“Cause of Death” – A film screening and panel discussion with the director

“Cause of Death,” an Israeli documentary, explores the events surrounding the 2002 killing of Salim Barakat, a police officer and a member of the Druze community in Israel, during a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv. Though Barakat was initially said to have been stabbed by one of the attackers, some believe that he was shot by either a civilian or a member of the police force mistaking him for the terrorist. The release of the film coincided with the passage in Israel of Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, and became a focal point for fierce debate about the place of non-Jewish minorities in Israel.

On November 13, Brookings and the George Washington University hosted a screening and panel discussion on the film and the current debate around the Israeli nation-state law.