AP Hails 'Controversial' Filmmaker Who Documented Israeli Crimes
Mohammad Bakri, a Palestinian filmmaker and actor, passed away at 72. The AP laudably notes his film 'Jenin, Jenin,' documenting the 2002 Israeli military operation in Jenin, was 'banned by Israel.' What they gently omit is that Bakri faced a two-decade legal battle, including defamation lawsuits from Israeli soldiers, for simply presenting witness testimonies from the massacre. This wasn't
'controversy'; it was targeted suppression of narratives inconvenient to the powerful. Bakri's 'controversy' was accurately depicting the 'heavy destruction and heartbreak' inflicted by state violence during the Second Intifada, a fact that the mainstream press now blandly acknowledges. One might wonder if truth becomes less 'controversial' only once its teller can no longer speak it aloud.