Support Sderot Treatment Theater, Therapy Balancing Gaza Story

#Theater, #Therapy, #Rockets, #Hamas, #Gaza, #Sderot Media Center, #Jihad, #Trauma, #PTSD,#terroism, #War crimes, #Goldstone report, #Iran,




"The positive impact of the theater therapy process clearly showed in the way these girls performed tonight--full of confidence and assurance."
Dalia Yosef, Former Director of the Sderot Resiliency Center for Sderot children and parents (Sderot performance, October 16, 2009)


In order for Sderot Media Center to continue the operation of the Sderot Community Treatment Theater, the project is in need of immediate financial assistance to advance its therapy services for traumatized Sderot girls.
We welcome you to view this short documentary of the year long drama-therapy process that has helped revitalize Sderot high school girls.

Watch the video from the show in Sderot

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"Once the girls began to express their feelings of the fear and loneliness, they began to realize that they were not alone--there were others like them who were experienced the same trauma and panic induced by constant strain of living in a rocket environment."
Debbie Gross, Jerusalem psychologist who worked with the Sderot theater girls. (Sderot performance, October 14, 2009)


"It was fantastic. The girls' ability to weave humor within their personal stories, and then deliver the punch lines was amazing. No government official could tell the story of Sderot the way these actresses did tonight."
Danny Seaman, Director of the Israel Government Press Office (Jerusalem performance, October 26, 2009)


Over the next six months, Sderot Media Center plans to have 12 performances in different cities and communities across Israel and the Knesset.

In this project the Sderot Media Center's goal is to promote the concept of providing residents with self-expressing media tools that work to treat the traumatized population, while using the product to advocate the Israeli prospective through the human story of Sderot.



With the diverse audience members and plethora of media coverage, this theater project will impact public opinion not only on the Israel-Gaza conflict but also on how the world views the broader Arab-Israeli conflict.
Theater Project Media Coverage:
YNetNews , Jpost Video, The Jerusalem Post, Israeli Channel 1+2, weekend edition of H'aaretz, Frontpage magazine, Jewish policy Center


*Articles about the performances:

"SMC Theater therapy program changes lives of Sderot's traumatized girls"

"Jerusalem Audience Awed by Sderot Girls' Treatment Theater Performance"




Recognized by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Israel Government Press Office, the Jewish Agency for Israel, and the Israel Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (IICC), SMC represents the daily threat of missile attack that now 1 million Israelis live under.

THE THEATER THERAPY PROJECT IS FUNDED SOLELY BY PRIVATE DONATIONS
Your contributions help continue our work

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Contact Us - www.sderotmedia.org.il , info@sderotmedia.com

Bearing Witness to the UN in Geneva: Sderot Media Center Director Noam Bedein Presents Sderot’s Case to UN Judges

#Geneva, #United Nations, #UN, #War crimes, #Gaza conflict, #Hamas, #Israel, #Noam Bedein, #Noam Shalit, #Sderot Media Center, #Judge Richard Goldstone, #rockets, #terror, #Palestinians

By: Noam Bedein

Director Sderot Media Center

http://www.sderotmedia.org.il/

On July 6th, I traveled to Geneva to testify before the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict. Participating in the delegations were Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin, Dr Alan Marcus the director strategic planning branch in Ashkelon, Ophir Shinhar of Sapir College, and Dr. Mirelda Sidrer who was injured during a rocket attack on a medical facility at the Ashkelon mall.

*From left to right: Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin, Dr. Mirelda Sidrer, Hillel Neuer and Dr. Alan Marcus.

The Israeli delegation also included Noam Shalit, who impassionedly spoke on behalf of his son, Gilad, who was abducted three years ago by Palestinian terrorists and has since been held by Hamas.

The Israeli government officially refused to cooperate with the UN mission, since the UN investigation had already formulated conclusions asserting that Israel had committed war crimes during the December-January war.
At the same time, however, the head of the UN fact finding mission, South African Judge Richard Goldstone, told the Israeli media that he would like to hear both sides of the conflict. "The aim of the public hearings was to let the face of human suffering be seen and to let the voices of the victims be heard."

In preparation for the Geneva hearing, the UN mission invited the Sderot Media Center , a Sderot NGO, to prepare material, footage and information regarding the impact of the Gaza bombardment of the Israeli civilian population in the Negev during the Gaza war. The UN Mission aimed to at obtain an unofficial Israeli perspective.

Before the UN hearing in Geneva, the Israeli delegation received a briefing from Hillel Neuer, head of NGO 'UN Watch.' Neuer provided background on the UN fact finding mission and the agenda of each judge on the UN investigating board.

During the days leading up to the testimony, it was not easy to sleep - as the only resident of Sderot and the western Negev in this delegation, knowing that there would be only 30 minutes to convey how aerial terror has devastatingly impacted the civilian population of Sderot.

At the same time, the UN afforded an opportunity for Sderot Media Center, which specializes in communicating the human story of Sderot and life under continuous rocket terror to decision makers around the world , to finally reach the UN.

While the delegation got ready to testify in the “lion’s den,” it was less than sobering to know that one of the UN judges included Professor Christine Chinkin from London. In a Sunday Times article published on January 11th , Judge Chinkin supported the allegation that “Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is not self defense, it’s a war crime.”

Israeli reporters in Geneva asked hard questions:

"Why testify before a such a ‘neutral’ judge who claims that Israel does not have the right to defend her citizens and whose actions “ amount to aggression violating international law and human rights law?"

"Why testify when the government of Israel itself has boycotted the investigation which already formulated it allegations against Israel before the investigation commenced?"

However, the presence of a UN invited delegation from Israel created a precedent.

Hillel Neuer of Human Rights Watch noted that never in the 16 years of operating in Geneva had there ever been a time when the UN invited and even sponsored a delegation from Israel to give testimony - until now.

This time, the UN provided an opportunity for ordinary people from Israel to make their voices heard across the world. It was an honor as a resident of Sderot to partake in such an event.

Yet the long road to peace and justice for Sderot and Negev residents does not end before a panel of UN judges or a commissioned report.
Residents of Israel who act as witnesses to terror against the Jewish people, are obligated to speak up and convey the experience of what it is like to live under sustained rocket attacks-defined as a terror act and crime against humanity.

*Noam Bedein in the main hall of the UN Headquarters before testifying.

After screening two short videos in front of the panel of UN judges, which depicted the 15 seconds that Sderot residents and their children have to run for their lives when the rocket alarm is activated by impending Gaza rockets, I concluded my presentation with the following thoughts and questions.

“I do not have enough fingers, to count on my hands the amount of times rockets exploded just a few meters from a kindergarten--would any other western democracy in the world tolerate even one rocket being fired towards their territory? Why is it that we must wait, until a kindergarten or classroom packed with children, is struck directly by a rocket in order for Israel to gain international support, to protect and do what is right for our own people?"

US President Barack Obama put it best when he visited a devastated home in Sderot during the 2008 campaign:
"If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same thing."

There were no questions or reactions from the UN judges. We will all have to wait, along with all the residents of southern Israel, to peruse the Geneva verdict on the war when the UN Mission report will be released in September