Case Number

HCJ 6126/94 , HCJ 6143/94, HCJ 6126/94

Date Decided

7-26-1999

Decision Type

Original

Document Type

Full Opinion

Abstract

Facts: Chana Szenes, born in Budapest, Hungary in 1921, emigrated to Mandatory Palestine alone at the age of 18. In 1943, during World War II, she enlisted in the British army. In June 1944, Chana Szenes parachuted in Yugoslavia, and crossed the border into Hungary with the aid of partisan groups. The German army captured her almost immediately. Chana Szenes was executed by a German firing squad on November 8, 1944. The current petition concerns the play “The Kastner Trial,” written by respondent no. four. The play, based on the true story of the Kastner affair, was intended to be televised. In one of the scenes of the play, one of the characters claims that Chana Szenes broke under interrogation by the Hungarian police and betrayed her comrades. Petitioners, including relatives of Szenes, petitioned this court to prevent the broadcast of that scene in the play. Petitioners claimed that the scene contained falsehoods, defamed Chana Szenes, and injured the feelings of many, including survivors of the Holocaust.

Held: For the purposes of the petition, the Court assumed that the play, with the scene in question, defamed Chana Szenes, and also injured the feelings of the public in general and that of Holocaust survivors in particular. The Court held, however, that, in a democratic society, only a near certainty of grave and severe injury to feelings can justify the prior restraint of expression. The court held that the scene in question did not present a near certainty of such injury. As such, the petition was denied. Justice Cheshin dissented.

Keywords

Communications, Constitutional Law -- Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, Constitutional Law -- Freedom of Expression, Torts -- Defamation

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