Israel Matzav

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Supreme Court rules 'Jenin, Jenin' not defamatory

In March, Israel's Supreme Court suggested to 'Israeli Arab' filmmaker and actor Mohamed Bakri that he apologize to five IDF soldiers who had sued him for libel due to the way that the IDF was depicted in the 2003 film Jenin, Jenin.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court dismissed the case, ruling that the film was 'not defamatory' to the five soldiers.

Ofer Ben-Natan, Doron Keidar, Nir Oshri, Adam Arbiv and Yonatan Van-Kaspel originally sued Israeli Arab actor and director Muhammad Bakri in 2003 for producing the film Jenin, Jenin, and the theaters in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for screening them, even though the film had been banned at the time by the state censor.

All of the five soldiers fought in Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.

The five filed an appeal to the Supreme Court after the Petah Tikva District Court dismissed their libel suit against Bakri.

...

The five soldiers' lawsuit included 13 incidents it describes as libel, including a section of the film that had been edited to give the impression that a bulldozer had run over a group of Palestinians lying on the ground.

In dismissing the suit, the judges ruled that even though Bakri's film was "full of things that are not true" and even though it was hurtful to the feelings of the five soldiers, there was no provision under the law for them to bring a civil claim against Bakri because the film made reference to the IDF's operations in Jenin as a whole and not to any specific soldier.

"Attributing acts such as those described in the film to IDF soldiers are some of the worst accusations that can be thrown at someone. It puts them on a par with the very worst war criminals and the very worst murderers. The allegations in the film are very severe and cannot be underestimated," wrote Judges Miriam Naor, Yitzhak Amit and Yoram Danziger.

"In the final analysis, it is my belief that a reasonable person viewing the film would not recognize any slander against any single soldier belonging to the group of soldiers fighting in Jenin."

So if the IDF sues, will they find for the IDF? Or will they say that the IDF has no standing to sue? Or will they say that the film has to have injured specific IDF soldiers?

Labels: IDF reservists, Jenin Jenin, Mohammad Bakri, Operation Defensive Shield

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Supreme Court suggests Arab filmmaker who libeled IDF reservists apologize

Mohammad Bakri made the movie Jenin, Jenin. Here's a review of that film that was done by CAMERA in which the film was compared with Pierre Rechov's Road to Jenin. Bakri's film (which is available on the Internet) is a blood libel, which depicted IDF soldiers as genocidal murderers of hundreds of 'Palestinians.' In fact, during the IDF's action in Jenin (which shut down the terror organizations), 52 'Palestinians' were killed, only 14 of whom were civilians. Twenty-three IDF soldiers were sacrificed to keep down the 'Palestinian' casualty total. In 2007, Bakri was sued for libel by five IDF soldiers who served in Jenin.

In the lower court, Tel Aviv District Court Judge Michal Nadav found that although the film was libelous, the soldiers were a non-specific public, and only the attorney general could take action against Bakri. While the attorney general refused to do so, he joined the reservists' civil action.

On Monday, the reservists' appeal was heard before the Supreme Court. Incredibly, the Justice hearing the case, suggested that the filmmaker apologize and say that the film was not a documentary. The reservists' attorney refused to accept any apology without compensation, and then there was this scene before the court.

A confrontation broke out between Israeli Arab director Mohammad Bakri, who is being sued for libel for making the film "Jenin, Jenin," and prosecution laweyer Yisrael Caspi, who represents IDF soldiers. Caspi slammed Bakri during a hearing, saying that he "serves the enemy, and received money from the enemy." In response, Bakri called Caspi and his clients "stray dogs." Court security had to hold them back to prevent a violent fight from breaking out between them.

I hope this guy gets such a heavy fine that he's left penniless. Unfortunately, that seems very unlikely to happen.

Labels: IDF reservists, Jenin Jenin, Mohammad Bakri, Operation Defensive Shield