- Theatre alleges abuse of power and curtailment of artistic freedom
- Mahmud Abu Arisha: “We will fight for our creative space”
LONDON: A Jaffa theatre has appealed to Israel's Supreme Court after police banned the showing of Palestinian films.
Jaffa's Al-Saraya Theatre said the ban was an abuse of power and a violation of artistic freedom, accusing authorities of abuse of power and censorship.
Mahmoud Abu Arisha, the theatre's manager, said: “We will fight for our creative space and will not accept any organisation that claims to be a self-proclaimed censor of artistic creativity and freedom of speech.
“We must not accept the grim reality that the police are trying to create, in which artists and cultural institutions live under the direct threat of interference with artistic content.”
The theatre demands an explanation for the police intervention, guarantees against future intervention and clarification of any enforcement action taken against the establishment or its management.
The appeal comes after multiple disruptions to screenings of two controversial documentaries, Lid and Jenin, Jenin 2, since August 2024.
Jenin, Jenin 2 is a sequel to Palestinian director Mohammad Bakri's 2002 documentary about the Battle of Jenin during the Second Intifada. The film examines Israel's military operations in the West Bank city in 2023.
The film's screening was blocked in August after police deemed it incitement and summoned Abu Areesha for questioning on suspicion of “disturbing public order.”
Authorities also suspected him of planning to screen the film “Jenin, Jenin,” which was banned in 2021 following a libel lawsuit filed by an Israeli soldier who briefly appeared in the film.
Abu Arisha argued that the ban on the original film did not apply to its sequel, and accused authorities of exceeding their legal authority.
In October, police summoned Abu Arisha again, this time ordering him to cancel a screening of “Leed” – a film exploring an alternate history in which the Nakba never happened – after Israeli Culture Minister Micky Zohar expressed concern about its possible repercussions.
Although authorities initially justified the blocking of Lida by citing an unresolved complaint from Israel's Film Ratings Board, the documentary was eventually screened as part of the Solidarity Film Festival at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque.
Zohar asked Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to reconsider the Cinematheque's funding after the screenings, suggesting that the festival films may have violated Israel's so-called Nakba Law, which authorizes the minister to seize state funds from any institution or body that observes “Israel's Independence Day or the day on which the state was established as a day of mourning.”
