Supreme Court refuses to halt Channel One's screening of Jenin documentary

Haaretz 15.4.2003
By Moshe Reinfeld

Supreme Court Justice Ayala Procaccia yesterday rejected a petition filed by move director Mohammed Bakri, against the screening of "The Road to Jenin" on the Israel Broadcasting Authority's Channel One. Bakri, the director of "Jenin, Jenin," a controversial documentary on the IDF's operation in the West Bank refugee camp, had asked the court to prevent Channel One from airing its documentary until a ruling on his appeal against a censorship ban on his own documentary. Bakri's attorney, Avigdor Feldman, claimed in court that as long as his own documentary was banned, on the grounds that it falsified events in the refugee camp, the IBA should not be allowed to broadcast "The Road to Jenin," which portrays equally one-sided but opposing view of events. According to Bakri, "The Road to Jenin" was directed by a French-Jewish filmmaker who adopted a false identity and was known only as Pierre Rechov. Bakri argued that the IBA's film was "the crushing Jewish-Zionist answer" to "Jenin, Jenin." In her ruling, Justice Procaccia wrote that she was denying the petition since Bakri had not first approached the IBA over the film, nor had he contacted any of the other parties who would have been affected by any decision to bar screening. She added that, had the IBA considered the possibility of not screening the film, the lack of balance in the flow of opinions and viewpoints could have served as a legitimate basis for postponing the screening. Since the IBA did not consider this possibility, however, she ruled that the Supreme Court could not interfere to the detriment of the freedom of expression of the IBA. Procaccia was one member of the three-member panel that recently heard Bakri appeal against the ban on his documentary. A ruling is expected in that case within the coming days.

State urges High Court to uphold ban on Bakri's film, `Jenin, Jenin'

Haaretz 10.3.2003
By Moshe Reinfeld

Prosecutor argues the movie `purports to be a documentary'
The State Prosecutor's Office, representing the film censorship board, yesterday asked the High Court of Justice to reject a petition by actor/director Mohammed Bakri and the Documentary Creators Forum to lift the censorship board's ban on the public showing of Bakri's movie, "Jenin, Jenin," and to revoke the Mandate-era law that empowers the panel. The petitioners claimed that the ban on the film was a violation of Bakri's freedom of speech and artistic expression and undermined the public's right to be exposed to the message of the film. The petitioners, represented by attorney Avigdor Feldman, argued theboard did not have the authority to issue the ban and was not in possession of all the facts when it made its decision. The state argued that the movie purported to be a documentary, but instead portrayed, in a distorted manner, Israel Defense Forces soldiers as brutal war criminals who are committing a genocide, depicting the battles in Jenin as acts of murderers against an innocent civilian population. It argued that the movie totally ignores the reasons the IDF entered Jenin. The movie, said the state, does not comment on the Palestinian terrorist organizations operating in the camp, their use of women and children, how they use suicide bombers, booby-trapped houses and bodies, and their cynical use of medical facilities and holy sites for their terrorist purposes. The state's attorney said the decision to ban the film was made after several meetings of the censorship board, including a session at which Bakri's lawyer presented his case