DR. YEHUDA DAVID GLAD THAT REPORT REFUTING AL-DURA HOAX PUBLISHED

Dr. Yehuda David, who was sued by the father of Mohammed al-Dura for letting everyone know he'd given him medical treatment for which he was only thanked with spite, is satisfied with the Israeli government's report confirming that the video was a hoax:

Dr. Yehuda David, who was sued for libel by the father of Muhammad al-Dura – and eventually won his case – expressed great satisfaction at the issuing of a report by a special report by a government panel that revisited the infamous incident, in which IDF soldiers were accused of killing the 12 year old Arab boy at the start of the second intifada. The committee determined that not only were the allegations – and a report by French television purporting to show IDF soldiers shooting and killing the boy – a lie, but that the al-Dura is not even dead.

According to David, the whole incident stinks of a coverup – and the evidence that shows that not only was al-Dura not killed, but that the entire story was a hoax, perpetrated with the assistance of a French television station, is there for all to see. [...]

David, a physician at Tel Hashomer hospital near Tel Aviv, entered the al-Dura fray on December 13, 2007 when he told Israel's Channel 10 that he had treated Jamal in 1994 for knife and axe wounds to his arms and legs sustained during an Arab gang attack. David said the scars Jamal claimed as bullet wounds from the 2000 incident were actually scars from a tendon repair operation that David performed in 1994, leading Jamal to sue him for libel. He was initially convicted of a charge, but that decision was overturned by the French Supreme Court in February 2012. The decision was widely seen as a national victory for Israel.

The new report also questions whether or not the younger al-Dura was even killed. The fact that he was still alive at the end of the French television video, after the gunfire had stopped, could mean that the boy is alive even now. “Since this issue was first raised there have been many contradictions and cold trails, based on the story the French television company told. There are many unanswered questions about many aspects of this incident,” the committee said.

According to David, the answer to this question is clear, and is supported by evidence. “We know that a child whose name is Mohammed al-Dura was taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza at 9 AM,” David told Arutz Sheva, relying on publicly released information. “We know that the event in which it was claimed that the child was killed actually only began at 3 in the afternoon. So how is it possible that there was a dead child at 9 AM, and they want us to believe that it is the same child who was shot by Israeli soldiers at 3:00?”

So who was the child in the famous video? Most likely a brother of Mohammed, David said. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest this already, David said: According to the results of an investigation by a German group, for example, the shape of the skull of the buried child was different than the shape of the skull of the child seen in the video. The real identity of the child could be confirmed by disinterring him. David is willing to bet that the child will turn out to be the “real” Mohammed al-Dura, the one who died in Shifa Hospital in the morning, as opposed to the “fake” one – the one seen in the video, who is alive and well.

David said that it was regrettable that it had taken the state so long to take a definitive stance on the hoax. “Now we know that Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli government acknowledge the truth – that Jamal al-Dura is a liar, and that all the information supplied by France 2 during the event on Septerm 30, 2000, is a hoax. This has caused a tremendous sacrifice of Israeli lives, because it was the beginning of the second intifada, which led to the loss of 2,500 Israeli lives,” he said, including the victims of the 2012 attack by a Muslim fanatic on a Jewish school in Toulouse, France, who specifically said he was “avenging” the death of al-Dura.

Could it be? A sibling was seen in the video?

The reason it took so long can also be blamed on Ehud Olmert, who made no effort on his part to combat this when he was prime minister. Enderlin owes an apology for his cowardly suits against Phillipe Karsenty and failing to admit he's capable of making mistakes, and should be thrown out of journalism altogether.

Update: Shurat HaDin is calling for Enderlin's press credentials to be revoked:

"Criminal charges should be filed, and Charles Enderlin should never be allowed to practice journalism in Israel again,” asserted Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center, in response to a report released Sunday by the Israeli government, which found France 2's claims that IDF troops killed Mohammed al-Dura in 2000 as baseless.

“The fact the al-Dura story has turned out to be a hoax should cause us to take action against those who invented and spread this staged fable. Israel's Government Press Office should also revoke France 2's credentials," she said. [...]

"The French network ignited a still-burning torch of hatred against Israel, with images of al-Dura still being presented in anti-Israel protests in Iran, the Arab world and in Western Europe. Those who are responsible must bear the consequences of their actions in order to avoid the repetition of incidents like this and, moreover, to stop this blood libel once and for all," she added.

Those responsible must take it and confess to what they knew, and acknowledge their capability of making mistakes.