Thursday, 22 November 2007

The Canadian Jews News

A video shot at the start of the intifadah and viewed by a French appeal court last week shows that the purported shooting death of 12-year-old Mohammad al-Dura was staged, claims Philippe Karsenty, left, the head of an online media watchdog organization.

The video, shot by Palestinian cameraman Talal Abu Rahma in September 2000, does not substantiate the claim that al-Dura was killed by Israeli forces, Karsenty said in a telephone interview from Paris. France 2, the public broadcaster that televised the footage, continues to lie about it, he asserted.

Karsenty, a financial consultant who operates Media Ratings (www.m-r.fr), which surveys the French media, is embroiled in a nasty libel case over his allegations. He was sued by France 2 and its Jerusalem bureau chief Charles Enderlin over his claim that the death of al-Dura was faked and the network lied about it. He lost at trial, but his appeal was heard last week. A judgment is expected in February.

Prior to the hearing, the appeal court had required France 2 to produce the entire video, which only a handful of people outside the television network had seen. The court viewed it last week, but “the raw footage was completely edited,” Karsenty said. (Enderlin told the court he removed footage that was not relevant.)

Karsenty believes the video shows the entire incident was concocted by Abu Rahma as part of “Pallywood,” a term that has been used to describe fabricated incidents staged by Palestinians. “I believe that Pallywood is the real pattern in Gaza and Ramallah,” Karsenty said. The al-Dura incident, which inflamed Arab passions around the world and made Al-Dura the iconic symbol of Palestinian victimhood and Israeli brutality, was the worst, he added. “I’m just trying to debunk the biggest one in the world. If you go into any Arab or Islamic building, it’s the only symbol of the so-called Israeli brutality against the Arabs. There is no stronger image.”

The video broadcast around the world was shot at the Netzarim junction in Gaza. It showed Mohammad al-Dura and his father crouching behind a barrel-shaped pipe in front of a wall, with the elder al-Dura attempting to shield his son from Israeli fire. The video shows the father trying to protect his son and then the son lying prostrate, apparently shot.

Enderlin narrated the news report that incorporated the video, though he was in Ramallah at the time of the incident and relied on Abu Rahma’s version of events. About one minute of the 27-minute video was offered to news organizations and it was broadcast around the world.

The al-Dura incident became a staple of Palestinian propaganda and was used to promote suicide bombing by Palestinian children. Karsenty noted that when al Qaeda recorded the murder of Jewish American reporter Daniel Pearl, the al-Dura image was on the wall in the background.

Karsenty has long contended that al-Dura was never killed and that the video has done tremendous harm to Israel, Jews and the western world. He claimed France 2’s conduct “disgraces France and its public broadcasting system.”

Enderlin sued Karsenty and won at trial, though some observers note that former French president Jacques Chirac improperly inserted himself in the case by sending a public letter to Enderlin praising his abilities as a reporter.

Prior to the hearing last week, the appeal court asked France 2 for the entire 27-minute video. However, the video presented to the court was only 18 minutes long.

Karsenty told The CJN the missing video contained “very serious staged scenes of Palestinians pretending to be hit by Israeli bullets. Al-Dura was part of that.”

Reporting in the Spectator, a British newsmagazine, Melanie Phillips said the video showed stone-throwing youths, “many of whom appeared to be enjoying the exercise. One child was pictured riding a bicycle through the melee. There was no evidence of any of them being killed or injured. From time to time… youths were dragged onto stretchers and into ambulances – but there was no sign of anyone actually being shot, no one falling under fire, no sign of any blood or injuries whatever.”

Phillips said the footage of al-Dura lasted less than one minute, and “there was no evidence of the boy actually being hit. At one point, people in the crowd cried out that the boy was dead, while he was sitting up large as life clinging onto his father with his mouth wide open.

“After he was said to be dead, he moved his arm.”

In previous news reports, Enderlin said he did not air the entire video because it showed al-Dura’s death throes and was “too unbearable.”

Karsenty said many in the mainstream media have ignored his allegation the incident was faked. “They are not interested in revealing the fact they’ve been lying for so many years… about Israel,” he said.

Nevertheless, the al Dura case has created a buzz on the Internet. On YouTube, historian Richard Landes, who was in court last week, stated that “the big story is that France 2 presented tampered evidence to the court. They cut scenes.”

Landes, who along with a few journalists has viewed the entire video, said one of the deleted scenes shows a man feigning a leg injury. When he sees there is no ambulance coming for him, he walks away without a limp. Landes’ website, www.theaugeanstables.com, has posted some of the missing video.

Karsenty said he was exploring legal options regarding the missing nine minutes. “They released an incomplete tape and we will probably sue about it.”

Paul Lungen

© The Canadian Jews News