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