Five reserve soldiers who served in Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield filed suit this morning against Muhammad Bakri, the director of the controversial film "Jenin, Jenin," and against two theaters that screened it. The movie was banned by the military censor because of the way it portrayed the fighting in Jenin as an "Israeli massacre of innocent Arabs." Education Minister Limor Livnat called the movie a "severe blow to the memory of the fighters who fell." The five soldiers demand 2.5 million shekels because of the way the movie is full of "lies" and "slander" against them and their colleagues.
Two of Bakri's cousins are also in the news today. Ibrahim and Yassin Bakri, from the Arab village B'eineh in the western Galilee, were convicted yesterday of nine counts of murder for helping a Palestinian suicide bomber blow himself up on a bus last summer at the Meron Junction. The two convicts found the murderer a place to sleep prior to the attack, gave him clothing and batteries for the explosives, recommending the target, and drove him to the bus stop at which he boarded the bus. Nine people were killed in the attack, including a Druze soldier, an Israeli-Arab, and two Filipino women, and 51 people were wounded, including 11 seriously and five "moderately." The two Bakris will be sentenced next month.
Another Bakri cousin, a nursing student in Tzfat who was riding on the bus, was warned minutes before the bombing. She and a friend got off the bus and did not inform the police. The actor Muhammad Bakri blamed the media at the time for exacerbating tensions between Jews and Arabs, and the police and GSS for arresting his cousins. When asked how he related to Police Chief Solomon's remarks that they were murderers, he said, "He himself is a murderer."
Two of Bakri's cousins are also in the news today. Ibrahim and Yassin Bakri, from the Arab village B'eineh in the western Galilee, were convicted yesterday of nine counts of murder for helping a Palestinian suicide bomber blow himself up on a bus last summer at the Meron Junction. The two convicts found the murderer a place to sleep prior to the attack, gave him clothing and batteries for the explosives, recommending the target, and drove him to the bus stop at which he boarded the bus. Nine people were killed in the attack, including a Druze soldier, an Israeli-Arab, and two Filipino women, and 51 people were wounded, including 11 seriously and five "moderately." The two Bakris will be sentenced next month.
Another Bakri cousin, a nursing student in Tzfat who was riding on the bus, was warned minutes before the bombing. She and a friend got off the bus and did not inform the police. The actor Muhammad Bakri blamed the media at the time for exacerbating tensions between Jews and Arabs, and the police and GSS for arresting his cousins. When asked how he related to Police Chief Solomon's remarks that they were murderers, he said, "He himself is a murderer."