Introduction: As the 10th anniversary of the alleged death of Mohammed al-Dura approaches, this broadcast details a seminal media hoax which has not only fueled global anti-Semitism, but contributed to jihadist propaganda that fueled the activities of Al Qaeda. This interview features investigator Phillippe Karsenty, president of French media watchdog organization Media-Ratings.
Allegedly killed by gunfire from Israeli soldiers, Mohammed al-Dura was a young Palestinian boy who, along with his father, was supposedly caught in a crossfire between Palestinian forces and the IDF. In fact, there is overwhelming evidence that neither Muhammad nor his father were hit by Israeli fire at all. Moreover, this incident has served as something of an operational paradigm, in which obviously staged incidents are accepted by global media outlets as fact, stirring outrage against Israel and Jews, in general. The professional sources for many of the Israeli atrocity stories are, to say the least, suspect. Much of the so-called “expert” testimony to such atrocities comes from Marc Garlasco, forced to resign from Human Rights Watch because of his obsession with Nazi memorabilia. (He authored a coffee-table book on Third Reich anti-aircraft heraldry and decorations, pictured at right.)
Filmed and broadcast by France 2–the largest of that country’s public (government-owned) TV stations, the incident was an incendiary point for the second Intifada, precipitated the lynching of two Israeli soldiers at Ramallah on 10/12/2000 and was used by Al Qaeda to recruit prior to 9/11. Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl’s killers cited the al-Dura case when murdering the journalist.
After a German television station broadcast a documentary demonstrating that al-Dura could not have been killed by Israeli fire, Phillippe Karsenty began his political and legal odyssey to set the record straight.
Using the evidence uncovered by the German (and subsequent) investigations, Karsenty charged France 2 with broadcasting footage that they knew was fraudulent. In turn, Karsenty was charged with libel by France 2 journalist Charles Enderlin. After an initial victory by Enderlin, a French appellate court overturned the verdict and ruled in favor of Karsenty.
Among the points of information central to analysis of the case are: the fact that Enderlin was not present at Netzarim, Gaza, where the event took place; the angle from which bullets are striking in the area are inconsistent with Israeli military positions [see photo above, left]; the fact that numerous Palestinians can be seen in outtake footage, casually conversing and smoking cigarettes in the middle of a supposed firefight; the fact that, despite allegedly being struck by three and ten bullets respectively, neither Muhammad nor his father evidence any bleeding at all, nor do they show any signs of being struck by gunfire [see photo at top right]; at one point, the allegedly mortally wounded Mohammed raises his head and looks at the camera, then lies back down and plays dead; the fact that Mohammed al-Dura’s [alleged] body was brought to the morgue before the incident actually took place!
In more detail, it should be noted that the fire was coming from roughly 12 o’clock and 1 o’clock relative to the Israelis. Al-Dura (father and son) were at roughly 10 o’clock relative to Israelis. A concrete barrel was due west to the al-Duras and a concrete wall was behind them.
The bullet holes in the wall behind the al-Duras show round holes which would be consistent to receiving fire from a shooter who was firing at a target at a direction of 12 o’clock. If the bullet holes were made by Israeli fire, you would expect to see more elliptical shaped holes, from firing on a 12 o’clock angle.
Program Highlights Include: The Israeli government’s unwillingness to support critics of the official version of the al-Dura incident; a letter from then French president Jacques Chirac supporting Enderlin and France 2; review and discussion of other faked incidents of supposed Israeli atrocities and war crimes; the French government’s awarding of the Legion d’Honneur to Enderlin (that decoration is the French government’s highest commendation); condemnation of Karsenty by prominent French media outlets and prominent intellectuals.
Hi Dave, I just heard of this Muslim Brotherhood tv series that Essam el Eryan and others are up in arms against.
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100818/FOREIGN/708179816/1135/general1
A quick comment here.
I found a video that presents similarities between nazism and Islamism. It features John Loftus by the way, if I am not mistaken. What is really interesting, is that it contains an extract of a series from Al-Manar TV, a satellite TV based in Lebanon. There, is depicted a blood libel in no uncertain images!!! That is disgusting! Send my salutations to John by the way. We have to expose these things. Rise up good men and women!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gzyeo1Z1I4&feature=player_embedded#
[...] le premier cas. Aussi, je vous propose une entrevue radio en anglais que Karsenty a accordée à Dave Emory pour son émission For The Record. L’article de l’entrevue propose non seulement un [...]
http://www.timesofisrael.com/leading-critic-of-french-al-dura-coverage-convicted/
Leading critic of French al-Dura coverage convicted
Philippe Karsenty found guilty of defamation for accusing France 2 of staging Palestinian boy’s death
By Times of Israel staff June 26, 2013, 4:40 pm 16
A French media analyst was convicted Wednesday of defamation for accusing a state television network of staging a video that depicted a young boy being killed in a firefight between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers.
The footage more than a decade ago galvanized Palestinians and anti-Israeli sentiment in the Mideast at the start of the bloody Second Intifada.
A Paris court fined Philippe Karsenty 7,000 euros (NIS 33,000) in the defamation case filed by network France 2. Karsenty accused the network’s Jerusalem bureau chief, Charles Enderlin, of fabricating parts of the segment.
The 55 seconds of edited footage, broadcast on September 30, 2000, showed the terrified boy, Mohammed al-Dura, and his father amid a furious exchange of fire in the Gaza Strip. It then cut to the boy slumped in his father’s lap. The report blamed Israeli forces for the death.
Karsenty called the verdict “outrageous.” A lawyer for France 2 said it was a victory for journalists.
Karsenty was convicted of libel in 2006, a judgment that was overturned on appeal in 2008. France 2 subsequently appealed that appeal at the “Cour de cassation,” France’s highest court. Last year, the Cour de cassation annulled the ruling acquitting Karsenty of libel in 2008.
Last month, an official Israeli government report concluded that al-Dura was not harmed by Israeli forces and did not die in the exchange of fire.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who commissioned the report in 2012, said the accusations aired on France 2 were “a manifestation of the ongoing, mendacious campaign to delegitimize Israel.”
After the report was released, al-Dura’s father, Jamal al-Dura, told Ynet that he and his son were both hit by Israeli fire in the incident. He said he would be willing to exhume the body to prove that his son had in fact been killed.
Israel initially did not dispute that IDF troops had inadvertently killed the child.
“It could very much be — this is an estimation — that a soldier in our position, who has a very narrow field of vision, saw somebody hiding behind a cement block in the direction from which he was being fired at, and he shot in that direction,” the IDF’s southern commander Maj. Gen. Yom-Tov Samia said at the time.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.