French media analyst Philippe Karsenty was been convicted of defamation by a Paris court, for accusing France-2, a state television network, of staging the infamous video depicting the alleged killing of a young Arab boy in a firefight between Arab terrorists and Israeli forces in Gaza in 2000.
The footage 12 years ago became the core of an Arab and anti-Israeli campaign of lies against Israel. The footage was originally broadcast on Sept. 30, 2000, and was alleged to be showing the terrified boy, Mohammed al-Dura, and his father, amid a furious exchange of fire in the Gaza Strip. It then cut to the motionless boy slumped in his father’s lap. The report blamed Israeli forces for the death.
In May, 2013, an official Israeli government report declared that Mohammed al-Dura, the 12-year-old boy, whose image convinced the entire world that the IDF had killed him, not only did not die but also may never have been shot.
The revelation seemingly puts the final nail in the coffin of the “Al Dura news report” that was challenged by Karsenty, who charged that France 2 journalist Charles Enderlin created a media lie by broadcasting edited footage that alleged that the IDF killed the boy.
But on Wednesday, a French court fined Philippe Karsenty 7,000 euros in a defamation case filed by the television network.
Karsenty called the verdict “outrageous.” A lawyer for France-2 said it was a victory for journalists.