French reporter - child (al-Durra) not killed by Israelis

Get the whole sordid story of the Mohammed al-Durra affair.

The boy whose "death" helped fuel the stupidfada may not be dead at all. Did I mention the French were involved?

Claiming they didn't want to make money on an innocent child's death, France 2 distributed the dramatic coverage free of charge to the global media. The Israeli army hastily issued a statement saying that the boy may have accidentally been killed in Israeli cross-fire. Only later, maybe too late, did the army authorize a full investigation. It entrusted this mission to civilian physicist Nahum Shahaf, who scientifically proved that -- given the angle of the Israeli position vis-a-vis Mohammed al-Durra -- the soldiers could not have possibly killed the boy. Mr. Shahaf then uncovered an incredible plot: He demonstrated that since the shots must have come from directly behind or next to the cameraman, the whole scene of the supposed infanticide must have been staged -- and that the boy seen in the film was not killed at all. Going through the film in slow motion, he could even see the cameraman's finger making a "take two" sign, used by professionals to signal the repeat of a scene.

So the whole thing was staged? How could that be? One of the reporters stated under oath that the boy was killed. One of only dozens of reporters at the scene who could confirm the boy was dead.

On that Friday, Mr. Rosenzweig, together with Denis Jeambar, editor-in-chief of L'Express, and Daniel Leconte, a former France 2 reporter, was admitted into the office of Arlette Chabot, the head of France 2's news department. Our friend delivered the sentence we had rehearsed so many times: "I came to watch the 27 minutes of the incident mentioned in Mr. Abu Rahma's statement under oath."

A legal clerk for France 2 told Mr. Rosenzweig and his colleagues that they "will be disappointed." "Didn't you know ?" added Didier Epelbaum, an adviser to the president of France Television (the department presiding over all French state-operated TV networks) "that Talal has retracted his testimony?"

So the statement about the boy's death, which is the only definitive proof of death has been retracted? That is interesting.

....how is it possible that France 2 still stands by this story even though it knows it was filmed by someone who gave a false testimony and who, by retracting this testimony, effectively eliminated the whole basis of the report? For four years, France 2 has been holding the "27-minute footage," pretending it contained crucial evidence, knowing full well though that both of their journalists simply lied. France 2 must be held responsible for this manipulation, first for issuing this fabrication and then for not coming clean.

Well, read the whole thing. There is much more evidence. It makes France look bad and the Palestinians worse. Make my day.