Two Kids a Day is a documentary film that tells the story of four teenagers from the 'Aida refugee camp. The camp is located north of Bethlehem, near Rachel's Tomb. The film describes the course of their lives from the time they were arrested in their homes in the middle of the night, excerpts from their interrogation by the police and interviews with them several years later. In addition, interviews are presented with a lawyer who represents Palestinian minors in military courts, members of the military, the ISA (Israeli Security Agency) and the court.
The name of the film is taken from a sentence said by Morris Hirsh, who was the Chief Military Prosecutor in Judea and Samaria and one of the interviewees: “About a thousand children are arrested in a year, that is, about two kids a day”. In his opinion, this is a reasonable number. After many years of work, the film premiered on July 22, 2022 at the Jerusalem Film Festival, and won the Best Research Award.
In January 2023, following the formation of the new government, the new Minister of Culture and Sport, Miki Zohar, began to exert pressure to prevent the screening of the film. He asked Bezalel Smotrich, the Finance Minister, to take action to restore budgetary funding received by the production, based on a law that prevents budgets for cultural enterprises that present content against the State of Israel. The fact that the film presents materials documenting reality and interviews with professionals that support Israel's modus operandi, raises questions about the motives of Minister Zohar. So, what is the right way, preventing truth from coming out, or maybe the change of course of actions of the Israeli authorities should be the way.
Since Mr. Zohar began his attempt to prevent the film screening, movie theatres across the country show the film. At the end of each screening, a discussion is held with David Waxman, the director of the film, and with Adv. Moriah Shlomot, CEO of "Parents Against Child Detention". More people than before are now exposed to the hard facts regarding the arrest of Palestinian children.
On the methods of action, the reasons for children's arrests and their impact, you can read in The Stages of Children's Arrests and The outcome of children’s arrests in this blog.
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