Mick Hartley

The Israeli Defence Force have finally broken their silence on the Mohammed al-Dura affair, asking for the full unedited film to be made available by France 2 TV:

On September 10, the deputy commander of the IDF’s Spokesman’s Office, Col. Shlomi Am-Shalom, submitted a letter to the France 2 television network’s permanent correspondent in Israel, Charles Enderlin, regarding Enderlin’s story from September 30, 2000, in which he televised 55 seconds of edited footage from the Netzarim junction in the central Gaza Strip purporting to show IDF forces shooting and killing 12-year-old Muhammad al-Dura.

After its exclusive broadcast that day, France 2 offered the edited film free of charge to all media outlets. The footage, and the story of the purported IDF killing of al-Dura, was quickly rebroadcast around the world.

Within days, al-Dura became a symbol of the Palestinian war against Israel. His name has been repeatedly invoked by terrorists and their supporters as a justification for killing Israelis, Jews and their Western supporters.

In his letter, Am-Shalom asked for the entire unedited 27-minute film that was shot by France 2’s Palestinian cameraman Talal Abu-Rahma that day, as well as the footage filmed by Abu-Rahma on October 1, 2000. Am-Shalom requested that the broadcast-quality films be sent to his office no later than September 15. France 2 has yet to hand over the requested film.

The IDF’s move came against the backdrop of French media watchdog Philippe Karsenty’s legal battle with France 2 regarding the network’s coverage of the al-Dura affair. […]

In the past, the IDF shied away from taking a strong public position on the al-Dura affair. At the time of the incident, then-chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz and then-prime minister and defense minister Ehud Barak did not openly support Samia’s inquiry or its findings.

As late as June 23, 2006, then-IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Miri Regev told Haaretz, “I cannot determine whether the IDF is or is not responsible for the killing of al-Dura.”

In the aftermath of Karsenty’s civil trial last year, the IDF came under considerable criticism both in Israel and from Jewish groups abroad for its silence on the issue.

While the IDF maintained official silence, independent probes by various foreign media organizations and Internet activists over the past several years have called the veracity of the France 2 report into serious question.

Those investigations demonstrated that purported IDF “attacks” against Palestinian civilians were being openly staged by Palestinian cameramen and locals at the Netzarim junction throughout the day of the alleged shooting of al-Dura.

If you don’t mind Melanie Phillips’ trademark style too much (“a case which encapsulates all that is most rotten and murderous about the media war against Israel and its truly monstrous consequences”) she has a good summary of the affair here, and an update here.