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Bereaved parents whose sons were killed in Jenin fighting called the court's decision a "historic mistake" and a victory for Palestinian propaganda.
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| By Ellis Shuman November 12, 2003 |
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The High Court of Justice yesterday unanimously overturned a decision by the Israel Film Board last year to ban Muhammad Bakri's documentary film, "Jenin, Jenin," saying that even if the film presented a "distorted" view, freedom of expression must be allowed. Bereaved parents whose sons were killed in the Jenin refugee camp fighting called the court's decision a "historic mistake" and a victory for Palestinian propaganda.
"Jenin, Jenin," which relates the battles in Jenin in April 2002 solely from a Palestinian perspective, was banned last December for its portrayal of fictional events as truth. The film is "propaganda that represents a biased view of the group with whom Israel finds itself at war," a spokeswoman for the film board said, explaining the decision.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) this morning turned down a request by MK Ahmad Tibi (Ta'al-Hadash) to screen the controversial film in the Knesset. Rivlin said he was not prepared to insult Knesset members unnecessarily, nor to place the Knesset in peril of a libel case that may be instigated by the families of soldiers killed in Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield last year.
"The film will not be screened in the Knesset. Period," Rivlin said.
Earlier Tibi asked to screen the film in the Knesset because of "the High Court's decision, allowing the screening of 'Jenin, Jenin' due to the principle of freedom of expression, and despite the ignorance of Knesset members about the film." Tibi suggested inviting public officials and artists to attend the screening, with director Bakri in attendance, and to hold a symposium on it afterwards.
In its ruling on Tuesday, the three-justice panel said Israel's film board is not empowered to decide what is and is not an untruth, that it does not have a "monopoly on truth" and that the board does not have the authority to make rulings on ideological grounds, Haaretz reported.
The court said that Bakri never intended to present a balanced picture of the events, but solely to give expression to the Palestinian story. The court ruled, therefore, that the film board had illegally banned the film due to its Palestinian message.
Bakri welcomed the court's decision and said he hoped "that in the end people will be able to see the film and decide for themselves rather than be limited by censorship from a board guided by politics."
While Bakri's lawyers celebrated the "end of censorship" in Israel, bereaved parents whose sons were killed in the Jenin refugee camp said the High Court "had authorized the screening in Israel of a Palestinian propaganda film similar to those screened by the Nazis and Hizbullah." The film, they said, raised a blood libel against Israeli soldiers who fought in Jenin and represented them as war criminals and murderers.
In February, five IDF reservists filed a 2.5-million shekel ($514,000) libel suit against Bakri for misrepresenting them in the film. "According to Bakri's movie they did very dangerous things, they killed babies, they smashed babies heads to the wall, they ran over people with tanks... terrible things," said the soldiers' lawyer, Amir Tytunovich.
Tytunovich said the High Court's ruling "doesn't really affect this case... For Bakri to survive this lawsuit he will have to prove each and every one of his accusations in the movie. If he doesn't prove every single accusation, he will lose the case. It's a whole different story."
The Tel Aviv Cinematheque, which screened "Jenin, Jenin" before last year's court ban, has already scheduled two screenings of the film on December 8, although a group of bereaved families has threatened to appeal the court decision and ask for an injunction against allowing the film to be screened.
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