Bereaved kin slam decision to decline prosecuting director who alleged Jenin massacre
Mohammed Bakri's controversial Jenin, Jenin ignited a firestorm upon its release 12 years ago due to the depiction of a massacre allegedly carried out by IDF troops during Operation Defensive Shield.
By JPOST.COM STAFFIsraeli Arab actor and filmmaker Mohammed Bakri attends the Dubai International Film Festival(photo credit: REUTERS)
Representatives of bereaved families criticized the attorney general on Sunday for denying their request to launch a criminal investigation against an Israeli-Arab filmmaker who alleged in one of his movies that the IDF committed a massacre of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank town of Jenin.Mohammed Bakri's controversial Jenin, Jenin ignited a firestorm upon its release 12 years ago due to the depiction of a massacre allegedly carried out by IDF troops during Operation Defensive Shield.Israeli authorities banned the screening of the film only to have the Supreme Court overturn the ruling on free speech grounds.The attorney general, Yehuda Weinstein, was asked to reconsider the decisions made by his predecessors Elyakim Rubinstein and Menachem Mazuz, both of whom ruled that there was no legal recourse to bring criminal charges against Bakri.After Weinstein declined to overturn the previous rulings, representatives of bereaved families of soldiers who died in Jenin criticized the decision."The attorney general abandoned the good name and reputation of fallen IDF soldiers who died in battle in Jenin as well as those of their families," the families said in a statement. Weinstein "caused them harm as grievous as one can imagine," the families said.
