Muhammad Bakri’s film, “Jenin Jenin” was banned from screening in Israel, the district court judge ruled today. In addition, she ordered the confiscation of all existing copies of the film in Israel, and removed it from YouTube after harshly criticizing Bakri and stating that he did not really stick.
Muhammad Bakri in court – Photo: Avshalom Shashoni
The court ordered Bakri to pay compensation in the amount of NIS 175,000 as well as legal expenses in the amount of NIS 50,000 to the plaintiff, Lt. Col. Nissim Magnaji, who fought in the battle as part of Operation Defensive Shield in April 2012.
The defense’s claims were rejected, while the court ruled that it was a defamation against a private person, who was called up by the State of Israel for reserve service in Operation Defensive Shield, and found himself without any justification portrayed in the film as looting an elderly and helpless person, as part of an overall false Of war crimes committed according to the film by IDF soldiers in Jenin.
The Forum of Bereaved Families, Officers and Fighters said following the ruling: “After 18 years of legal and public war, justice is being served and an Israeli court is making a courageous decision to stop the incitement and ban the distribution of the film on any possible platform. Every Hebrew mother will know that Muhammad Bakri is a terrorist of criminal incitement against bereaved families, IDF officers and fighters, and against the State of Israel. ”
As mentioned, the film was prepared following the IDF’s battle in the Jenin refugee camp as part of Operation Defensive Shield and was funded by Yasser Abed Rabbo and Palestinian Authority officials. great grandchild.
As you may recall, a few months ago, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset held a quick discussion on the subject of “the struggle of the representatives of the fighters and the bereaved families of the battle in Jenin against the film ‘Jenin Jenin’.” MK Gideon Saar, who chaired the debate, put to the vote a motion for a resolution, which will be sent to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, according to which “the screening of the film and its distribution in Israel should be banned.”
The proposal was unanimously accepted, and it was further stated that the film “constitutes a blood libel against the IDF and the fighters, who acted exemplary in Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield and in the most moral manner.”