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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Who's the Dog?! Pallywood Productions

The Supreme Court heard Saturday [Jameel: YNET meant today, Monday] testimonies by reserve soldiers who appealed against Arab actor and director Mohammad Bakri, claiming that his film 'Jenin Jenin' is libelous.

The court debate saw accusations tossed between the attorney representing the soldiers, Yisrael Kaspi, who said Bakri was being paid by Israel's enemy. "You are wandering dogs," Bakri yelled at the soldiers. Security guards were forced to intervene to prevent clashes.

Justice Miriam Naor suggested at first that the defendant apologize to the plaintiffs, telling Attorney Avigdor Feldman to "check with Bakri if he is willing to say that he made a film which is not a documentary and, in light of the court's findings, apologize before the plaintiffs".

Despite his initial refusal, Bakri agreed to apologize to the plaintiffs "if they were offended" and to remove the label of 'documentary' from his film. YNET

The Jenin Jenin slander-filled mockumentary was shown around the world as "testimony" to "war crimes" which never happened. The IDF's "Defensive Shield" (Chomat Magen) operation at the height of the Intifada resulted in IDF incursions into terrorist-infested towns around the West Bank to search out the Fatah, Hamas, and PA "policemen" who were responsible for murderous terrorist attacks around Israel.

In March 2002, some 130 Israelis were murdered in Palestinian terror attacks culminating in the Passover massacre in a Netanya hotel, which killed 29.

Israel finally started to fight back militarily, and the Palestinian Authrotiy launched a media counterattack. PA spokesman Saeb Erekat announced to the world that Israeli forces had massacred "over 500 civilians" in Jenin -- a figure later rounded down to the 52 Palestinians, most of them armed combatants, who were actually killed. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers also died in the fighting -- a direct result of the fact that Israel refrained from bombing or shelling targets in the camp for fear of harming civilians. (source)

Human rights NGOs investigated the "massacre" and to the Palestinians surprise (and the UN's chagrin) -- there had been no massacre in Jenin and that the Palestinian claims were entirely baseless.

Since "truth" is not part of the PA's lexicon, the PA funded a Pallywood production -- paying Palestinian filmmaker Muhammad Bakri to invent the film "Jenin, Jenin" -- a propaganda film that enraged Israeli soldiers. Some of those soldiers shown in still footage in the film sued Bakri for libel.

The court suggested today that Bakri apologize...

The soldiers, however, refused to accept the judge's suggestion and demanded that the film be re-edited. "We were harmed very badly and the mark of Cain branded on our foreheads. We were described as murderers and Nazis and this trial cannot end with an apology and not compensation," Kaspi said.

He also accused Bakri of colluding with Israel's enemies. "You describe us as Nazis. Until you apologize and ask for our forgiveness you have no place here," the attorney for the prosecution said, nearly causing a brawl which security guards were forced to prevent.

"I am not sorry for anything," Bakri asserted as the hearing began. "This is my belief, this is what I saw, and I have no regrets. Those who should have regrets are the IDF, the Shin Bet, and the prime minister, who are persecuting me." YNET

Well, at least we know who the dog is.

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