J 'accuse: Mohammed Al-Dura hoax : AZ IMC

Philippe Karsenty is not sure exactly when he snapped. He does recall a certain morning in Paris when one of the employees in his software firm walked into his office, and, instead of talking business, brought up something rather unexpected: "What did you do yesterday in Gaza? When will you Jews stop murdering Arab children?" the employee asked.
It was the day after the shot heard around the world -- one of the many shots that rang on Sept. 30, 2000, at the beginning of the second intifada, the day those "brutal Israeli occupiers" allegedly killed a young Palestinian boy named Mohammad al Dura
as he crouched for cover near his panicked father.

Within hours, virtually every television station in the world
had played and replayed the now-famous tape of that tragic scene. I remember being confronted myself by one of my closest friends, an assimilated Jew who knew I was a supporter of Israel, and who was quite shaken by what he had just seen on the evening news. There wasn't much I could say, because I, too, was
pretty shaken after watching the same images.

It was a low point for Israel, and for her supporters.

For the next few months and years, the picture of the crouching, dying boy unleashed a global wave of resentment against Israel and became the icon par excellence to incite further terrorist
violence against Jews and the Jewish state. To this day, the Al Dura image continues to proliferate throughout the Muslim world, in everything from postage stamps, billboards and T-shirts to
memorials, films and television shows.

For the Palestinians, it has been a PR bonanza -- the money shot that says it all in one second: helpless victim of violent oppressor.

The only problem is, there's compelling evidence that it's all a hoax.

Beyond the stuff I've read over the years (most notably, an
exposé by James Fallows in the Atlantic Monthly), I've recently
seen evidence with my own eyes. I saw, for example, footage that
was kept out of the original news clip, which shows the "dead"
boy lifting his hand from his face, almost as if to say: "Can I
get up now, or are you still filming?"

I also saw footage, taken during those infamous 45 minutes when
Israeli soldiers were said to be shooting, that shows the
impossibility of the angle between where the Israelis were
stationed and the boy and his father. At the same time, I saw a
Palestinian "director" staging two scenes of "wounded"
Palestinians being carried off to ambulances, with one of the
participants applauding after a scene was completed.

I saw close-ups that showed there were no gunshot wounds to the
father or the kid -- during the time they both appeared dead and
immobile -- with the only "red stuff" being on a rag that
appeared to be a prop. I saw a camera tripod conveniently placed
a few feet from the crouching boy. In short, I saw overwhelming
evidence that the whole thing was staged; but perhaps the most
chilling thing was the edited French newscast that cobbled
together all these staged scenes, creating the impression that
the Israelis killed a helpless child.

All this was shown to me by a French gentleman named Philippe
Karsenty.

More than 100 years after another Frenchman named Emile Zola
wrote the famous "J'Accuse!" (I Accuse!) declaration of
anti-Semitism by French officials in the Dreyfus Affair,
Karsenty has been fighting an uphill battle for the last five
years to expose what he calls a "slander against the Jewish
nation."

As he was enjoying some Parisian-style French fries the other
day at Shilo's while on a short visit to America, Karsenty's
passion on this subject could not be contained. He didn't wait
to finish his fries before he pulled out his laptop to show me
the evidence. This is the same evidence that is now being shown
in his ongoing trial in France against the French television
station that sued him for libel a couple of years ago -- and
won.

But after they turned the tables on him, he is turning the
tables on them.

Through his appeal, which began last month, the evidence of a
hoax has been gushing out, and the number of his supporters,
even among the anti-Israel intelligentsia in Europe, is growing.
It helps that his accusers in court have been anything but
forthcoming, producing, for example, 18 minutes of original
footage instead of the 27 the cameraman swore he shot.

Karsenty, a Sephardic Jew and Internet entrepreneur, thinks he
lost the first trial because the president of France at the
time, Jacques Chirac, sent a personal letter in support of his
opponent. But now, with the next hearing coming up in Paris on
Feb. 27 and more evidence coming out, the momentum is shifting
to Karsenty's side. (One sure sign of momentum is that he's
already stimulating interest from Hollywood to turn his crusade
into an "Erin Brockovich"- type movie.)

Karsenty is clearly an ambitious man, and his ambition is fueled
by outrage.

Outrage at the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish bias in Europe and in
his home country of France, where he says he was maligned as a
"conspiracy nut," and where Israel is usually "guilty until
proven innocent." Outrage at the anti-Semitism that was awakened
by the Al Dura global "PR campaign." Outrage at the general
incompetence and timidity of the Israeli diplomatic corps, who
rarely publicly confront the lies against their country.

And, finally, outrage at the Jewish groups who jump to
scrutinize and criticize Israel over every roadblock and
outpost, but who have remained remarkably quiet over this
Palestinian deception that has contributed to so much violence
against Jews.

Ironically, he's not especially outraged at the Palestinian
deceivers. As he says, calmly: "They lie. That's what they're
taught to do. That's how they fight."

Karsenty would rather fight with the truth.

He's hoping the words Zola wrote a century ago will still apply
today: Truth is on the march and nothing can stop it.
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of israelinsider.