JERUSALEM: Actor and filmmaker Mohammed Bakri, a champion of the Palestinian cause, died on Wednesday aged 72, a hospital spokesperson said.

He was known for his documentary Jenin, Jenin and his commitment to the Palestinians, which led to frequent confrontations with Israeli authorities.

“Mohammed Bakri died this Wednesday at the Galilee Medical Center” in the northern Israeli city of Nahariya, hospital spokesperson Gal Zaid said.

He died from heart and lung problems, according to his family.

Born in Galilee in 1953 into a Muslim family, Bakri was an Israeli citizen.

He appeared in leading Israeli films but was also directed by the French-Greek director Costa-Gavras and Italian filmmakers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.

His role as a Palestinian inmate in an Israeli prison in the 1980s film Beyond the Walls earned him critical acclaim in Israel and around the world.

But his international renown grew with the release of 2002’s Jenin, Jenin, which denounced alleged Israeli war crimes in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank during the Second Intifada.

The Israeli Supreme Court upheld a ban on the film in 2022, deeming it “defamatory”.

The father of six also directed several socially conscious documentaries about the situation of Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Arab-Israeli radio station A-Shams published a tribute on its social media, describing Bakri as a “free voice”.

“From his early days in theatre, art was not simply a pastime for Mohammed Bakri, but a tool for raising awareness and engaging in dialogue,” the radio station said.

“The legacy left by Mohammed Bakri will remain, reminding us that art can be an act of resistance.”

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2025