From the director of Confrontation at Concordia, which aired on Global TV last year, comes a new documentary which claims to examine the extent of anti-Semitism in the Euro-British media using the coverage surrounding the Israeli army’s April 2002 assault against Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank as a case in point.

In Jenin: Massacring Truth, Global TV’s Martin Himel follows Jonathan Von Caspel, an Israeli reservist who served in Jenin, as he confronts several British journalists who had reported claims of a massacre and atrocities during the fortnight of fighting between the Israeli army and Palestinian militants in the densely packed refugee camp. Reports from the period are scrutinized, and it is repeatedly suggested that the exaggerated reports are related to anti-Semitism, and the tendency to think the worst of Israel.

When I first heard that Martin Himel had directed a documentary about Jenin, I expected an hour long presentation of the Israeli government’s official line on what took place in Jenin. I had been interviewed by Himel in his previous documentary, Confrontation at Concordia on the understanding that it would be a “fair” and “balanced” look at the events at Concordia University following the prevention of a scheduled lecture by Benjamin Netanyahu in September 2002.

Instead, Himel decided to disingenuously parse my words — on the occasions he did not speak on my behalf — in an hour long documentary that repeatedly compared Concordia to the 1938 Kristillnacht pogrom in Germany. I was not the only one who found Himel’s documentary shocking; Nicola Doyle, the assistant producer of Confrontation at Concordia had this to say about the documentary: “It was a decidedly one-sided view of the situation, that completely and purposely dismissed the side of the Palestinians.” Her words can also be applied to Jenin: Massacring Truth which manages to find fault in journalists for even citing Palestinian witnesses as to what happened in Jenin. The moral here is that the Palestinian point of view should be ignored.

Jenin: Massacring Truth takes aim especially at the British media, which have, since the outbreak of the September 2000 uprising, clashed with the Israeli government’s press office. Last year, Israel joined Zimbabwe in banning the BBC, and Danny Seaman, the director of the press office, claimed credit for the relocation of The Guardian Israel correspondent Suzanne Goldenberg to Washington. (The Guardian denied that her assignment to Washington was a result of Israeli pressure.)

Himel pick ups the Israeli government’s attacks on the “Euro-British” media. Reports on Jenin from The Guardian, the BBC and the UK Independent are scrutinized and faulted for exaggerating the extent of Palestinian casualties and damage to the camp caused by the Israeli army. This exaggeration, Himel implies, should be seen within the context of rising anti-Semitism, and is both a cause and a symptom of a resurgence of a new wave of anti-Semitism that attributes classic anti-Jewish stereotypes to Israel.

That the media exaggerated the extent of the damage and casualties suffered by the Palestinians is beyond dispute. After Israel eventually allowed a United Nations commission — and several human rights groups — to survey the damage, a clearer picture emerged of 53 Palestinians killed, half of them civilians, along with the 23 Israeli soldiers who were killed in the battle. At the same time, clear evidence did emerge that Israeli soldiers had committed war crimes, including executions of captured fighters, the denial of medical treatment to the wounded and the deliberate killing of unarmed civilians. These instances are not even given passing mention in the documentary.

Also not surprising is the exclusion of several statements made by the Israeli army and government officials as the battle raged in Jenin. Initial estimates by the Israeli defense Forces counted over 100 Palestinian casualties. The Israeli daily Haaretz carried a report quoting Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres as saying that he feared “a massacre” had taken place in Jenin. The Israeli army eventually lowered its estimate, but it is disingenuous to claim, as Himel implies in his documentary, that it was only the Palestinians and the “Euro-British media” who feared the worse outcome. Certainly no one would think that Shimon Peres is an anti-Semite.

If the media’s drive to report breaking news while it is denied access to the site can be seen as a symptom of prejudice against Israel, then what is one to make of the reports in mid-November 2002 concerning a “massacre” in Hebron? Initial reports suggested that 12 Israeli worshippers had been ambushed by Palestinian gunmen in what Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dubbed the “Shabbat massacre.” The reports elicited international condemnation, with UN Secretary General Kofi Anan describing it as a “despicable terrorist act.” UK Independent correspondent Robert Fisk called it a “massacre.” After a few days, an entirely different account emerged. There was no massacre. Eleven Israeli soldiers and one security guard had been killed in a lengthy gun battle with Islamic Jihad and Hamas gunmen. Three Palestinian militants also died in the fighting. Should we look forward to Hebron: Massacring Truth starring a grief stricken Hamasnik, airing on Global TV?