Home page  |  About us  |  Lead Stories  |  Current Affairs Libarary  |  Documentaries  |  TV series  |  Contact
        


"Jenin" promo "Jenin" 9:50 minute movie
 


Jenin was the suicide bomb making capital in the West Bank. When the Israeli military took over Jenin, much of European and world media claimed Israel committed war crimes and massacres in the city. Media outlets said the alleged crimes committed by Israel in Jenin were worse than the atrocities of 9/11, Chechnya, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone. These claims reverberated around the world through subsidiary media outlets and other television and print organizations.

Several months later the UN and Human Rights Watch (HRW) determined that 23 Israeli soldiers, 26 Palestinian combatants and 26 Palestinian civilians were killed in Jenin. 180 buildings were destroyed - 3% of the camp, 4000 were homeless, and there was 27 million dollars in damage.

It was hardly the hundreds of thousands killed and millions made homeless in the Balkan and Chechnya wars.

Jonathan van Caspel, a reservist in the Israeli paratroopers, has taken it upon himself to clear the names of his 13 dead friends who cannot speak; thirteen friends who were killed less than 30 meters from him in a ferocious battle for the West Bank city of Jenin. Thirteen friends whose memories have been tarnished by accusations of war crimes.

We take Jonathan to London to meet some of the journalists and Human Rights activists who had written the massacre stories on Jenin. What Jonathan encounters is truly shocking. He is faced with bigotry, hostility, and a blatant double standard of ethics as well as closed-minded attitudes to perpetuate the Massacre Myth.

We also turn to world renowned jurist Alan Dershowitz, Palestinian Minister Saeb Erakat, Palestinian fighters of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade to examine what actually happened in Jenin, how it was transformed into a massacre myth, and how that myth is perpetuating a new brand of anti-Semitism. All of these elements are captured on camera and we expand the story to show the impact such myths have had on world opinion.

Such myths have contributed to attitudes reflected in EU polls, which showed 60% of Europeans believe that Israel is the number one threat to world stability, outstripping Iran, Bin Laden, Noth Korea and Saddam's Iraq.

Filmed in Israel, the West Bank, Jenin, London, Johannesburg, Washington, Boston and Toronto, this documentary offers a truly international perspective to this problem.

Produced and directed by Martin Himel.
An Elsash Production for Global Television Network Inc.

 
ELSASH PRODUCTIONS LTD.     45 St. Clair Avenue West, Suite 1400 Toronto, Ontario M4V 1L3, Canada     Tel: (416) 800 9224