In 1989, Jim Hubbard (pictured) started a program called Shooting Back to empower disenfranchised American youth by teaching them photography.
In today’s Jerusalem Post, Hubbard, who is also a professor at the Annenberg School of Communication, slams B’tselem’s Shooting Back program, which also gives cameras to Palestinian youths. Not only did the NGO infringe on a trademarked name, Hubbard says B’tselem recklessly endangers children:
With B’Tselem’s project, I was struck with the potential danger to the kids given cameras to document human rights violations in an extremely volatile environment in the Middle East. For a start, they were being drawn to potential conflict hot spots in which they might be exposed to real physical danger, from either side.
Furthermore, the kids are named on B’Tselem’s website and their faces are shown on television news. Criminal prosecution is an outcome of several of the videos, putting the young videographer in the stressful position of potentially having to testify in court and increasing his or her vulnerability. Additionally, B’Tselem staffers have reported that they have been verbally and physically attacked. Has it not occurred to them that a similar fate might await the kids given the cameras to film abuses? . . . .
In a recent letter to B’Tselem, I requested it cease and desist using the name Shooting Back. I don’t want my name connected to a project, whatever its intentions, that I believe puts children at risk. The response was to retain a large New York law firm to defend its use of the trademark without my authorization and, in my view, infringement of my trademark.
