Philippe Karsenty on the Mohammed Al Dura Hoax

In the wake of his victory in the French Appeals Court where he was vindicated of defamation charges against French public television, Philippe Karsenty speaks out in Middle East Quarterly about the Mohammed Al Dura hoax.

On what happened to Mohammed Al Dura:

MEQ: There are different theories about the fate of Muhammad al-Dura. Some say he was killed by the Palestinians, and others say he is alive at the end of the tape but are not clear if he is alive now. What is your version of the incident?

Karsenty: We shouldn’t talk about theories but about facts and evidence. At the end of the France 2 film, the boy is not dead. He is raising his elbow and looking at the cameraman. These images are available on Richard Landes’ website and on Youtube. If you look at the images, you will see that the boy is clearly not dead. There are no bullet wounds or blood. Those images were never broadcast in France, but they were shown in England on the BBC and in Arab countries. What amazes me is that nobody said, “Wait a minute. There is a problem here.” It doesn’t make sense. In a news report done one year after his son’s alleged death, Dura’s father says the first bullet hit his son on the right knee, but the tape shows not a single drop of blood there; it is ridiculous. Nothing makes sense in his version, but nobody wanted to look at the images.

On the importance of exposing the lies about Al Dura:

MEQ: After the lower court ruled against you—in part because the Israeli government did not come to your defense—the IDF wrote to Charles Enderlin requesting that he hand over the footage and saying that the court’s statement was not an accurate reflection of the IDF position, and that they wanted to see the tapes.[15] Was this a reaction to the court’s decision or a 180-degree shift in Israel’s public relations position?

Karsenty: We had been working desperately to get this letter from the IDF.

MEQ: What contributed to the change in Israeli governmental policy towards you?

Karsenty: When the government was fighting such a difficult campaign on the ground, it just wanted to put the Muhammad al-Dura affair behind it. But lies endure. If the good name of Israel is besmirched in this case, it will haunt the country for generations. Note that millions of people continue to believe in the anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Muhammad al-Dura postage stamps already exist in Tunisia, Egypt, Iran, and Jordan. Squares in Morocco and Mali and streets in many cities are named for Dura. Daniel Pearl was beheaded with the image of Muhammad al-Dura behind him. We need to expose the Dura hoax now so our children needn’t suffer for this lie.