Muhammad al-Dura: Theater of the Absurd?
Schapira procured images from Mohammed al-Dura’s Gazan autopsy and hired German biometric facial imaging expert Kurt Kindermann to compare the autopsy, the funeral, and the France 2 images. Kindermann concluded that the boy at the funeral and in the morgue were most likely one and the same. They were not, however, the same boy seen crouching beside his father in the famous video sequence. “We tried to investigate if he died shortly after [the shooting], but the only proof was always the funeral scene,” Schapira said “It seemed to be clear that a boy was killed, but with this new evidence it is not clear anymore.”
Schapira presents these findings in her latest documentary along with an impossible timeline sequence: Mohammed al-Dura was shot at 2 p.m., but the Gaza morgue says he was brought in at 10 a.m. “I think it’s strong evidence that there is no proof that Mohammed al-Dura is dead,” Schapira concluded. “There’s no proof he’s alive but no proof either that he’s dead.”
But the issue of al-Dura’s mortality wasn’t the focal point in producing the latest piece. For Schapira, this was about the ongoing battle between viewers, the media, and truth. She said:
People view footage and believe they are eyewitnesses to an event when in fact they are not. I knew this before but never realized it so acutely until working on this documentary. The problem usually lies with a correspondent who didn’t see an event with his own eyes. Information is delivered by fixers at the spot who may not be free of their own political agenda, and we journalists report it but have no way of validating. And if the images fit a theory or idea we already have in our minds, they are the most dangerous of all because we don’t question them.
A hoax? The entire al-Dura event completely staged? I have a tough time with that. The footage is too grainy and the shot too long to see blood. I haven’t seen close-ups, but I don’t believe the expressions of terror seen on the faces of father and son could have been faked. And an awful lot of people would have had to have been in collusion to pull off that kind of hoax. I’ve spoken with journalists who were in Gaza the day after the incident, people who met with al-Dura family members and traveled to Jordan to speak with Jamal as he recovered in hospital from gunshot wounds. They don’t believe it’s a hoax.
Regardless, after talking with Esther I was troubled. So I telephoned Israeli journalist Adi Schwartz, who has covered al-Dura extensively. “Talk to me about the hoax theory; I’m struggling with it,” I said.
“Leave that aside and I’ll give you a different angle to think about,” Adi countered. “Usually in journalism and life, when a claim is brought forward, the burden of proof is on the claimant not the other way around. In the al-Dura story it is the other way around. Charles Enderlin and France 2 claimed the IDF killed a boy, but I interviewed Enderlin and he has no proof it’s true. His line is that Israel has killed a lot of children. It’s like if the sun comes up in the East, then the IDF kills children. That attitude is flawed. It’s been nine years and still there’s no absolute proof. And yet Enderlin stands firm. It’s flawed.”
The thing about “honor” is once you lose it, it is hard if not impossible to ever get it back. The Palestinians as a group operate without honor. Staged, exaggerated claims have been made before and after this incident. Consider the Jenin affair. The media showed film of a “dead” person being carted off from the streets in a stretcher during a flare up incident. After they got behind a building, the dead person jumped off the stretcher and started running with the rest of the group. It was caught on film by a helicopter far overhead (I think using night vision). I only saw it once. Funny that this was not displayed over and over again as the media tends to do with other types of events (like Al Dura). So, given this practice, the burden of proof should be that much greater on the Palestinians to prove up these events as factually true.
The Al-Dura blood libel had ONE goal, and that was to demonize Israel as a bloodthirsty state.
One absolutely must understand a basic premise-that when dealing with the Arab Middle East one is NOT dealing with western sensibilities. It is both dangerous and insane to foist our outlooks upon them.
The internalization of our different and diametrically opposed worldviews will allow us to understand how such blood libels occur Whenever the conflict needs to be amped up exponentially (for many & varied reasons) the best way to do so is for the Arabs to place themselves before the camera, not as the aggressors, but as the ‘victims’. The David vs Goliath thing…..
They have many tricks in their arsenal, one being the ever ready film crew, the ever ready ‘journalist’, ready, willing and able to spread libel against the despised Jews.
I know that many refuse to believe this, but the facts are irrefutable, as long as demonizing Jews is not ones end game.
I studied much of the information involved with this libel, and it is without a doubt one of the biggest hoaxes of our time.
Whoever said that the Jews were smarter than the Arabs were only looking at pure academics. But in the arena of PR, it is the Arabs who are the masters, no doubt about it.
The media makes it easy for the arabs to achieve their PR goals.
Personally I would like to see the remedy for this problem that is prescribed by the legal system – those media outlets who present these lies as facts should be sued for defamation/libel.
The whole thing was staged theirs even videos on youtube that show how they staged it and “off camera” footage of the events. How anyone can believe anything that comes from gaza or the west bank as fact is a joke…
The great thing about it is if they had pushed back in 2000 they would have gotten a dead kid as proof… freshly shoot by the propaganda arm to to everything they can to make the story legit.
Its best not to even talk about these “events” because it could endanger the actors(many times kids) of being shoot in order to “prove” that its legit. It would be better if the media would just refuse to cover anything about it(yeah I know thats completely unrealistic).
And yet Enderlin stands firm.
For his professional life, he has to, no?
Mike the MSM has lost their honor as well. Most are just lazy and incurious, some are outright liars. They all seem to casually shrug when their laziness and lies are exposed. No honor.
The day I saw the al-Dura tape, I pointed out to my wife that the bullet holes above the “victims” couldn’t have come form an Israeli weapon. They fire a 5,56 mm which is a suped up 22 caliber. Judging by the size of the holes, it looked very much like a thirty caliber weapon was used.
The AK47 shoots a 7.62mm which transilates to a 308 caliber, definitely a 30 caliber weapon. It didn’t suprise me later to hear that it was a hoax.
Re Old Soldier #6: I am afraid that Old Soldier gives far too much credit to the MSM by calling them lazy and liars to boot. Rather, I view their pernicious lying as caused by pernicious greed. Remember, reporters need to make a living and that means competing in literally a cut-throat world where the bloodier the story, the more copies sold. Journalism is just a business; no different than drug smuggling or prostitution or politics. There is unfortunately only a fine line between the licit and illict ends of a continuum for any profession: police and criminals, butchers of animals and butchers of people, idealists and violent revolutionaries. Any one can go astray in the manner of Enderlin. That Israelis died in the events following the al-Dhurra affair is merely collateral damage, fully acceptable to those at France 2 and elsewhere.
It was a fake!!! Those are the lies of the Palestinians.
All those lies are known as Pallywood.
just look at this video and you will understand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_B1H-1opys
This is not surprising from a people who claim proud of the industry of death they create:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTu-AUE9ycs
David
Great hyperlinks!
The entire Arab/Israeli thangie is down to propaganda. That is all the Muslims have left. They tried politics, when that didn’t work, they tried invasion and did even worse. Then they tried terrorism without any luck. Now they are trying propaganda. That won’t work either.
What makes me laugh is how stooooooooopid it all is. If the Muslims had just said on day one, “oh look, the jooooos are moving in” and ignored them, Israel today would be a strip mall with a deli on the road between Damascus and Cairo.
It was the Muslims trying to perform genocide on the jooos that made Israel what it is today.
Thanks Oscar
This link is even more relevant to this specific article:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syT3Ji7QoA8
Propaganda seems to be working for them pretty well – how many billions have been pledged to Hamas/Gaza?
Augean Stables has an in depth dossier of the entire affair http:
//www.theaugeanstables.com/al-durah-affair-the-dossier/
which is how I became aware of the non-sequiturs in the edited film used in the France 2 story (thanks to a Michelle Malkin link on Phillip Karsenty).
I followed the reports of both Karsenty trials and watched the unedited cuts of the film – the intentionally deceptive editing by Enderlin and France 2 is unforgiveable – how many people have died as a result of that (bogus) news story? It’s sickening.
This was a good article until the last few paragraphs. There is just such overwhelming evidence now that this scene was staged that only someone with eyes wide shut could still “struggle” with it (many of the posters cite good links that the author should have known about. Nidra Poller also wrote outstanding articles on this site about the case). As to the expressions of terror on the faces of the protagonists being genuine, come on. There are B movies where the actors do a more convincing job. Furthermore, the reason Ms. Fried does not believe it’s a hoax is not attributable to the ability of the actors, but rather , as Adina Kutnicki says above , that the Palestinians have succeeded in imposing their “always blame the Jews” lie as truth to an uncritical world.
It doesn’t matter. Israel has been tarred & feathered. This story will not be picked up and the journalist discredited. UNLESS we scream loud and clear.
Another point to make is the father having the child shield his back is most telling. If given the opportunity to “stage” an event, why wouldn’t the actors know to have the child cradled in his father’s arms in front of him with the double protection of the barrel and himself. Probably because it would be harder to use the child as propaganda.
To those who posted links: Thank you, I don’t understand why we have to see this from unconventional sources. Makes you go hmmmm…