"If You Repeat a Lie Often Enough, Paople Will Believe It" The Case of Muhammad al Durrah

Printer-friendly version PDF version Send to friend Change the text size

December 15, 2010 • Volume 28 • Winter 2011

By Randy Pinsky

The reputable France 2 News covered a story in 2000 that 'shocked the international community': a young Palestinian boy, hiding behind his father, being brutally shot by Israeli soldiers ... or was he? On October 13th, 2010, the Montreal community was honoured to meet Phillipe Karsenty, the man who exposed the story as being an "insidious instance of states-ponsored media propaganda". Hosted by Act! for Canada, Karsenty demonstrated how the 'murder' was, in fact, nothing but a staged hoax, and a poorly executed one at that.

This case has been exploited as being emblematic of Israel's aggressiveness, through murals, monuments and even stamps that depict the now famed image of the boy cowering near his father. In a brilliant demonstration of painstaking attention to detail, Karsenty unpacked the claims made in the al-Durrah case, starting with the main perpetrators. Karsenty's Dramatis Personae include Arab cameraman Talal Abu Rahma, who used and often abused the journalistic profession to "defend the Palestinian cause"; French journalist Charles Enderlin, who attempted to silence anyone trying to contest the footage; and the France 2
television station that screened the clip when other stations rejected it as "not looking real enough".

The al-Durrah case was not an isolated doctored-up event; other images filmed on that day demonstrate that it was part of a 'Pallywood' venture. From people jumping into ambulances only to be filmed "dead" minutes later, to a medical vehicle being in such a rush to carry off its "injured" that a "patient" tumbles Qut, the accuracy of these images is suspect, indeed. A scene depicts a boy being shot and loaded into a medical vehicle. When viewed at half speed, however, viewers see a young man turning away, smiling and clapping in victory; arguably, a strange reaction to trauma. Another case portrays a man clutching his right leg after
being allegedly shot, yet being loaded onto a stretcher on that very leg for the ambulance that arrives seconds before the actual shooting. Coincidence?

Possibly the most unbelievable scene in the footage was when the camera, panning the area, landed on Muhammad and his father, patiently waiting for their scene ....

The famous clip was deconstructed by Karsenty with the help of several scientists, ballistic experts and medical specialists, as well as close analysis of interviews of those involved. Mr. al-Durrah claimed that he and his son were shot more than twenty times, yet, curiously, there are only eight bullet holes depicted on the wall behind them. Ballistic experts confirmed that the angle and incompatible marks on the wall ruled out the possibility that it was Israeli bullets that fatally injured the pair. Moreover, despite this alleged onslaught, there is no blood on either father or son. Photographs taken of the father's wounds in the hospital show inconsistent blood marks seeping over the plaster cast on his arm, a very strange medical response to a bullet wound. In regards to Muhammad, despite being shot numerous times, he is similarly remarkably free of blood. When the entire clip is screened, it is miraculous to see the 'dead' boy peek under his raised arm and smile at the camera.

In response to articulated doubts, journalist Enderlin countered with photos of the boy in the morgue, to which a biometrical facial expert, engaged by Karsenty, concluded that the boy near the wall and the one in the morgue were not one and the same. Another inconsistency points to how, while the alleged shooting took place at two 0' clock in the afternoon, an interview with the receiving doctor at the Shifa Hospital indicated that the pair was admitted four hours earlier, at ten in the morning.

Despite incontestable and scientifically demonstrated evidence of such staging, few news reports have retracted their mistaken reporting of this case. In fact, French journalist Charles Enderlin is promoting
his latest book, A Child Was Killed, capitalizing on the international reluctance to believe Karsenty.

Wielding the facts as presented, this 'modern blood libel' must be resolved, once and for all, for what it is: a state-sponsored, media-reinforced hoax utilized to demonize Israel. May we all be inspired by Philippe Karsenty, a modern-day hero, who refused to remain passive in the face of media distortion.