There is evidence proving the AL-Dura event was staged for the cameras, Danny Seaman

Statement on the al-Durah affair by Danny Seaman, Director of the Israeli Government Press Office, to Guysen International News, from Augean Stables:

"In the very least France 2 is guilty of poor journalism. Charles Enderlin failed to meet the professional journalist’s minimum standard of verification, before accusing Israel of killing the boy a-Dura. There is enough independent evidence proving the A-Dura event was staged for the cameras.

The State of Israel has tremendous respect for the media. Many media organizations from the Arab world, not to mention Iran, work freely in Israel. Allowing them to work freely in Israel does not imply that we in anyway agree with there positions. Like every democracy, Israel provides absolute freedom to the press and does not remove press credentials from journalists very easily. This is especially true for journalists working for a respected organization like France 2. Enderlin is fully aware of this and hides behind it in an attempt to distract attention away from his obvious professional failure.

The fact that Charles Enderlin still has press credentials from the State of Israel attests to the strength, character and tolerance of Israel’s democracy, not the quality or integrity of Charles Enderlin’s report on that day. The question is not why he still has press credentials from the State of Israel but rather, why is he still employed by France 2?"


On the al-Dura affair:

Spotlight On L'affaire al-Dura, by Tom Gross, from Backspin.

The Daniel Pearl Standard, by Judea Pearl, from WSJ:

"At the time, it was not clear whether she [the Pakistani Consul] was trying to exonerate Pakistan from responsibility for Danny's murder, or to pass on the responsibility to European and Arab media for their persistent de-humanization of Jews, Americans and Israelis. The answer was unveiled in 2004, when a friend told me that photos of Muhammad Al Dura were used as background in the video tape of Danny's murder.

Al Dura, readers may recall, is the 12-year-old Palestinian boy who allegedly died from Israeli bullets in Gaza in September of 2001. As we now know, the whole scene is very likely to have been a fraud, choreographed by stringers and cameramen of France 2, the official news channel of France. France 2 aired the tape repeatedly and distributed it all over the world to anyone who needed an excuse to ratchet up anger or violence, among them Danny's killers.

The Pakistani Consul was right. The media cannot be totally exonerated from responsibility for Daniel's murder, as well as for the "tsunami of hate" that has swept the world and continues to rise."