Jaffa theater appeals to Israeli High Court over Palestinian film ban
LONDON: A theater in Jaffa has appealed to Israel's High Court of Justice after police banned the screening of Palestinian films.
Jaffa's Al-Saraya Theater argued that the ban constituted an abuse of power and an infringement of artistic freedom, accusing the authorities of overreach and censorship.
Mahmoud Abu Arisha, the theater's manager, said: 'We will fight for our creative space and not accept any entity with pretensions of being a self-appointed censor of artistic creativity and freedom of speech.
'We must not accept the grim reality that the police are trying to shape, in which artists and cultural institutions live under the direct threat of interference in artistic content.'
The theater is seeking an explanation for the police intervention, assurances against future interference, and clarification on any enforcement action taken against the venue or its management.
The appeal follows multiple disruptions of screenings of two controversial documentaries, 'Lyd' and 'Jenin, Jenin 2,' since August 2024.
'Jenin, Jenin 2,' a sequel to Palestinian filmmaker Mohammad Bakri's 2002 documentary on the Battle of Jenin during the Second Intifada, examines Israeli military operations in the West Bank city in 2023.
Its screening was blocked in August after police deemed it incitement, summoning Abu Arisha for questioning on suspicion of 'disrupting public order.'
Authorities also suspected him of planning to show 'Jenin, Jenin,' which was banned in 2021 following a libel suit by an Israeli soldier who appeared briefly in the film.
Abu Arisha argued that the ban on the original film did not apply to its sequel and accused the authorities of exceeding their legal mandate.
Police again summoned Abu Arisha in October, this time ordering him to cancel the screening of 'Lyd' — a film exploring an alternate history in which the Nakba never occurred — after Israel's Culture Minister Miki Zohar raised concerns about its potential impact.
While authorities initially justified blocking 'Lyd' by citing an unresolved complaint from Israel's film rating board, the documentary was eventually shown as part of the Solidarity Film Festival at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque.
Zohar asked Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to review the Cinematheque's funding following the screening, suggesting that festival films may have violated Israel's so-called Nakba Law, which authorizes the minister to withdraw state funds from any institution or body that commemorates 'Israel's Independence Day or the day on which the state was established as a day of mourning.'
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