Jenin Jenin

There is a controversy about the movie "Jenin Jenin". "Jenin Jenin" is a movie about the events in Jenin last year. Jenin was a media fiasco wherein there were some 50 people who were killed in numerous gun battles but hundreds of deaths were reported in the first few days. There were initial reports on al-Jezera of all the males being rounded up and shot in nearby football fields. There were all sorts of stories flying. At the end they were all found to be false.

Anyway, someone made a movie about what happened, and now the film maker is being sued by a group of reservists.

It seems to me if someone is going to make a film about what happened there and is going to distort the picture so that Israel looks really bad despite the facts, then what incentive does Israel have to restrain itself ever? If their bottom line is negative publicity, all they have is moral constraints to prevent them from not actually going through with it next time. I see the generals thinking to themselves: "Either waste Israeli lives and be extra cautious, or just destroy everyone who is in the way. Well, we can't afford the negative publicity, so we should behave. But last time caution got us bad publicity anyway. So why bother?"

This film just cost more Palestinians their lives. I hope the producers are satisfied.