French Jewish media analyst Philippe Karsenty was convicted of defamation by a Paris court on Wednesday over his claim that Charles Enderlin, a reporter for French television station France-2, doctored footage of the killing of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Dura in Gaza in 2000. The court fined Karsenty 7,000 euros ($9,120).
"This is an outrageous decision," said Karsenty, who has claimed that the report was staged from beginning to end and that the French channel had engaged in manipulation.
The footage galvanized anti-Israeli sentiment more than a decade ago and shaped perspectives of the Middle East conflict during the second Palestinian uprising. The al-Dura case has long stirred emotions in Israel, tapping into a larger sense of the Jewish state being victimized in the media.
The footage, broadcast on Sept. 30, 2000, showed the terrified boy, Muhammad 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.
Over the past decade, Karsenty has amassed hours of video about the day of the shooting. At the heart of his claim is that according to the reporting by France-2, father and son received a total of 15 high-velocity bullets but in the video, neither appears to be bleeding. He says the firefight was real, but the shooting of the man and boy was staged for the camera.
"I am serene because I know the truth will come out," Karsenty said. "Despite 15 bullets not one drop of blood was on their clothes, their bodies, the wall they were leaning against."
Karsenty was convicted of defamation in 2006. This conviction was later overturned by an appeals court. Wednesday's verdict overturns the appeals court decision.
In May, an official Israeli government review of the incident exonerated the Israel Defense Forces of killing the boy, stating that the France-2 footage was misleading, provided no evidence and was part of a smear campaign against the Jewish state.
Benedicte Amblard, a lawyer for France-2, said the verdict would allow journalists to retain confidence in their work.
France-2 Jerusalem correspondent Charles Enderlin said he and France-2 parent company France Televisions welcomed Wednesday's decision.
"Today's result is a relief," he said, but added it did not put the matter to rest. Enderlin, a French-Israeli national, said conspiracy theorists continue to hound him over the incident. He said despite years of litigation and Israeli officials accusing him of fabrication, he welcomed an investigation.
"We are ready whenever Israel wants to go for a professional investigation following international standards," he told The Associated Press.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said he had no comment on a case, explaining that it was a matter of intricate French defamation law. He said, however, that the Israeli position on the al-Dura case remains unchanged.
"It is improbable, not to say impossible, that the bullets which hit Jamal and Muhammad al-Dura came from the Israeli position," he said. "Where they did come from remains subject to many hypotheses, though none can be proved."
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