Shame on the New Israel Fund

Today, Israel's Supreme Court rejected the appeal of IDF soldiers against the film, "Jenin, Jenin." The court did rule that it film was full of lies, it technically didn't slander 5 specific IDF soldiers who brought the lawsuit against the film's director.

Shortly after the film's release, it was banned by the Israeli Film Board on the grounds that it only showed one side of the story and that it was slanderous.

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." (JPost)

Who cheers for director Bakri -- Palestinians? Neo Nazis? Terrorists?

Guess again!

The folks running the "New Israel" Fund refer to Bakri, the film's director as "an esteemed actor and director" and they even gleefully sponsored a screening in New York of his latest anti-Israel film. Proudly informing the world of their support for Bakri, the New Israel Fund put this information on their own website! (You don't have to look very hard to find it).

If you want to fully understand what the New Israel Fund is all about, you just need to understand that they support some of Israel's worst enemies, who have been unmasked by Israel's own Supreme Court.

The New Israel Fund is proudly supporting a director whose film is "full of things that are not true" [LIES], a film that is hurtful to IDF soldiers, [SLANDER] and "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." [SEVERELY ATTACKING THE IDF].

Freedom of Speech is crucial to Israel's democracy.

Why the New Israel Fund advocates free speech, yet associates itself with slanderous liars like Muhammad Bakri, makes you wonder what sort of "New Palestine Israel" they are trying to fund.

Previous Muqata posts on NIF here:

Unmasking the New Israel Fund.
New Israel Fund supports Anti Israel week
The Hizbollah Spy and the New Israel Fund


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