Unraveling of a blood libel

Many people who follow the world events, especially the current war against Islamo-fascist ideology are familiar with the Muhammed Al-Dura controversy.  It was claimed that a 12 year old Palestinian boy was caught in a crossfire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian terrorists and killed.  The Islamists and their sympathizers in the West were quick to blame the Israelis for the death of the boy.  I personally thought that the poor boy and his father were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time and were caught in the crossfire.  However, slowly but surely the evidence were beginning to emerge first that the boy could not possibly have been hit by the fire from the Israeli position, and then that the whole thing was likely staged and nobody died.  France 2 television channel that reported the alleged shooting showed a very small portion of the raw footage they had - only 59 seconds.  Only 3 minutes were distributed to other news organizations.  French journalist Philippe Karsenty attempted to expose France 2 and was sued by the TV channel.  In one of the most biased court decisions he was convicted of libeling France 2.  Karsenty appealed the court ruling, and was granted a hearing.  The supporters of Philippe Karsenty created a petition demanding the release of 27 minutes of raw footage shot by France 2 Palestinian cameraman.  At the hearing France 2 showed 18 minutes of raw footage, out of 27 minutes that were shot.  While the questions remain about the 9 minutes that were not shown, it has been proven that, at the very least, nobody can say for sure whether the poor boy had been shot at all, much less that he had been shot by the Israelis.  Thus, this modern blood libel has begun unraveling.  I hope that at some point the whole 27 minutes of the raw footage will be released to the public.  For now, here are some impressions of the people who were in the court room.

Here is what Richard Landes had to say on the subject.

Here is what Melanie Phillips had to say on the subject.

Here is Nidra Poller's account of the proceedings, with Richard Landes' comments.

I can't really add much to it.

Update 11/22/07:

Here is an essay on the subject by Yaacov Ben Moshe.  And, on second thought, here is what I can add to everything already said on this subject: unlike the previous blood libels against Jews, this one was perpetrated by Charles Enderlin, himself a  Jew.  When the realization of this finally dawns on him, he will have to live with that.

Powered by Qumana