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How French TV Fudged the Death of Mohammed Al-Durah

[New Republic] Richard Landes - On September 30, 2000, images of 12-year-old Mohammed al-Durah and his father - cowering behind a barrel at Netzarim Junction in Gaza - circulated globally, along with a claim that they had been the targeted victims of Israeli fire. Indignant observers dismissed any Israeli attempt to deny responsibility. Palestinians and anti-Zionists, insisting that Israel killed the boy on purpose, used al-Durah as the first blood libel of the twenty-first century. Within a week, crowds the world over shouted: "We want Jewish blood!" and "Death to the Jews!" Raw footage from that day reveals pervasive staging; no evidence of Israeli fire directed at the barrel, much less of Israelis targeting the pair; given the angles, the Israelis could scarcely have hit the pair at all; there was no sign of blood on the ground where the father and son reportedly bled for 20 minutes; and none of the dozen cameraman present filmed anything that could substantiate the claim that the father and son had been hit, much less that the Israelis had targeted them. The raw footage features a long succession of obviously faked injuries. One fellow grabbed his leg in agony, then, upon seeing that no one would come to carry him away, walked away without a limp. It was stunning. That was no cameraman's conspiracy: It was everyone - a public secret about which news consumers had no clue. Two documentaries - one German, one French - sparked a demonstration in Paris outside the France2 offices by citizens outraged to discover that so horrendous an image may well have been a fake. Now, four years later, the lawsuits over the event are finally coming to trial in Paris. The writer is a medieval history professor at Boston University.
2006-10-18 01:00:00
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