France: On this day: Al-Dura and the advent of Pallywood

Charles Enderlin, who is Jewish, has become a hero in France and was awarded the Legion of Honour in 2009, the highest decoration in France, by Nicolas Sarkozy.

Honest Reporting remembers:

It’s hard to believe that it is 15 years to the day since the image of 12-year-old Gazan Mohammed al-Dura crouching next to his father behind a barrel, caught in the crossfire, became the defining image of the Second Intifada.

Israel was accused of killing al-Dura based on the heavily edited footage of a Palestinian cameraman working for France 2 TV and its reporter Charles Enderlin.

But what really happened? Our video below is as relevant today as it was when we first posted it in 2008. It chronicles the beginning of “Pallywood” – Palestinian efforts to stage false footage for broadcast in the mainstream news.

It’s hard to miss the similarities between false footage that’s shown being filmed in 2000 as the Second Intifada was getting started and what has since occurred on numerous occasions including Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

In the years following this video, more investigation has been carried out at the initiation of the Israeli government which published a detailed report in May 2013, which can be read or downloaded in full below.
The France 2 Al-Durrah Report Its Consequences and Implications by HonestReporting.