A French-Canadian film deemed “anti-Israel” was withdrawn from the Israeli Film Festival in Australia.

“Inch’allah” was being screened in August at the annual Israeli Film Festival when a patron complained to Albert Dadon, the chair of the Australia Israel Cultural Exchange, which presents the festival. The patron charged that the film was “anti-Israel” and was not a bona fide Israeli film because it was filmed in Jordan and written and directed by Canadian filmmaker Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalett, who in 2010 signed a petition endorsing the campaign to boycott Israel.

Dadon agreed, telling Fairfax Media its inclusion was “an error.” He said the film “represents an ideology we obviously can’t endorse. It justifies suicide bombing. It might have been OK to be in another festival, but certainly not in ours.”

“Inch’allah” follows a Canadian doctor working in a clinic in a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, where she treats pregnant women and faces daily checkpoints to return to her apartment in Jerusalem.  — jta