Israeli group claims Palestinian boy’s death is fiction
November 21, 2004
On September 30, 2000, a small Palestinian boy was killed in front of television cameras. Millions of people around the globe watched Mohamed Al Durra’s last moments of absolute terror, as a bullet (assumed – even by most Israelis - to be an Israeli bullet) finished his misery and he slumped to his death in his father’s arms, who fainted from the pain of his own wounds.
(While Israel never officially admitted responsibility, Israeli General Moshe Yaalon recognized on October 2, 2000 that his men could have been responsible. Of course, the IDF quickly and conveniently destroyed the evidence, razing the wall where father and son had sought shelter, and where bullets had been incrusted.)
Not so, says Israel-based Metula News Agency, which had the nerve to claim that the whole incident was a staged production of French television channel France 2, and of its respected Middle East correspondent Charles Enderlin. Metula, in collaboration with French journalist Luc Rosenzweig, cast doubt on every aspect of this tragedy, even questioning whether Mohamed is really the child who was buried, and implying that his father, Jamal, was a dealer who could have been wounded before.
These vile accusations should not have been dignified with a response, but France 2 has been defending itself. During a press conference, Anne Chabot, director of information, even broadcast the footage of the incident made by Reuters, which was shot from a different angle but showed the exact same tragedy. France 2 even sent a cameraman a month ago to film Jalal Al Durra, who showed his wounds on camera as he showed his ID. It even showed a comparison between the photos of Mohamed taken at the morgue, and shots of Mohamed before he died.
It is to these levels that pro-Israeli groups and individuals have stooped. In fact, at the time of these events, members of France’s Jewish community had accused France 2 of broadcasting “Palestinian propaganda.”
For those who understand French, Le Monde has the full story with many other details.
