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Mohammad Bakri, A palestinian Director and actor who sought to share the complexities of Palestinian identity and culture through a variety of works in both Arabic And JewishHas died, his family announced. He was 72 years old.
Bakri is best known for “Jenin, Jenin”, a 2003 documentary he directed about an Israeli military operation in the northern West Bank city during the second Palestinian intifada or uprising. The film, which focuses on the heart-breaking and devastating destruction of its Palestinian residents, was banned by Israel.
Bakri also starred in the 2025 film “All That’s Left of You”, a drama about a Palestinian family over 76 years, alongside her son, Adam, and Saleh Bakri, who is also an actor. The film has been selected for Best International Feature Film by the Academy Awards.
Over the years, he made several films that spanned the spectrum of the Palestinian experience. He also acted in Hebrew, including at the National Theater of Israel. Tel Avivand appeared in several well-known Israeli films in the 1980s and 1990s. He studied at Tel Aviv University.
Bakri, who was born in northern Israel and holds Israeli citizenship, has worked in both film and theatre. His most famous one-man-show of 1986, “The Pesoptimist”, was based on the writings of Palestinian writer Emile Habibi, focusing on the complexities and emotions of someone who has both Israeli and Palestinian identities.
During the 1980s, Bakri played characters in mainstream Israeli films that humanized Palestinian identity, including “Beyond the Walls,” a seminal film about jailed Israelis and Palestinians, said Raya Morag, a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who specializes in cinema and trauma.
“He broke the stereotype of how Israelis view Palestinians, and allowed any Palestinian to be regarded as a hero in Israeli society,” he said.
Morag said, “He was a very brave man, and he was brave by sticking to his ideals, by choosing not to be a conformist in any way, and by paying the price for it in both societies.”
Bakri faced some opposition within Palestinian society for his collaboration with the Israelis. After “Jenin, Jenin”, he was plagued by nearly two decades of court cases in Israel, where the film was seen as unbalanced and inciting.
In 2022, Israel’s Supreme Court upheld a ban on the documentary, saying it defamed Israeli soldiers, and ordered Bakri to pay thousands of dollars in compensation to an Israeli military officer for defamation.
“Jenin, Jenin” was a turning point in Bakari’s career. In Israel, Morag said, he became a polarizing figure and never worked with mainstream Israeli cinema again. “Despite all the pressures from within and without, he remained true to himself,” he said. “He was a steadfast voice that did not change over the years.”
Local media quoted Bakri’s family as saying he died on Wednesday after suffering from heart and lung problems. His cousin Rafiq told Arabic news site Al-Jarmak that Bakri was a staunch supporter of the Palestinians who used his actions to express support for his people.
“I am sure that Abu Saleh will live on in the memory of the Palestinian people everywhere and all the people of the free world,” he said, using the pseudonym Mohammed Bakri.
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AP correspondent Karim Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.