knowing it, I wanted to be there,
because the Israelis, I know, get their information
from people who have never been there.
So how do I get inside these countries?
Well technically I have a foreign passport and I will take care that not a word in Hebrew
will appear on my clothes, my equipment, my documents
But the challenged is more...
mental I would say.
Let me show you what I mean:
Look at this photo.
I love this photo...
Because I look so cool here, right?
Yeah…with the smile and all....
And that's the big deception.
Because behind this smile, there's a man who is frightened to death,
on the verge of collapse....
Very soon into my work I realized that the most dangerous thing
I can do to myself is to look frightened.
I mean I am scared, but you will never see it on the outside.
First time I realized it, you know,
it was the first time I crossed the border inside Syria,
with all the demons in my head, Oh my god…
They would realize who I am
It’s the beginning of the end, They will kill me…
I was terrified, and so was my expression
I looked like that back then
And this is a horrible expression, because, as you see,
it attracts attention like a magnet.
And I know that if someone comes and checks me out
with all due respect to the foreign passport that I have,
we live in an age that within seconds a basic google or a face recognition
and he will see photos from my Bar Mitzvah.
Well I did manage to get away with this one but the notion was clear.
From now on...
in situations like that, even if you are very much afraid,
Don't you dare look like that.
Which means, sometimes I have no choice
I have to do some… some acting
Like in here
Soon after 9/11 I headed to Afghanistan,
Afghanistan that was ruled by the Taliban and hosted Al Qaeda,
Afghanistan where the US was about to invade.
And on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan
I hear chants: "Death to America! Death to Israel!”
I see people burning the Israeli flag
and the flag of the United States of America.
And I’m actually watching now my two identities in flames.
I'm about to freak out
but I will keep it inside.
On the outside - I should give…
the impression that everything is absolutely fine with me.
You know, people there, some of them were smoking cigarettes.
now, I’m not a smoker
but if it helps, I'll smoke anything…
I’m approaching the guy who is burning my flag
Hey, ”You got a smoke?”
He looks at me, and since I’m calm, he is calm.
He lights my cigarette with the same lighter with which he sets my flag on fire.
Inside I'm terrified as hell,
on the outside... that cool smile....
I even get closer.
I step on the remains of my flag which by now is completely melted
I am acting as if nothing here has to do with me
And when people are fine with me, conversation begins
and my access will be gained, and only then will my journalism begin.
In some situations, the people you feel intimidated by,
Give them the sense that you trust them
that you feel fine, safe and comfortable by their presence.
This is why, I also, sometimes,
give the camera, my camera, to locals.
I mean, when you watch me in the picture
I mean, I’m the camera man so if I’m in the picture -
I gave the camera to someone else. And as we mentioned,
Camera sometime can be the tool that threatens them,
so once I give it away to someone and I ask him
“Please, can you help me in filming?”
I give him the sense that I trust him
And I do!
I was filmed by Hutus, by Tutsis, by Sunnis, by Shias, by Talibans,
by extreme radicals on the right and the left
And some people, you know, they ask me:
How can you give them your camera?
Even for few seconds? They will steal it and run away.
Oh really…?
And had they wanted to steal my camera, you think that me, dozens of men on me,
that I would be able to prevent it?
People ask me:
- Don’t you have a bodyguard by your side?
No!
- Don’t you carry a gun?
God forbid, No!
If I'll carry a gun it will lead to a shooting…
- Well, At least…
You have some knowledge of Karate or martial arts
to defend yourself if needed?
What Karate or martial arts?
It's me in front 500 Talibans,
It's not a Kung Fu movie..
The logic should be exactly the opposite!
Don't look intimidated.
Try to get closer.
I get people to trust me by trusting them.
And by the way, by then I can tell them that I’m an Israeli
When we trust each other.
By then, nationality doesn’t matter Only what you are as a human being
So back to the question of what is normal and what is mad.
Robert Capa,
probably the greatest war photographer of all times said:
"If your photos aren't good enough, you're not close enough”!
And this is it!
And Robert Capa documented the most dangerous landing in Normandy in WW2.
And by the way, it was a normal thing for a journalist to do
Being present in the most interesting place on earth
at the most crucial time.
This is what people expected from us.
No one called us crazy for going there.
But unfortunately things have changed.
You know, the media world nowadays, the big networks,
this world is dominated by commentators who are speaking in the studios
instead of doing field work.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I mean, some of them are real intelligent people,
But,
When you think about it, they express themselves eloquently,
they have the ties,
the jackets, the makeup,
knocking on the table, absolutely opinionated about everything
but most of them are talking about places they never been in
and commentating about people they never met.
And the way I see it, this is crazy!
Me, I keep on doing the same fieldwork journalism
I have been doing for the past three decades,
I remain one of the few normals.
It's the world around me, the studio world around me, that has gone mad.
So, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to challenge you today
Be normal like me.
When normal is:
Going to where the action is
being present, talking to people.
Normal is not sitting on the couch and listening to commentators in the studio.
Normal is seeing your disadvantages as strength.
And normal is getting people to trust you
by trusting them.
Thank you very much!