Yesterday (26 August 24), before a demonstration could take place against the premiere screening of Mohammad Bakri’s sequel to his outlawed film, “Jenin Jenin,” the police prohibited the screening entirely. The second film is called “Janin, Jenin” or “Jenin, Jenin II.” More about this later. Bakri was slated to be at the event.
There are two important facts to note here: firstly, the screening was to take place in the party offices used jointly by Hadash (largely Arab party) and Maki (the communist party). This makes it a political event. Were they aiming for a cultural event that would open discussion, they might have tried to hold it at a cultural venue in the city – or at least in a venue that purports to be one, such as Beit HaGefen. Of course, I have no idea whether or not they sought such a setting but I have the feeling that had they tried and been refused, that would have been added to their rants against the police decision to shut down the event.
And secondly, the screening was to be used as an opportunity to raise funds for Gazans. It seems to have become fashionable for Israeli Arabs who now call themselves Palestinians to raise funds for the poor starving Gazans when even the UN, not favourably disposed toward Israel, has found that Israel actually provides 40% more calories than required by humanitarian standards. Today, when Israel is at war, losing soldiers almost every day and with hostages still being held by Hamas, is not the time for Israeli citizens to be raising funds that will ultimately end up in Hamas hands.
This is why Shai Glick, CEO of the human rights organization B’tsalmo, opened the police file against the event, saying, "There is no place in Israel for films by liars and instigators who seek to harm the State of Israel and the IDF.”
What Bakri says about his new film
In an op-ed in Haaretz today, Bakri explains that the new film describes the difficulties experienced by him and his family since the court ruled against his first film and gives first-hand accounts of Jenin residents who compare the IDF operations in 2003 (his first film) and the more recent IDF operations in July 2023.
The court forbade screening of the first “Jenin, Jenin” in Israel. They did not accept Bakri’s depiction of the IDF operations as a massacre committed by “the occupation forces.” In fact, even the Washington Post and Amnesty International’s military advisor denied that a massacre occurred (for the most detailed critique of the film see here). The court declared the film to be a vehicle for spreading lies about the IDF and the State of Israel, an openly antisemitic work.
Given Bakri’s description of the second film, there is no reason to think it would be any more truthful than the first. In fact, calling it “Janin, Jenin” or “Jenin, Jenin II” gives it away. “Janin” is the Arabic and “Jenin” is the Hebrew for the city of Jenin, a city within which is a neighbourhood referred to as a refugee camp. “Janin, Jenin” is a clever play on words that Bakri says refers to a return to Jenin.
It is ironic that Bakri, Hadash, and Maki claim that the shutting down of the event is the fascist act of a right-wing extremist government dragging the country down into oblivion (אבדון is the word Bakri used in Hebrew). Ironic, because the barely disguised wish of all three of them and their supporters is that the country cease to exist. It is not fascist to shut down events that have that goal as the basis of their activities.
Freedom of speech does not extend to expressions of support for terrorism or defamation of the state or state bodies. Freedom of speech law also makes room for restrictions when there is a high degree of certainty that allowing certain expressions would cause harm to public safety.
This latter, in fact, is the basis upon which the film screening event was prohibited by Haifa police (not, as Bakri claims, Ben Gvir or his newly appointed Police Commissioner). I read the police order; it states that the order is based upon legal consultation and documents not available to the public. Of course, it is a temporary order and we can be sure to see Bakri, Hadash, and Maki screen the film, perhaps not in Haifa, and to challenge in court any further attempts to muzzle their lies.
Haifa has become a battle ground
Haifa may be a new center for anti-Israel activism. While Mohammad Bakri was born north of Haifa, it seems he has spent most of his life in Tel Aviv. However, Haifa “boasts” a cadre of Israel-haters if we can take their attendance at a protest against the closure last night as an indication. Among them were MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash), who was born in Haifa and lives here, MK Aida Touma-Suleiman (Maki), who was born in Nazareth, studied at the University of Haifa, and now lives in Acco, Jafar Farah, head of Haifa’s Mossawa Center for Arab rights, and of course, Haifa Municipal Council member, Raja Za'atara (Hadash), who is believed to be behind the event. He openly supports Hamas and Hezbollah. (Sally Abed is another coalition member who organized the first donate-to-Gazans event; this would have been the third in the city.)
Glick says that there is a major public battle going on now between the forces that want Haifa to remain a Zionist city of flourishing co-existence and those who want to turn it into a hotbed of anti-Israel and anti-IDF Palestinian extremism. “I call on the mayor and the police,” he says, “to make it clear that Haifa is the capital of Israel’s north and is not a Hamas stronghold.”
Haifa is my home.
I was always proud of living in a mixed Jewish-Arab city which, according to the latest statistics, includes about 12% Arab citizens, almost evenly split between Christians and Muslims. Is the fabric of co-existence in the city starting to unravel? If it is, it means it was a very delicate and unstable co-existence to begin with and perhaps the Jews and a minority of Arabs are the only ones who really believe(d) in it.