FIDDLER AT THE CHECKPOINT, PART II

IDF Investigation: Palestinian Was Not Forced to Play Violin at Checkpoint (IDF)
Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinski, the head of Central Command, conducted an investigation into a filmed incident reported widely in the media of a Palestinian man shown playing a violin at the Beit Iba checkpoint. The investigation found that the Palestinian arrived at the checkpoint and was asked by the soldiers to open the violin case. He opened the case and started to play the violin of his own volition. Several moments later, he was asked by the liaison officer to stop playing. The investigation was based on testimony of the soldiers at the checkpoint, footage filmed by the women of "Checkpoint Watch," and a letter written by members of the group which supports the soldiers' testimony that the man was not asked to play the violin.

Haaretz reports Tayam disputes the finding:

"I did not offer them to play," he told Haaretz on Tuesday. "They asked me to open the case and show them the instrument, which was fine by me. But then they asked me to play; I did not offer to play. That does not sound logical. They asked me to play something sad, to match their mood.

"I felt humiliated," Tayam said Tuesday. "I always identified with the Jews who suffered in Europe [at the time of the Nazis] and after that they come and do the same thing to us."

This is a bit overdramatic, no? Even if he was forced to play the violin, that's several steps short of genocide. And the Israeli suspicion of musically inclined Palestinians is not baseless; as the New York Post notes, the terrorist bomb that killed 15 at a Jerusalem Sbarro pizzeria in 2001 was hidden in a guitar case.