Pumpkinflowers

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Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story
Pumpkinflowers.jpg
First edition
Author Matti Friedman
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Algonquin
Publication date
2016
Media typePrint (Hardcover, Paperback)
ISBN 978-0-7710-3690-3 (Hardcover, McClelland & Stewart)

Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story, is a 2016 book by journalist Matti Friedman, published by Algonquin. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Synopsis

Friedman describes a brief attack by the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah on the small Israeli army unit, Outpost Pumpkin, in the South Lebanon security zone on October 29, 1994. Friedman served at the outpost 3 years after the incident. The attack was brief; Hezbollah fighters killed one Israeli soldier and wounded 2 others before withdrawing. But, the Hezbollah fighters shot a short, blurry video, which, with a soundtrack of gunfire and martial music, went viral. It appears to show Hezbollah jihadis capturing an Israeli military position and planting a flag to symbolize victory. Hezbollah claimed to have captured the outpost and "purified it of Zionists", and the video caused a brief but anguished public discussion in Israel over the preparedness of the military. Friedman describes the video, now a familiar type, as having been "fresh and gripping" in 1994, and, arguably, the first of what would soon become an enormous wave of "terror selfies" aimed at projecting the illusion of Islamist military victory. [7]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qalamoun offensive (2014)</span> Military operation of the Syrian Civil War

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hezbollah involvement in the Syrian civil war</span> Hezbollah military intervention in the Syrian civil war

Hezbollah involvement in the Syrian Civil War has been substantial since the beginning of armed insurgency phase of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, and evolved into active support for Ba'athist government forces and troop deployment from 2012 onwards. By 2014, Hezbollah was deployed across Syria. Hezbollah has also been very active in preventing Al-Nusra Front and Islamic State penetration into Lebanon, being one of the most active forces in the Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon.

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References

  1. Rosenblatt, Gary (1 June 2016). "Matti Friedman's powerful memoir of his IDF service in Lebanon in the late-'90s foreshadows the complexities of 21st-century warfare". The Jewish Week . Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  2. Lennox, Matt (20 May 2016). "Matti Friedman's Pumpkinflowers is not for the faint of heart". The Globe and Mail . Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  3. "Pumpkinflowers (review)". Kirkus Reviews . 1 March 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  4. "Pumpkinflowers (review)". Publishers Weekly . 21 March 2016.
  5. Senior, Jennifer (24 April 2016). "Review: In 'Pumpkinflowers,' a New Style of Middle East Combat". New York Times . Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  6. Rosen, Michael (20 July 2016). "Remembering Israel's Forgotten War". Mosaic Magazine . Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  7. Friedman, Matti (5 January 2016). "The Age of the Terror Selfie". Tablet . Retrieved 17 April 2016.

1. https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/israel-zionism/2016/07/remembering-israels-forgotten-war/