An old tactic, with new accomplices

The blood libel has been used as an excuse to kill Jews for thousands of years. Some things have changed, but this has not. One of the most enduring lies about the start of the 2000 intifada revolves around the supposed death of a 12-year old boy, Muhammad al-Dura, at the hands of Israeli soldiers. The lie still motivates terrorists who try to murder Jews, such as Wafa Samir al-Bis, who was caught trying to blow up the hospital that was treating her.

It isn't very surprising or shocking that the terrorists, who aim to kill the innocent, engage in lies. What should be shocking is that the supposed impartial observers, the international press agencies, are actually complicit in these lies and deceptions. (I say "should be" because it isn't: nothing the main stream media stoops to shocks me anymore.)

In writing the Commentary magazine article Myth, Fact, and the al-Dura Affair Nidra Poller viewed the raw footage taken at the time of the alleged shooting by the cameramen of Reuters, AP, and France-2. The last-named, of course, is the channel that distributed to the world, free, the item that ignited a firestorm of controversy. Not only does the raw footage provide no support for (in fact in many cases it contradicts) the story of the shooting; it also exposes the cynical complicity of these "journalists" in the terrorist fabrications:

The Reuters, AP, and France-2 outtakes that I viewed show two totally different and easily identifiable types of activity at Netzarim junction: real, intifada-style attacks, and crudely falsified battle scenes. Both the real and the fake scenes are played out against a background of normal civilian activity at a busy crossroads. In the “reality” zone, excited children and angry young men hurl rocks and Molotov cocktails at the Israeli outpost while shababs (“youths”) standing on the roof of the Twins throw burning tires down onto the caged lookout; this goes on seemingly for hours, without provoking the slightest military reaction from Israeli soldiers.

At the same time, in the “theatrical” zone, Palestinian stringers sporting prestigious logos on their vests and cameras are seen filming battle scenes staged behind the abandoned factory, well out of range of Israeli gunfire. The “wounded” sail through the air like modern dancers and then suddenly collapse. Cameramen jockey with hysterical youths who pounce on the “casualties,” pushing and shoving, howling Allahu akhbar!, clumsily grabbing the “injured,” pushing away the rare ambulance attendant in a pale green polyester jacket in order to shove, twist, haul, and dump the “victims” into UN and Red Crescent ambulances that pull up on a second’s notice and career back down the road again, sirens screaming. In one shot we recognize Talal Abu Rahmeh in his France-2 vest, filming a staged casualty scene.

Charming.