The Israeli military refused to allow journalists and human rights organizations into the camp for "safety reasons" during the fighting, leading to a rapid cycle of rumors that a massacre had occurred.

Stories of civilians being buried alive in their homes as they were demolished, and of smoldering buildings covering crushed bodies, spread throughout the Arab world.

[5] Bakri participated in a nonviolent demonstration at a checkpoint during Israel's 2002 invasion of Jenin and was shocked when Israeli soldiers shot at the crowd, wounding a fellow actor standing next to him.

Bakri gave voice to the perspective of Palestinians which would not reach the media due to the sealing of the city; as a result he chose not to interview Israeli officials for the film.

Human Rights Watch investigations found "no evidence to sustain claims of massacres or large-scale extrajudicial executions by the IDF in Jenin refugee camp" although they reported that "Israeli forces committed serious violations of international humanitarian law, some amounting prima facie to war crimes".

According to Supreme Court Judge Dalia Dorner: "The fact that the film includes lies is not enough to justify a ban,";[16] she implied that it is up to viewers to interpret what they see, citing the Maimonides quotation: "And with intellect shall distinguish the man, between the truth and the false.

Five Israeli reserve soldiers who served in Jenin filed suit in 2002 against Bakri for defamation arguing that the movie had sullied their good names.

The judge said in her verdict that Bakri had not shown "good faith", had brought no witnesses, and had not proved his claim that his charges were backed up by reports from human rights groups.

[19] Dr. David Zangen, who was the chief medical officer for the IDF in Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield (Head of Pediatric Endocrinology at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem[20]) issued a public statement titled Seven Lies About Jenin,[21] giving his personal accounts about his visit to a private premiere[citation needed] screening of the film at the Jerusalem Cinematheque.

He claimed Bakri has 'skillfully made a crude, albeit well-done, manipulation' that it is difficult not to be drawn into the created distorted picture; and that he was amazed that the audience was not willing to hear his own accounts, a person who had 'physically' been there.

A major component of the argument for the defense in the most recent allegations is that none of the plaintiffs, Ofer Ben-Natan, Doron Keidar, Nir Oshri, Adam Arbiv and Yonatan Van-Kaspel, are mentioned by name or shown in the film.