The Toronto Jewish Film Festival is dropping a documentary on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon due to “security concerns.”
The festival's organizers told AP that the award winning film "The Accused" based on Sharon's life, could invite unwanted attention from special interest groups.
"This seems to be a more explosive year security-wise, so we're just trying to be careful," Helen Zukerman, the festival's executive director, said Friday. "We don't want it co-opted by some special interest groups that might seize it to make their own political statement."
The BBC film was to be screened Tuesday, April 23, and was to be followed by a question and answer session with its English producer, Aidan Laverty, who is working on a project in Afghanistan and could not be reached for comment.
The film investigates Sharon's involvement in the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which was sparked by the attempted assassination of Israeli Ambassador Shlomo Argov in London.
Sharon, who was the defense minister at the time, has been accused of war crimes for the assault on the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in Beirut by the Maronite Christian Phalange militia.
In “The Accused”, according to BBC News, Fergal Keane investigates Sharon’s claim that he could not have foreseen the danger of a massacre in the camps. Keane talks to key witnesses and survivors of the massacre – Albawaba.com
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
