Meet Carl-Magnus Helgegren, a journalist, university teacher, and proactive dad.
And like so many other dads, Helgegren had to have the violent video-game conversation with his two sons, Frank and Leo, aged ten and 11 respectively.
Frank and Leo Helgegren with soldiers in Israel. Photo: CM Helgegren, used with permission.
But he held out. First he considered Iraq or Afghanistan, but concluded that current war zones were too dangerous. So this past spring during Easter break, the family booked tickets to Israel and the Palestinian territories – "the closest you can get to war on a tourist ticket," Helgegren remarked.
"It wasn't until the second day when we were there, eating at an Israeli street food stand, when they asked, 'Dad, are we really here because of the games?' And I said yes. Yes, we are here because of the games. You need to see this."
"We went to the Shuafat refugee camp in east Jerusalem. They saw the conditions there, where people burned trash in the streets, and there was an illegal drug market right next to the school. We went to a clinic where kids were being stitched up every single day because they had been hit in the head with the butt of a rifle," Helgegren recalled.
A Jewish neighbourhood in Jerusalem, with the Shuafat refugee camp behind the barrier. Photo: Sebastian Scheiner/TT
Helgegren's sons on a tank in Israel. Photo: CM Helgegren, used with permission.
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