Sharansky on Al Dura Blood Libel

“It’s
Official: Al Dura Staged” Sharansky’s oped in Wall Street Journal is a must read. Israel should have gotten involved long ago. They can not abdicate their responsibility for accountability and truth when the world is working feverishly to delegitimize and ultimately destroy them. The media is aligned with terror force. The rhetorical question remains as to how many news agencies will make this front page news and apologise for jumping upon the anti-semitic bandwagon? (/sarc tag off)

hat tip Philippe Karsenty

Palestinian Propaganda Coup
By NATAN
SHARANSKY

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Last month, a French court heard an appeals case whose
forthcoming verdict will have far-reaching ramifications for all who value truth
and accuracy in Middle East news reporting. The case involves Philippe Karsenty,
a French journalist and media commentator, who was found guilty of defamation
after he called for the firing of two France 2 Television journalists
responsible for the Sept. 30, 2000, news report on the alleged killing of a
12-year-old Palestinian boy, Mohammed al-Dura, by the Israel Defense Forces
(IDF).

It has been seven years since France 2 Television broadcast the
excruciating footage of Mohammed and his father Jamal crouching in terror behind
a barrel in Gaza’s Netzarim Junction while, according to the report, under
relentless fire from IDF soldiers. The 59-second clip, which ends with the boy
apparently shot dead, was presented around the world as an unambiguous case of
Israeli savagery.

The tape fanned the flames of what became known as the second
intifada. The boy Mohammed was the iconic martyr, his name and face
gracing streets, parks and postage stamps across the Arab world. His memory was
invoked by Osama bin Laden in a jihadist screed against America, and in the
ghastly video of the beheading of American Jewish journalist, Daniel Pearl.

Shortly following the al-Dura incident, however, a series of
inquiries cast grave doubt on the accuracy of the original France 2 report. The
official IDF investigation concluded that, based on the position of IDF forces
vis-à-vis the Duras, it was highly improbable, if not impossible, that an
Israeli bullet hit the boy. Research by the Atlantic Monthly, the New Republic
and Commentary magazine concurred. Then a German documentary revealed
inconsistencies and probable manipulations in the account of France 2’s lone
journalist on the scene that day, Palestinian cameraman Talal Abu Rahmeh.

And yet France 2 refused to release Abu Rahmeh’s full 27 minutes
of raw footage. It did, however, agree to let three prominent French journalists
view the footage. All three concluded that it comprised blatantly staged scenes
of Palestinians being shot by Israeli forces, and that France 2’s Jerusalem
Bureau Chief Charles Enderlin had lied to conceal that fact.

Subsequently, alleging gross malfeasance, Mr. Karsenty called for
the firings of Mr. Enderlin and France 2 News Director Arlette Chabot. But
France 2 stood defiant, suing Mr. Karsenty for defamation.

The defamation trial passed almost unnoticed in Israel, to the
apparent detriment of Mr. Karsenty’s case. In his ruling in favor of France 2,
judge Joël Boyer five times cited the absence of any official Israeli support
for Mr. Karsenty’s claims as indication of their speciousness.

Shame on the Israelis.

Israel’s decision to stay on the sidelines was unfortunate
because the truth always matters. The al-Dura incident wasn’t the only media
report to inflame passions against Israel in recent years, but it was the one
with the highest profile. Moreover, if, as Mr. Karsenty and others have claimed
persuasively, the al-Dura incident is part of the insidious trend in which
Western media outlets allow themselves to be manipulated by dishonest and
politically motivated sources (recall the Jenin "massacre" that never was, or
the doctored Reuters photos from Israel’s war against Hezbollah in 2006), then
France 2 must be held accountable.

It is important to note that the al-Dura news report profoundly
influenced Western public opinion. When I served in the Israeli government as
minister of Diaspora Affairs from 2003 to 2005, I traveled frequently to North
American college campuses. I heard first hand how Mohammed al-Dura had shaped
the perceptions of young people just beginning to follow events in the Middle
East. For many Jewish students, the incident was a stain of dishonor that called
into question their support for Israel. For anti-Israel students, the story
reaffirmed their sense of Zionism’s innately "racist" nature and became a tool
for recruiting campus peers to the cause.

To its credit, Israel has come to recognize that it must play an
active role in uncovering the truth. The IDF recently sent a letter to France 2
demanding the release of Talal Abu Rahmeh’s 27 minutes of raw footage, asserting
the implausibility of IDF guilt for the death of Mohammad al-Dura, and raising
the possibility that the entire affair may have been staged.

Tragically, there is no way to repair the damage inflicted on
Israel’s international image by the France 2 report, much less restore the
Israeli and Jewish victims whose lives were exacted as vengeance. It is
possible, however, to deter slanderous news reporting — and the violence that
often accompanies it — by setting a precedent for media accountability via the
handover of Talal Abu Rahmeh’s full 27 minutes of raw footage. Encouragingly,
the judge presiding over Mr. Karsenty’s appeal has now requested the tapes.
France 2 must make a full public disclosure. If there is nothing to hide, why
should it refuse?

Read it all.

The Truth Must be Told

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