‘Janin Jenin 2024’ storm proves: We are not in a democracy anymore
In Tel Aviv, the screening of Mohammad Bakri’s film was banned without a court order, and in Haifa the Hadash Party branch where a screening was planned was closed. In an era when Ben-Gvir is in charge of the police, there’s an attempt to prevent citizens from being exposed to other points of view
By Nirit Anderman • Translated by Keren Rubinstein
We have to delete that part of our brain that’s still convinced we live in a democracy. Despite everything that’s happened here in recent years, it insists again and again on this Pavlovian response that fools us, convincing us that things like freedom of speech, civil rights, proper administration and lawfulness are principles by which this place is meant to operate.
But Toto, I think we’re not in Kansas anymore. The frightful three-ring circus of the last few days surrounding the screening of Mohammad Bakri’s new film, Janin Jenin 2024, makes this very clear. Not even Satirist Efraim Kishon, who would be celebrating his 100th birthday, could have come up with such a far-fetched scene. All it took was one deluded conservative activist to write a letter to police claiming it was a radical inciteful gathering, demanding they shut down the club that decided to host this “pro terrorism event’”, and recalling all hell broke loose over the director’s previous film, Jenin Jenin- and the system did the rest.
If only Israeli police responded so quickly and efficiently to calls about, say, violence against women. Haifa police rushed to shut down the Hadash head office in Haifa, where the film was to be screened, claiming that “activities in that location jeopardise public safety”, as though this weren’t a film screening but a workshop on assembly of mobile explosives. The following day, their colleagues in Tel Aviv wanted to prove that hey, they can also be quick and efficient, so they interrogated the manager of Jaffa’s Al Saraya Theatre and issued an order prohibiting the film screening there.
It’s not at all clear on what grounds the police acted in both incidents. Just shut down a political party’s offices out of the blue? Prohibit a film screening without a court order? But given Ben-Gvir oversees the police, no one’s surprised. The organisation knows very well who oversees the promotions and hirings, and they dance to his tune. Afterall it was only recently Ben-Gvir appointed a new police commissioner and reiterated, “we are the Lords of Land here in Israel and it is time we rule”. That commissioner was recently heard off the record to say he does not intend to follow the government senior legal adviser’s direction regarding the promotion of a police officer who’d thrown a grenade at protesters. The spirit of the commander is clear. Law is suddenly a mere suggestion, so stop wasting police time. As long as the lord of the land is happy.
And the film? The fact that its title references his other movie, Jenin Jenin, which the Supreme Court two years ago prohibited from being screened and distributed, was enough for Israeli police. Given both films are by the same director, well, this is a smoking gun, Watson, and we’re allowed to automatically shut that down. If it’s already been established that this director is an Israel hater and his previous movie contained lies and endangered national security, there ‘s no reason his new film won’t be the same. We should hurry up and eliminate this immediate danger to public safety. Thank goodness the police is here to carry out this sacred duty.
It’s almost needless to say that decision makers and concerned citizens didn’t bother watching this very dangerous film. I’m happy to report that I’ve put my life on the line, and sat down yesterday to watch it, and survived. Bakri, whose previous film featured the testimonies of Palestinians from Jenin, taken immediately after the IDF invaded the refugee camp in 2002 (and for which he was dragged into an ongoing legal saga), returns to Jenin in his new film, and to some of those starring in the first. This time he does so after the IDF’s attack of last year. He records the testimony of the camp’s residents, hears from them what had occurred, lets them tell us about what they have been through in the last 20 years, while he’s been in and out of court. Except this time he made sure no IDF soldiers are filmed so no one can claim their good reputation’s been tarnished because they were in the film for three and half seconds (as happened with Nissim Magnagi who sued Bakri).
There film comes in four parts. The first is a recap of Jenin Jenin. The second relates the legal troubles that have beset Bakri ever since its screening. The third part, in which the filmmaker faces the camera, summarising the history of Palestinian refugees since 1948. And the fourth part, which is most of the film, is where he tells many testimonies and some archival materials are assembled to convey the IDF’s attack on Jenin last year, and what the protagonists of his previous film have endured over these 20 years.
An older woman from the refugee camp describes how the IDF soldiers invaded her home, refused to believe her there were no men in her house, and carried on as though it was theirs for many days. Another resident describes three D9 bulldozers coming into the camp, stripping the tarmac off the roads. A young woman who had appeared in the previous film as a child and who’d since moved to the live in the UAE tells of her war trauma that’s still with her. Another is shown amongst ruins left of her home after a bombardment.
And yes, there’s a lot of anger towards the IDF in the movie and over Israeli aggression, which doesn’t seem to quell hatred but conversely, only arouses and encourages aggression on the other side. A mute man who had appeared in the previous film appears this time as a bereaved father whose son had joined fighters against the occupation and was killed. A young woman clarifies that the rage triggered by that invasion only fed the hatred and pushed young people to join the struggle against the Occupation. One young man says that almost every family in the refugee camp has lost lives in the fight against Israel. Almost every family has prisoners whose freedom was taken away, or young people who chose to fight and lost their lives. At one stage a group of children presents to the camera, singing a song that promises to never give up, to keep fighting for their freedom.
Is watching Janin Jenin 2024 uplifting? Would it cheer yo up? Not really. Does it show angry feelings, pain and Palestinian hatred that we didn’t know about? Not really. Will it get whole battalions of youths up to their feet, grabbing Kalashnikovs and joining the fight against Israel? With all due respect to cinema, probably not. For us, on the other hand, it could present a perspective we don’t meet on the Tel Aviv street or on Israeli news shows. To us it could make clear that the current status quo is destructive to both sides, that a military force, no matter how large, cannot bring about a resolution, that the cycle of hatred and violence we’re trapped in for far too long only feeds on itself, and isn’t headed anywhere. Watching this movie can make us stop for a moment and look for a different solution.
This is all especially true when you wake up, as happened today, as I wrote these lines, to learn of another IDF operation in the West Bank and reports of another military invasion of Jenin. Thes problem isn’t Bakri’s film. The problem is the cruel cycle we’re trapped in and the powers that try to withhold from us other points of view, other narratives, which only once we have understood, will we be able to mark our pathway out of this nightmare.
Translated by Keren Rubinstein for Sol Salbe, Middle East News Service
Haaretz Hebrew original article:
