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Israeli Sightseers Flock to Border to Watch Gaza Killings

Picnicking on Hill Overlooking Gaza, Israelis Engage in World's Creepiest Spectator Sport

by Jason Ditz, January 12, 2009

Parash Hill, a nature reserve in southern Israel, is a great spot for a picnic. With lush green fields and a view all the way to the Mediterranean, it is a serene and picturesque place where residents of Sderot come to quietly enjoy nature. But in a nation obsessed with the glories of its latest military adventure, Parash Hill is now a place for Israelis to gather and watch the death unfold.

They come with binoculars. They bring their families and take pictures. They rationalize away the deaths of hundreds of children by reasoning that “when they grow up they’ll also probably be terrorists.” Its like the fourth of July, only instead of watching fireworks and listening to crappy instrumental music on the radio they watch with barely restrained jubilation as their neighbors are killed under a heavy military bombardment and ground forces continue to pour deeper into the Gaza Strip.

The obsession with watching the violence unfold in the Gaza Strip is creeping-out even some of their fellow Israelis, who have dubbed the site “The Hill of Shame” and watch disapprovingly as others participate in Israel’s newest spectator sport.