
Photography: Oren Aharoni / Yedioth Ahronoth
Local Testimony 2017
Gallery
2017
Photo of the Year | Series of the Year | News | Society and Community | Religion and faith | Nature and Environment | Sport | Urbanism and Culture | Long Exposure | Video
LOCAL TESTIMONY 2017
Dana Wohlfeiler-Lalkin, initiator and manager of Local Testimony
Israel 2017. So far, a year without war or a definitive event for which the year will be remembered. Events that would have been considered extreme in any other reality, are considered everyday matters here: the evacuation of utposts, night detention in southern Mount Hebron, rioting on Temple Mount, IDF conflicts with minorities, and demonstrations of people with disabilities – only a partial list. The drama is at its peak, and the world goes on.
Such “normal” years enable us to look deeply into events with little rating, but which bear weighty social and human importance. Intimate series, like those of Efrat Sela and Vered Sadot manifest the hours, days and the personal and professional attention invested in delivering the complexity of the story; A woman who had become a drug
addict, and in one moment, a miraculous moment, was saved from a brutal fate; women and children who live temporarily in a shelter which is supposed to protect them, and whose fate is still unknown. Small, everyday moments, that come together and create a strong moving story, which is sadly the story of too many women in Israel
and the world over.
And then there is our own story: this year we lost Micha Kirshner, a dear friend, colleague, photographer, curator, and teacher. Micha believed that the photographer’s commitment is first and foremost to take a stand and express an opinion, thus playing a social role – a commitment that we, as the exhibition’s editorial board, try to meet. Micha had a strong impact on generations of photographers in general and on journalistic perception in particular. And now that he is no longer with us, he is so very present. Present in the curatorial work, which his student, Vardi Kahana, has performed so flawlessly, in the jury’s work, carried out by a team of judges composed mainly of people he recommended, and in the many works of the photographers who were doubtlessly influenced by him, either consciously or unconsciously.
Dear Micha, thank you for the heritage you left us. You will be with us always.
Local Testimony is an annual exhibition which has been held in Israel since 2003. It presents local photojournalism and documentary photographs alongside World Press Photo – an annual international photography exhibition. Local Testimony offers a stage for the expression of the cultural qualities of local documentary photography, and underscores its social importance; photography that expresses complex human existence, that does not receive full coverage in conventional media. I would like to express my gratitude to the jury members for their dedicated and
complex work during the various stages of the selection process of the photographs displayed in the exhibition.
THEATER OF THE ABSURD
Vardi Kahana, Curator of Local Testimony 2017
Noam Moshkovitz’s Picture of the Year is taken from the theater of theabsurd: two police officers breaking through the barricaded door of the synagogue in Amona, while two settlers are peering from behind the wall. A single frame freezes a ridiculous spectacle. It’s a game of hideand- seek into which the State was drawn by the Amona settlers. This is the final scene in an immense performance whose ending is foretold. In 2006 the Supreme Court ruled that Amona was an illegal outpost built knowingly on Palestinian land designated solely for agriculture. The Settlement Movement procrastinated for ten years in carrying out the demolition order, while trying to change matters by using political tools. The landowners petitioned the court against the delays, and on 2 February 2017 Amona was evacuated and razed to the ground.
Hundreds of photos of the evacuation were submitted to the contest, doubtlessly proof of the part the media played in that big show. We saw groups of young people dancing, praying and burning tires, and facing them, long lines of unarmed policemen, dressed in blue sweatshirts, climbing up to the settlement to evacuate them. The settlers and the security forces gave the media direct access to the arena. Each party wanted to prove to the viewers at home that they were performing their role convincingly in this great show.
Two weeks earlier, on 18 January, in the middle of the night, a large armed police force left on another evacuation mission: the demolishing of illegal tin shacks in the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran in the Negev. Only two photographers were there. The area was off limits to the media. During the event village inhabitant Yaqub Musa Abu al-Qian and police officer Senior Sergeant-Major Erez Levi were killed. The Minister of Public Security, Gilad Erdan, hastened to accuse Abu al- Qian of murdering the police officer, despite the fact that there were no findings on the ground. The video clip made by Keren Manor, together with footage taken from the police helicopter, prove that Officer Erez Levi was hit only after Abu al-Qian was shot and probably lost control of
his vehicle.
The evacuation of Umm al-Hiran was not a performance for the media;
it was life itself, and death too.
Photo of the year
Noam Moskowitz
Evacuation of Amona. Security forces break open the synagogue doors.
Amona
2 February 2017
Series of the Year
Polaris Images
Ziv Koren
Operational activity of the Israeli Police special counter terror unit (Yamam). Detaining for investigation in the middle of the night of a wanted individual suspected of terrorist activity.
2 February 2017
Amona
News
1st prize
Series
News
EPA
Abir Sultan
From its earliest days, Amona was an illegal military outpost, which was settled in August 1995 near Ofra. The settlement’s land was privately owned by local Palestinians. In 1996 three caravans were set up and inhabited by settlers. Over time more families joined, and prior to late 2005 some thirty families lived on an area of approximately 400 dunams.
In February 2006, the inhabitants of nine illegal permanent buildings were evacuated and the buildings demolished, after the police force evacuated thousands of barricaded demonstrators. In 2008, several Palestinian landowners appealed to the Supreme Court arguing that the entire settlement was built on land that was not owned by the inhabitants. In late 2014 the Supreme Court ruled that the entire outpost should be evacuated within two years.
In early 2015 some fifty families lived in the settlement which was the largest outpost in Judea and Samaria. The Settlement Movement launched a wide-ranging media campaign with the objective of annulling the Supreme Court ruling, however after repeated postponements a decision was taken to evacuate the settlement in the winter of 2017. Again, hundreds of young people came and barricaded themselves. Scenes
from the Gaza disengagement were reenacted, but the protest was of no avail. On 1 February the settlement was evacuated and several days later, demolished.
Amona
15 December 2016 - 7 February 2017
3rd prize
Series
News
AFP
Ahmad Gharabli
On 14 July, three Israeli Arabs, residents of Umm al-Fahm, shot to death two Border Police officers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque square (1). In response, the prime minister ordered placing metal detectors at the gates leading to Temple Mount. Members of the Waqf opposed this move, instructing the Muslims to refuse to go to Temple Mount until the detectors were removed, calling them to pray demonstratively outside the compound (2). Protest activity led to harsh confrontations between Palestinian youth and the Security Forces in East Jerusalem and the West Bank (3, 4). The cabinet decided to remove the metal detectors and replace them with different security means. Members of the Waqf opposed this move as well and violent conflicts continued in the course of which four Palestinians were killed (5). On 21 July a terrorist entered the settlement of Halamish, murdered three members of the Salomon family and severely injured the mother. He claimed that he did this for Al-Aqsa. The crisis lasted for two weeks and eventually Israel removed all security measures from the compound (6).
Jerusalem
14-27 July 2017
Single
News
oren Ben Hakoon
Israel Hayom
Director of the Hadassah Medical Center, Prof. Zeev Rotstein, ordered to combine the pediatric and adult hematology-oncology transplant departments. This move was part of an overall financial recovery plan for the hospital. Prof. Mickey Weintraub, head of the department, and the team of physicians, refused to carry out this move, claiming that it would be detrimental to the children. The children’s parents protested and the attempts of the minister of health to bring about a compromise between the parties, failed. Finally, in response to the physicians’ requests, the matter was submitted to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the management. Prof. Weintraub and his team resigned from the hospital, and the children were dispersed in various hospitals for treatment.
In the photo, the father of one of the children treated in the department verbally attacks the hospital director, Prof. Rotstein.
The Supreme Court, Jerusalem
24 July 2017
Single
News
Noam Revkin Fenton
Leah Goldin, mother of kidnapped soldier Hadar Goldin, hurling a paper cup filled with water at Knesset Members David Bitan and Miki Zohar, following their insensitive remarks at the State Control Committee meeting which reviewed the conclusions of the Operation Protective Edge.
Israeli Knesset, Jerusalem
19 April 2017
Society and Community
1st prize
Series
Society and community
Keren Manor
ActiveStills
On 18 January, before dawn, a large police force entered Umm al-Hiran, a Bedouin village in the Negev, with the objective of demolishing illegal buildings. During the event, village inhabitant Yaqub Musa Abu al-Qian and senior sergeant-major Erez Levi were killed. The police claimed that Abu al-Qian had carried out a vehicle-ramming attack, but the video, together with photos taken from the police helicopter, attest to the fact that Police Officer Erez Levi was hit only after Abu al-Qian was shot, thus losing control over the vehicle.
Umm al-Hiran village and the cemetery in Hura, the Negev
18-30 January 2017
2nd prize
Series
Society and community
Adi Segal
Cosmos
Some 3,000 Bedouins live currently in what is termed “Diaspora,” “unrecognized villages,” or “unregulated settlements”, in about 25 settlements throughout the Galilee. Despite the fact that these villages existed prior to the establishment of the State of Israel, most of the inhabitants are still living without an infrastructure of roads, electricity and water, and without basic health and educational services. Only few Bedouin villages in the Galilee have been recognized, and the prolonged struggle of the Bedouins continues.
In the photos, the villages of Ramya, Jurdia, and Fkhikhra.
Upper Galilee, Western Galilee, Misgav Regional Council
September 2016 - February 2017
Religion and Faith
1st prize
Series
Religion and faith
EPA
Abir Sultan
Girls and women covered in black from head to toe is becoming a common scene in recent years. The burqa is a required garment for women in the Islamic countries, however several Jewish communities that live in Mea Shearim, Beit Shemesh and Bnei Brak, adopted this dress code based on the belief that modesty will bring redemption.
Mea Shearim Neighborhood, Jerusalem
6 February - 5 March 2017
Nature and Environment
1st prize
Series
Nature and environment
Panos Pictures
Ahikam Seri
Every winter, huge flocks of starlings arrive in Israel from cold Europe to find a warm home here. During the day, the starlings fly over the waste site and in the evening, they gather and land on the power plant to spend the night.
The Dudaim waste site and south of Beersheba
January 3-4, 2017
Sport
Urbanism and Culture
3rd prize
Series
Urbanism and culture
Independent photographer
Edward Kaprov
Portraits photographed on a collodion wet glass plate - an age-old process, dating from the early days of photography. The process is cumbersome albeit fascinating. The photographed image is created on transparent glass before the eyes of the spectator.
Ramat Gan
2016 - 2017
Long Exposure
1st prize
Series
Long exposure
Roei Greenberg
"Along the Rift." Highway 90, which runs the length of Israel, passes through the landscape of the Great Rift Valley. From a different point of view, one can distinguish the ideological-social rift represented by this landscape and Israel’s geographic periphery.
2012-2017
2nd prize
Series
Long exposure
Efrat Sela
In the past, Svetlana lived in the Tel Aviv’s backyard, together with the homeless, prostitutes and drug addicts, fluctuating between life and death. At a critical moment, when the end was known, she chose life and began a rehabilitation process in the northern part of Israel. Today Svetlana is clean; she works for her living, has adopted religion and leads a new life.
Tel Aviv, Katzrin and Haifa
2015-2017
3rd prize
Series
Long exposure
Vered Sadot
By mid-June 2017, seventeen women were murdered by their life partners or relatives. In 2016 eighteen women were murdered under similar circumstances. “…Your lungs empty themselves of air, the force of memory deals you a blow. Courage veils insecurity, deceiving you. But from the moment you overcome fear, that which is awaiting you on the other side of the phone, everything is open…”
A women’s shelter, Jerusalem region
June - August 2016
Video
Quique Kierszenbaum
Checkpoint 300.
Seventy-thousand Palestinians with permits enter Israel every day in order to work for their living.
Checkpoint 300 - the border crossing between Bethlehem and Jerusalem
4 a.m., 16 May 2017
Uriel Sinai
Ori Elisar is a graphic designer who creates letters in a biology laboratory.
June 2017
Photography: Uriel Sinai
Director: Yael Alrod
Editor: Ron Omer
The films were produced by Artza Production for Hamechola, the cultural program of Kan 11, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation
Uriel Sinai
Nadav Bagim, an artist who photographs insects and various small creatures.
August 2017
Photography: Uriel Sinai
Director: Yael Alrod
Editor: Yoni Cohen
Uriel Sinai
Neta Harari Navon, painter.
August 2017
Photography: Uriel Sinai
Director: Yael Alrod
Editor: Ron Omer
Omer Miron
“This is the end of the news from Kol Israel”.
The last news broadcast from Kol Israel read by Kobi Barkai. The news broadcast ended the broadcasting of the Israel
Kol Israel studio, Jerusalem
14 May 2017
Photography: Omer Miron / GPO
Recorder: Ben Peretz / GPO








































































