Whose truth?
Israel’s court defeats film ban
A fresh attempt to ban a documentary film about the Israeli army’s invasion of a West Bank refugee camp has failed.
Israel’s film board banned Jenin, Jenin from being shown in the Jewish state last year, saying it presented a distorted version of events in Jenin.
But on Monday Israel’s High Court reinstated a ruling which overturned the ban, saying the film board did not have “a monopoly over truth”.
Kudos to the Israeli High Court. Not having seen Jenin, Jenin, I can’t comment on how accurate it is.
However, the Israeli judges are correct to point out that no-one has a monopoly of the truth. Rather than trying to prevent uncomfortable views from being expressed, it is far better to allow all points of view to be made and encourage people to sift through the conflicts and contradictions until a robust and reliable sequence of events is arrived at.
Tuesday 31 Aug 2004 | Paul | The Pit
