The French Jewish umbrella group CRIF has objected to the planned marketing of a film at the Cannes Film Festival that it said falsely blames German security forces for the deaths of most of the 11 Israeli Olympians held hostage by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Games.
Roger Cukierman, the president of CRIF, made the objection in a May 3 letter to Pierre Lescure, president of the Cannes Film Festival, and to French Culture Minister Audrey Azoulay, CRIF revealed on its website May 12.
Cukierman said he was “concerned” about the planned screening of “Munich: A Palestinian Story” at a promotional event for Arab cinema at Cannes.
The film depicts as freedom fighters Palestinians who are believed to have shot and killed at least two of the 11 Israelis they took hostage at the 1972 Olympics. It wrongly accuses German police of killing the remaining hostages, Cukierman said in the letter.
Directed by Nasri Hajjaj, “Munich: A Palestinian Story” is part of a partnership between the Cannes Film Festival and the Dubai International Film Festival. This year for the first time, the Dubai festival sent a selection of Arab films, including “Munich,” to Cannes’ Le Marche du Film — a platform for international cinema that takes alongside Cannes.
On Sept. 4, 1972, eight terrorists from the Black September terrorist movement broke into the living quarters of the Israeli delegation to the Olympics. Wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and champion weightlifter Yossef Romano were killed.
German police reports were inconclusive as to whether the Palestinians or German police officers attempting a rescue killed the remaining nine hostages. The film features narration that claims German police, not the Palestinians, killed the Israelis.
Cukierman called the film a “a scandalous revision of historical facts,” adding that its screening in Cannes is “even more scandalous considering the context of terrorist violence unleashed on our country, which this film indirectly legitimizes.” — jta