View source for Biography:Muhammad al-Durrah incident

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{{Infobox event
|image= AlDurrah1.jpg
|image_size=300px
|caption= Muhammad and Jamal al-Durrah filmed by Talal Abu Rahma for France 2
|date={{Start date and age|2000|09|30|df=yes}}
|time= c. 15:00 hours Israel Summer Time (noon GMT)
|place= Netzarim junction, Gaza Strip
|coordinates= {{coord|31.465129|N|34.426689|E|type:landmark}}
|first reporter= Charles Enderlin for France 2
|filmed by= Talal Abu Rahma
|casualties1=Reported deaths: Muhammad al-Durrah; Bassam al-Bilbeisi, ambulance driver
|casualties2=Multiple gunshot wounds: Jamal al-Durrah
|awards=Rory Peck Award in 2001 for Talal Abu Rahma<ref name=Peck2001/>
|url= Charles Enderlin, [http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbl5r2_le-reportage-de-charles-enderlin-ob_news "La mort de Mohammed al Dura"], France 2, 30 September 2000 ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arRgkXDLwlM raw footage]; [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75hiDGp89Xk disputed section])}}
The '''Muhammad al-Durrah incident''' took place in the Gaza Strip on 30 September 2000, on the second day of the Second Intifada, during widespread protests and riots throughout the [[Place:Palestinian territories|Palestinian territories]] against Israel's military occupation. Jamal al-Durrah and his 12-year-old son, Muhammad, were filmed by Talal Abu Rahma, a Palestinian cameraman freelancing for France 2, as they were caught in crossfire between the Israeli military and Palestinian security forces. The footage shows the pair crouching behind a concrete cylinder, the boy crying and the father waving, then a burst of gunfire and dust. Muhammad is shown slumping as he is mortally wounded by gunfire, dying soon after.<ref name=Haaretz16May2007>[http://www.haaretz.com/news/french-court-examines-footage-of-mohammad-al-dura-s-death-1.233240 "French court examines footage of Mohammad al-Dura's death"], ''Haaretz'', 16 May 2007.</ref>

Fifty-nine seconds of the footage were broadcast in France with a voiceover from Charles Enderlin, the station's bureau chief in Israel. Based on information from the cameraman, Enderlin told viewers that the al-Durrahs had been the target of fire from the Israeli positions and that the boy had died.<ref name=EnderlinJan2005/><ref name=Moutet2008>Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, [http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/284xawsb.asp?pg=1 "L'Affaire Enderlin"], ''The Weekly Standard'', 7&nbsp;July 2008.</ref> After an emotional public funeral, Muhammad was hailed throughout the Muslim world as a [[Religion:Shahid|martyr]].<ref name=Cook2007pp155-156>David Cook, ''Martyrdom in Islam'', Cambridge University Press, 2007, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KgVlKiXzodcC&pg=PA155 155–156].</ref>

The Israel Defense Forces accepted responsibility for the shooting at first but later retracted.<ref name=BBC3Oct2000>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/954703.stm "Israel 'sorry' for killing boy"], BBC News, 3&nbsp;October 2000.</ref><ref name=Seaman2008/> Enderlin and his filmed report came under attacks by pro-Israel commentators who have since questioned the accuracy of France&nbsp;2's footage. French journalists who saw the raw footage say that France&nbsp;2 had cut a final few seconds in which Muhammad appeared to lift his hand from his face; they acknowledged that Muhammad had died, but said the footage alone did not show it. France&nbsp;2's news editor said in 2005 that no one could be sure who fired the shots.<ref name=Carvajal7Feb2005>Doreen Carvajal, [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/07/business/worldbusiness/photo-of-palestinian-boy-kindles-debate-in-france.html "Photo of Palestinian Boy Kindles Debate in France"], ''The New York Times'', 7&nbsp;February 2005.</ref> Other commentators, particularly Philippe Karsenty, a French media commentator, went further, alleging that the scene had been staged by France 2; France&nbsp;2 sued him for libel and in 2013 he was fined €7,000 by the [[Social:Court of Appeal of Paris|Court of Appeal of Paris]].<ref name=AP26June2013>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/26/france-2-palestinian-boy-footage "Media analyst convicted over France-2 Palestinian boy footage"], Associated Press, 26 June 2013.</ref> In May that year an Israeli government report supported Karsenty's view.<ref name=Mackey20May2013/> Jamal al-Durrah and Charles Enderlin rejected its conclusion and called for an independent international investigation.<ref name=Koury29May2013>Jack Koury, [http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/mohammed-al-dura-s-father-calls-for-international-probe-into-whether-idf-killed-his-son.premium-1.524939 "Mohammed al-Dura's Father Calls for International Probe Into Whether IDF Killed His Son"], ''Haaretz'', 20 May 2013.</ref><ref name=Sherwood20May2013/>

The footage of the father and son acquired what one writer called the power of a battle flag.<ref name=Carvajal7Feb2005/> Postage stamps in the Middle East carried the images. Abu Rahma's coverage of the al-Durrah shooting brought him several journalism awards, including the Rory Peck Award in 2001.

==Background==
[[File:Temple Mount view 1.jpg|left|thumb|Temple Mount]]
On 28 September 2000, two days before the shooting, the Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, a holy site in both Judaism and Islam with contested rules of access. The violence that followed had its roots in several events, but the visit was provocative and triggered protests that escalated into rioting across the West Bank and Gaza Strip.<ref name=Beckerman3Oct2007>Gal Beckerman, [http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/the_unpeaceful_rest_of_mohamme.php?page=all "The Unpeaceful Rest of Mohammed Al-Dura"], ''Columbia Journalism Review'', 3&nbsp;October 2007.</ref><ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9502E4DA1E3AF93BA1575AC0A9669C8B63 "Palestinians And Israelis In a Clash At Holy Site"], ''The New York Times'', 28 September 2000.</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/949760.stm "Violence engulfs West Bank and Gaza"], BBC News, 30 September 2000.</ref>{{refn|group=n|The May 2001 Mitchell Report into what caused the violence concluded: "[W]e have no basis on which to conclude that there was a deliberate plan by the PA [Palestinian Authority] to initiate a campaign of violence at the first opportunity; or to conclude that there was a deliberate plan by the GOI [Government of Israel] to respond with lethal force&nbsp;... The Sharon visit did not cause the 'Al-Aqsa Intifada'. But it was poorly timed and the provocative effect should have been foreseen&nbsp;..."<ref>[http://www.nodo50.org/csca/english/informe_mitchel_5-01-eng.html Report on the start of the Second Intifada], Mitchell Report, 2001.</ref>}} The uprising became known as the Second Intifada; it lasted over four years and cost around 4,000 lives, over 3,000 of them Palestinian.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3694350.stm "Intifada toll 2000-2005"], BBC News, 8&nbsp;February 2005.</ref>

The Netzarim junction, where the shooting took place, is known locally as the ''al-Shohada'' (martyrs') junction. It lies on Saladin Road, a few kilometres south of Gaza City. The source of conflict at the junction was the nearby Netzarim settlement, where 60 Israeli families lived until Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. A military escort accompanied the settlers whenever they left or arrived at the settlement,<ref name=CNN27Sept2000/> and an Israeli military outpost, Magen-3, guarded the approach. The area had been the scene of violent incidents in the days before the shooting.<ref name=CNN27Sept2000>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060523071205/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/09/27/israel.attack.ap/index.html "Israeli settler convoy bombed in Gaza, three injured"], CNN, 27 September 2000.</ref><ref name=Goldenberg3Oct2000>Suzanne Goldenberg, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/oct/03/israel6 "Making of a martyr"], ''The Guardian'', 3&nbsp;October 2000.</ref>

==People==

===Jamal and Muhammad al-Durrah===
[[File:Netzarim junction map.png|thumb|Netzarim junction and the nearby Bureij refugee camp and Netzarim settlement]]
Jamal al-Durrah (born c. 1963) was a carpenter and house painter before the shooting.<ref name=ScharyMotro2000/> Since then, because of his injuries, he has worked as a truck driver.<ref name=Shams2May2012>Doha Shams, [http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/6908/ "Still Seeking Justice for Muhammad al-Durrah"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513042122/http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/6908/ |date=2012-05-13 }}, ''Al-Akhbar'', 2&nbsp;May 2012.</ref> He and his wife, Amal, live in the UNRWA-run Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. As of 2013 they had four daughters and six sons, including a boy, Muhammad, born two years after the shooting.<ref name=Shams2May2012/><ref>Hazem Balousha, [http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/muhammad-durrah-israel-palestine-intifada.html "Durrah's Father: My Son Is Dead"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531173057/http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/muhammad-durrah-israel-palestine-intifada.html |date=2016-05-31 }}, ''Al-Monitor'', 22 May 2013.</ref>

Until the shooting, Jamal had worked for Moshe Tamam, an Israeli contractor, for 20 years, since he was 14. Writer Helen Schary Motro came to know Jamal when she employed him to help build her house in Tel Aviv. She described his years of rising at 3:30&nbsp;am to catch the bus to the border crossing at four, then a second bus out of Gaza so he could be at work by six. Tamam called him a "terrific man," someone he trusted to work alone in his customers' homes.<ref name=ScharyMotro2000>Helen Schary Motro, [http://www.salon.com/2000/10/07/jamal_2/ "Living among the headlines"], ''Salon'', 7&nbsp;October 2000.</ref>

Muhammad Jamal Al-Durrah (born 1988) was in fifth grade, but his school was closed on 30 September 2000; the Palestinian Authority had called for a general strike and day of mourning following violence in Jerusalem the day before.<ref name=Orme2Oct2000>William A. Orme, [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9505EEDD123DF931A35753C1A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print "Muhammad al-Durrah: A Young Symbol of Mideast Violence"], ''The New York Times'', 2&nbsp;October 2000.</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/948340.stm "Strike call after Jerusalem bloodshed"], BBC News, 30 September 2000.</ref> His mother said he had been watching the rioting on television and asked if he could join in.<ref name=Goldenberg3Oct2000/> Father and son decided instead to go to a car auction.<ref name=AbuRahma3Oct2000>Talal Abu Rahma, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080507120225/http://www.pchrgaza.ps/special/tv2.htm "Statement under oath by a photographer of France&nbsp;2 Television"], Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, 3&nbsp;October 2000.</ref> Jamal had just sold his 1974 Fiat, Motro wrote, and Muhammad loved cars, so they went to the auction together.<ref name=ScharyMotro2005/>{{rp|54}}

===Charles Enderlin===
Charles Enderlin was born in 1945 in Paris; his grandparents were Austrian Jews who had left the country in 1938 when Germany invaded.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Mustapha Kessous, [http://www.lemonde.fr/televisions-radio/article/2016/01/30/charles-enderlin-conteur-averti-du-proche-orient_4856506_1655027.html "Charles Enderlin, conteur averti du Proche-Orient"], ''Le Monde'', 30 January 2016.</ref> After briefly studying medicine, he moved to Jerusalem in 1968 where he became an Israeli national. He began working for France&nbsp;2 in 1981, serving as their bureau chief in Israel from 1990 until his retirement in 2015.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Michael Bloch, [http://www.lejdd.fr/Medias/Television/Charles-Enderlin-prend-sa-retraite-apres-30-ans-en-Israel-Il-n-y-aura-pas-deux-Etats-743702 "Charles Enderlin prend sa retraite après 30 ans en Israël: 'Il n'y aura pas deux Etats'"], ''Le Journal du Dimanche'', 24 July 2015.</ref> Enderlin is the author of several books about the Middle East, including one about Muhammad al-Durrah, ''Un Enfant est Mort: Netzarim, 30 Septembre 2000'' (2010).<ref name=Haski29Sept2010>{{in lang|fr}} Pierre Haski, [http://rue89.nouvelobs.com/2010/09/29/un-enfant-est-mort-charles-enderlin-defend-son-honneur-168657 "«Un enfant est mort»: Charles Enderlin défend son honneur"], ''L'Obs'', 29 September 2010.</ref> Highly regarded among his peers and within the French establishment,<ref name=Moutet2008/> he submitted a letter from Jacques Chirac, during the Philippe Karsenty libel action, who wrote in flattering terms of Enderlin's integrity.<ref name=Chiracletter>{{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20061124102801/http://www.m-r.fr/download/jacques_chirac.pdf Letter from Jacques Chirac to Charles Enderlin], 25 February 2004 (courtesy of Media Ratings France).</ref> In 2009 he was awarded France's highest decoration, the Légion d'honneur.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [http://info.france2.fr/medias/Charles-Enderlin-d%C3%A9cor%C3%A9-de-la-L%C3%A9gion-d%27honneur-56553145.html "Charles Enderlin décoré de la Légion d'honneur"], France&nbsp;2, 12 August 2009.</ref>

According to journalist {{ill|Anne-Élisabeth Moutet|fr}}, Enderlin's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was respected by other journalists but was regularly criticized by pro-Israel groups.<ref name=Moutet2008/> As a result of the al-Durrah case, he received death threats, his wife was assaulted in the street,<ref name=Schemla1Oct2002>{{in lang|fr}} Élisabeth Schemla, [https://web.archive.org/web/20021019090628/http://www.proche-orient.info/xjournal_pol_int.php3?id_article=5225 "Un entretien exclusif avec Charles Enderlin, deux ans après la mort en direct de Mohamed Al-Dura à Gaza"], ''Proche-Orient.info'', 1&nbsp;October 2002.</ref> his children were threatened, the family had to move home, and at one point they considered emigrating to the United States.<ref name=EnderlinJan2005/><ref name=Moutet2008/><ref>For Enderlin's children being threatened: Bob Garfield, Deborah Campbell, [http://www.wnyc.org/story/131847-images-of-mohammed-al-durrah/ "Images of Mohammed al-Durrah"], ''On the Media'', WNYC Radio, 22 December 2001 (transcript, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110622072711/http://www.onthemedia.org/yore/transcripts/transcripts_122201_images.html archived]).</ref>

===Talal Abu Rahma===
Talal Hassan Abu Rahma studied business administration in the United States, and began working as a freelance cameraman for France&nbsp;2 in Gaza in 1988. At the time of the shooting, he ran his own press office, the National News Center, contributed to CNN through the Al-Wataneya Press Office, and was a board member of the Palestinian Journalists' Association. His coverage of the al-Durrah shooting brought him several journalism awards, including the Rory Peck Award in 2001.<ref name=Peck2001>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080317162040/http://www.rorypecktrust.org/Awards01/talal.htm "Talal Abu Rahma"], Rory Peck Awards, 2001.</ref> According to France&nbsp;2 correspondent Gérard Grizbec, Abu Rahma had never been a member of a Palestinian political group, had twice been arrested by Palestinian police for filming images that did not meet the approval of [[Biography:Yasser Arafat|Yasser Arafat]], and had never been accused of security breaches by Israel.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Gérard Grizbec, [https://web.archive.org/web/20081015181818/http://www.lemeilleurdesmondes.org/A_chaud_Gerard-GRIZBEC-Affaire-al-Dura-Charles-Enderlin-Arlette-Chabot-Taguieff-Palestine.htm "Affaire al-Dura: Gérard Grizbec réagit à la contribution de Pierre-André Taguieef"], ''Le Meilleur des mondes'', October 2008.</ref>

==Initial reports==

===Scene on the day===
{{quote box
|border=1px
|title=Netzarim junction
|title_fnt=#555555
|halign=left
|quote=[http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/maps_and_graphs/2000/10/03/gaza_shooting3.gif Diagram]
|qalign=center
|fontsize=98%
|bgcolor=#F9F9F9
|width=250px
|align=left
|salign=right
|source= — ''The Guardian''}}
{{multiple image
 | caption_align = left
 | align = right
 | direction = vertical
 | width = 300
 | image1 = Diagram with cameraman's affidavit1.JPG
 | alt1 = diagram
 | caption1 = ''(Above)'' From Talal Abu Rahma, France&nbsp;2 cameraman<ref name=AbuRahma3Oct2000/>{{pb}}''(Below)'' From a report commissioned by Philippe Karsenty for the [[Social:Court of Appeal of Paris|Court of Appeal of Paris]]; it includes a position in the lower-left quadrant in which armed Palestinian police allegedly stood.<ref name=Schlinger2008/>{{rp|60}}
 | image2 = Diagram of junction with Schlinger report.JPG
 | alt2 = diagram
 }}
On the day of the shooting—Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year—the two-story Israel Defense Forces (IDF) outpost at the Netzarim junction was manned by Israeli soldiers from the Givati Brigade Engineering Platoon and the Herev Battalion.<ref name=Gross21April2003>Netty C. Gross, [https://web.archive.org/web/20121104191501/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-10029752.html "Split Screen"], ''The Jerusalem Report'', 21 April 2003.</ref><ref name=OSullivan6June2001>Arieh O'Sullivan, [https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/73699799.html?dids=73699799:73699799&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jun+6%2C+2001 "Southern Command decorates soldiers, units"], ''Jerusalem Post'', 6&nbsp;June 2001.</ref> According to Enderlin, the soldiers were Druze.<ref name=Schemla1Oct2002/><ref name=Segev2002/>

The two-story IDF outpost sat northwest of the junction. Two six-story Palestinian blocks (known as the twins or twin towers and described variously as offices or apartments) lay directly behind it.<ref name=Fallows2003/><ref>[[:File:Diagram with cameraman's affidavit1.JPG|Diagram]] attached to [https://web.archive.org/web/20080507120225/http://www.pchrgaza.ps/special/tv2.htm Talal Abu Rahma's affidavit], 3&nbsp;October 2000.</ref> South of the junction, diagonally across from the IDF, there was a Palestinian National Security Forces outpost under the command of Brigadier-General Osama al-Ali, a member of the Palestine National Council.<ref name=Schemla1Oct2002/> The concrete wall that Jamal and Muhammad crouched against was in front of this building; the spot was less than 120 metres from the most northerly point of the Israeli outpost.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Shapira 2002], 00:36:52:00.</ref>

In addition to France&nbsp;2, the Associated Press and {{wipe|Reuters}} also had camera crews at the junction.<ref name=Schemla1Oct2002/> They captured brief footage of the al-Durrahs and Abu Rahma.<ref>Ed O'Loughlin, [http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/battle-rages-over-fateful-footage/2007/10/05/1191091366434.html "Battle rages over fateful footage"], ''The Age'', 6&nbsp;October 2007, 2.</ref> Abu Rahma was the only journalist to film the moment the al-Durrahs were shot.<ref name=Carvajal7Feb2005/>

===Arrival at the junction, shooting starts===
Jamal and Muhammad arrived at the junction in a cab around midday, on their way back from the car auction.
<ref name="Schapira 2002 00:19:00:00">{{in lang|de}} Esther Schapira, [https://vimeo.com/67662480 ''Drei Kugeln und ein totes Kind: Wer erschoss Mohammed Al-Dura?''], ARD, 18 March 2002, from 00:19:00:00 (interview with Jamal al-Durrah).</ref> There had been a protest, demonstrators had thrown stones, and the IDF had responded with tear gas. Abu Rahma was filming events and interviewing protesters, including Abdel Hakim Awad, head of the Fatah youth movement in Gaza.<ref name=Schemla1Oct2002/> Because of the protest, a police officer stopped Jamal and Muhammad's cab from going any further, so father and son proceeded on foot across the junction. It was at that point, according to Jamal, that the live fire started.<ref name="Schapira 2002 00:19:00:00"/> Enderlin said the first shots were fired from the Palestinian positions and returned by the Israeli soldiers.<ref name=Enderlin30Sept2000/>

Jamal, Muhammad, the Associated Press cameraman, and Shams Oudeh, the Reuters cameraman, took cover against the concrete wall in the south-east quadrant of the crossroads, diagonally across from the Israeli outpost.<ref name=AbuRahma3Oct2000/><ref name="Schapira 2009 00:09:47:05">{{in lang|de}} with English subtitles. Esther Schapira, Georg M. Hafner, [https://vimeo.com/67054759 ''Das Kind, der Tod und die Wahrheit''], Hessischer Rundfunk, 4&nbsp;March 2009, 00:09:47:05, courtesy of Vimeo . On YouTube (without subtitles): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-_3tg1_bt0 1/5], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FePRL2WSmo 2/5], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxnub0Zywpk 3/5], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Va8EBzVZA4 4/5], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tyEok7cHKQ 5/5].</ref> Jamal, Muhammad and Shams Oudeh crouched behind a three-foot-tall (0.91 m) concrete drum, apparently part of a [[Engineering:Culvert|culvert]], that was sitting against the wall. A thick paving stone sat on top of the drum, which offered further protection.<ref name=Fallows2003>James Fallows, [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/06/who-shot-mohammed-al-dura/2735/ "Who shot Mohammed al-Durra?"], ''The Atlantic'', June 2003.</ref> Abu Rahma hid behind a white minibus parked across the road about 15&nbsp;metres away from the wall.<ref name=Schemla1Oct2002/><ref name=nprinterview/> The Reuters and Associated Press cameramen briefly filmed over Jamal and Muhammad's shoulders—the cameras pointing toward the Israeli outpost—before the men moved away.<ref name="Schapira 2009 00:09:47:05"/> Jamal and Muhammad did not move away, but stayed behind the drum for 45 minutes. In Enderlin's view, they were frozen in fear.<ref name=Schemla1Oct2002/>
{{clear}}

===France 2 report===
{{multiple image
 | caption_align = center
 | align = right
 | direction = vertical
 | width = 220
 | image1 = AlDurrah2.jpg
 | alt1 = Man and a boy crouching behind a concrete drum; the man is waving
 | caption1 = Muhammad and Jamal under fire
 | image2 = Frame6Muhammad-al-Durrah.jpg
 | alt2 = The same scene as above, but from a distance. There is a large wall behind the two figures, who are almost hidden by a cloud of dust. The man's head is hanging down.
 | caption2 = Camera goes out of focus as gunfire is heard.
 | image3 = AlDurrah3.jpg
 | alt3 = The same scene again. The man is sitting with his head hanging to his right. The boy is lying over the man's knees, with his right hand over his face. Four small holes can be seen in the wall behind them.
 | caption3 = This was the last frame broadcast by France&nbsp;2. In the raw footage shortly after this, the boy moves his hand.<ref name=finalmoments>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75hiDGp89Xk Final few seconds cut by France 2], courtesy of YouTube.</ref>}}
In an affidavit three days after the shooting, Abu Rahma said shots had been fired for about 45&nbsp;minutes and that he had filmed around 27&nbsp;minutes of it.{{refn|group=n|Talal Abu Rahma, 3&nbsp;October 2000: "I spent approximately 27 minutes photographing the incident which took place for 45 minutes&nbsp;... Shooting started first from different sources, Israeli and Palestinian. It lasted for not more than five minutes. Then, it was quite clear for me that shooting was towards the child Mohammed and his father from the opposite direction to them. Intensive and intermittent shooting was directed at the two and the two outposts of the Palestinian National Security Forces. The Palestinian outposts were not a source of shooting, as shooting from inside these outposts had stopped after the first five minutes, and the child and his father were not injured then. Injuring and killing took place during the following 45 minutes."<ref name=AbuRahma3Oct2000/>}} (How much film was shot became a bone of contention in 2007 when France&nbsp;2 told a court that only 18 minutes of film existed.) He began filming Jamal and Muhammad when he heard Muhammad cry and saw that the boy had been shot in the right leg.<ref name=AbuRahma3Oct2000/> He said he filmed the scene containing the father and son for about six minutes.<ref name="Schapira 2009, 00:10:39:24">[https://vimeo.com/67054759 Schapira and Hafner 2009], 00:10:39:24.</ref> He sent those six minutes to Enderlin in Jerusalem via satellite.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapiro 2002], 00:19:45:00.</ref> Enderlin edited the footage down to 59&nbsp;seconds and added a voiceover:

<blockquote style="background:none; margin-right:5em; margin-left:0; border-left:solid 3px #ccc; padding:1.5em;">
1500 hours. Everything has just erupted near the settlement of Netzarim in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians have shot live bullets, the Israelis are responding. Paramedics, journalists, passersby are caught in the crossfire. Here, Jamal and his son Mohammed are the target of fire from the Israeli positions. Mohammed is twelve, his father is trying to protect him. He is motioning. Another burst of fire. Mohammed is dead and his father seriously wounded.<ref name=Enderlin30Sept2000>{{in lang|fr}} Charles Enderlin, [http://geopolis.francetvinfo.fr/charles-enderlin/2008/05/28/le-sujet-du-30-septembre-2000.html "La mort de Mohammed al Dura"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423153836/http://geopolis.francetvinfo.fr/charles-enderlin/2008/05/28/le-sujet-du-30-septembre-2000.html |date=2013-04-23 }}, France 2, 30 September 2000 ([http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbl5r2_le-reportage-de-charles-enderlin-ob_news alternate link]).</ref></blockquote>

The footage shows Jamal and Muhammad crouching behind the cylinder, the child screaming and the father shielding him. Jamal appears to shout something in the direction of the cameraman, then waves and shouts in the direction of the Israeli outpost. There is a burst of gunfire and the camera goes out of focus. When the gunfire subsides, Jamal is sitting upright and injured and Muhammad is lying over his legs.<ref name=Haaretz16May2007/> Enderlin cut a final few seconds from the footage that shows Muhammad lift his hand from his face. This cut became the basis of much of the controversy over the film.<ref name=Fallows2003/>

The raw footage stops suddenly at this point and begins again with unidentified people being loaded into an ambulance.<ref name="Schapira and Hafner 2009">[https://vimeo.com/67054759 Schapira and Hafner 2009], 00:13:12:19.</ref> (At that point in his report, Enderlin said: "A Palestinian policeman and an ambulance driver have also lost their lives in the course of this battle.")<ref name=Enderlin30Sept2000/> Bassam al-Bilbeisi, an ambulance driver on his way to the scene, was reported to have been shot and killed, leaving a widow and eleven children.<ref name=Goldenberg27Sept2001>Suzanne Goldenberg, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/27/israel "The war of the children"], ''The Guardian'', 27 September 2001.</ref> Abu Rahma said Muhammad lay bleeding for at least 17&nbsp;minutes before an ambulance picked up father and son together.<ref name="Schapira 2009 00:14:13:21">[https://vimeo.com/67054759 Schapira and Hafner 2009], 00:14:13:21.</ref> He said he did not film them being picked up because he was worried about having only one battery.<ref name="Schapira 2009 00:14:01:09"/> Abu Rahma remained at the junction for 30–40 minutes until he felt it was safe to leave,<ref name=AbuRahma3Oct2000/> then drove to his studio in Gaza City to send the footage to Enderlin.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:19:25:00.</ref> The 59&nbsp;seconds of footage were first broadcast on France&nbsp;2's nightly news at 8:00&nbsp;pm local time (GMT+2), after which France&nbsp;2 distributed several minutes of raw footage around the world without charge.<ref name=Cahen15Feb2005/><ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:20:55:00.</ref>

===Injuries, funeral===
[[File:Muhammad al-Durrah pathologist's image.JPG|left|thumb|The pathologist who examined Muhammad gave this image to a journalist in 2009.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67054759 Schapira and Hafner 2009], 00:39:39:02.</ref>]]

Jamal and Muhammad were taken by ambulance to the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.<ref name=AbuRahma3Oct2000/> Abu Rhama telephoned the hospital and was told that three bodies had arrived there: that of a jeep driver, an ambulance driver, and a boy, initially named by mistake as Rami Al-Durrah.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67054759 Schapira and Hafner 2009], 00:42:35:03 and 00:43:13:08.</ref>

According to Dr. Abed El-Razeq El Masry, the pathologist who examined Muhammed, the boy had received a fatal injury to the abdomen. In 2002 he showed Esther Schapira, a German journalist, post-mortem images of Muhammad next to cards identifying him by name.<ref name="Schapira 2002 24:17">[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:24:17:00.</ref> Schapira also obtained, from a Palestinian journalist, what appeared to be footage of him arriving at the hospital on a stretcher.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67054759 Schapira and Hafner 2009], 00:45:48:05.</ref><ref name=Schapira12Feb2013>{{in lang|fr}} Esther Schapira, [http://www.tribunejuive.info/ANCIEN-SITE/medias/lettre-ouverte-desther-schapira-a-charles-enderlin "Lettre ouverte d’Esther Schapira à Charles Enderlin"], ''Tribune juive'', 12 February 2013 ([https://pjmedia.com/blog/al-dura-exclusive-esther-schapiras-open-letter-to-charles-enderlin/?singlepage=true in English]).</ref> During an emotional public funeral in the Bureij refugee camp, Muhammad was wrapped in a Palestinian flag and buried before sundown on the day of his death, in accordance with Muslim tradition.<ref name=Orme2Oct2000/><ref name=Philps1Oct2000>Alan Philps, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/1368574/Death-of-boy-caught-in-gun-battle-provokes-wave-of-revenge-attacks.html "Death of boy caught in gun battle provokes wave of revenge attacks"], ''The Daily Telegraph'', 1&nbsp;October 2000.</ref>

Jamal was taken at first to the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. Dr. Ahmed Ghadeel said Jamal had received multiple wounds from high-velocity bullets striking his right elbow, right thigh and the lower part of both legs; his femoral artery was also cut.<ref name=France21Oct2000>{{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20081021154936/http://ma-tvideo.france2.fr/video/iLyROoafYdQV.html "Les blessures de Jamal a Dura"], France&nbsp;2, 1&nbsp;October 2000.</ref><ref>{{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20110720220509/http://ma-tvideo.france2.fr/video/iLyROoafYhwd.html "Jamal a Dura l'operation"], France&nbsp;2, 1&nbsp;October 2000.</ref> Talal Abu Rahma interviewed Jamal and the doctor there on camera the day after the shooting; Dr. Ghadeel displayed x-rays of Jamal's right elbow and right pelvis.{{refn|group=n|Talal Abu Rahma, 3&nbsp;October 2000: "On the following day of the incident, I went to Shifa Hospital in Gaza, and interviewed the father of child Mohammed Al-Durreh. The interview was videotaped and broadcast. In the interview, I asked him about his reason and circumstances of being at the place of the incident. I was the first journalist to interview him on this subject. Mr. Jamal al-Durrah said that he was going accompanied by his son Mohammed to the car market, which is about 2km away to the north of Al-Shohada’ Junction, to buy a car. He told me that he failed to buy a car, so decided to go home. He and his son took a taxi. When they got close to the junction, they could not move forward because of the clashes and shooting there. So, they got out of the taxi and tried to walk towards Al-Bureij. As shooting intensified, they sheltered behind a concrete block. Then the incident occurred. Shooting lasted for 45 minutes."<ref name=AbuRahma3Oct2000/>}} Moshe Tamam, Jamal's Israeli employer, offered to have him taken to hospital in Tel Aviv, but the Palestinian Authority declined the offer.<ref name=ScharyMotro2000/><ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:23:03:00.</ref> He was transferred instead to the King Hussein Medical Center in Amman, Jordan, where he was visited by King Abdullah.<ref name=ScharyMotro2005>Helen Schary Motro, ''Maneuvering Between the Headlines: An American Lives Through the Intifada'', Other Press, 2005.</ref>{{rp|56}}<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:26:15:00.</ref><ref>[https://vimeo.com/67054759 Schapira and Hafner 2009], 00:30:01:10.</ref> Jamal reportedly told Tamam that he had been hit by nine bullets; he said five were removed from his body in hospital in Gaza and four in Amman.<ref name="Schapira 2002 00:26:49:00">[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:26:49:00.</ref>

===Cameraman's account===
Enderlin based his allegation that the IDF had shot the boy on the report of the cameraman, Talal Abu Rahma.<ref name=EnderlinJan2005>{{in lang|fr}} Charles Enderlin, "Non à la censure à la source," ''Le Figaro'', 27 January 2005 ([http://www.debriefing.org/21078.html courtesy link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011034334/http://www.debriefing.org/21078.html |date=2016-10-11 }}).</ref> Abu Rahma was clear in interviews that the Israelis had fired the shots. For example, he told ''The Guardian'': "They were cleaning the area. Of course they saw the father. They were aiming at the boy, and that is what surprised me, yes, because they were shooting at him, not only one time, but many times."<ref name=Goldenberg3Oct2000/> Abu Rahma said shooting was also coming from the Palestinian National Security Forces outpost, but that they were not shooting when Muhammad was hit. The Israeli fire was being directed at this Palestinian outpost, he said.<ref name=AbuRahma3Oct2000/> He told National Public Radio:

<blockquote style="background:none; margin-right:5em; margin-left:0; border-left:solid 3px #ccc; padding:1.5em;">
I saw the boy getting injured in his leg, and the father asking for help. Then I saw him getting injured in his arm, the father. The father was asking the ambulances to help him, because he could see the ambulances. I cannot see the ambulance&nbsp;... I wasn't far away, maybe from them [Jamal and Muhammad] face to face about 15 meters, 17 meters. But the father didn't succeed to get the ambulance by waving to them. He looked at me and he said, "Help me." I said, "I cannot, I can't help you." The shooting till then was really heavy&nbsp;... It was really raining bullets, for more than for 45&nbsp;minutes.{{pb}} Then&nbsp;... I hear something, "boom!" Really is coming with a lot of dust. I looked at the boy, I filmed the boy lying down in the father's lap, and the father really, getting really injured, and he was really dizzy. I said, "Oh my god, the boy's got killed, the boy's got killed," I was screaming, I was losing my mind. While I was filming, the boy got killed&nbsp;... I was very afraid, I was very upset, I was crying, and I was remembering my children&nbsp;... This was the most terrible thing that has happened to me as a journalist.<ref name=nprinterview>[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1111864 "Shooting to Shooting"], National Public Radio, 1&nbsp;October 2000.</ref></blockquote>

Abu Rahma alleged in an affidavit that "the child was intentionally and in cold blood shot dead and his father injured by the Israeli army."{{refn|group=n|Talal Abu Rahma, 3&nbsp;October 2000: "I can assert that shooting at the child Mohammed and his father Jamal came from the above-mentioned Israeli military outpost, as it was the only place from which shooting at the child and his father was possible. So, by logic and nature, my long experience in covering hot incidents and violent clashes, and my ability to distinguish sounds of shooting, I can confirm that the child was intentionally and in cold blood shot dead and his father injured by the Israeli army."<ref name=AbuRahma3Oct2000/>}} The affidavit was given to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza and signed by the cameraman in the presence of Raji Sourani, a human rights lawyer.<ref name=AbuRahma3Oct2000/> France&nbsp;2's communications director, Christine Delavennat, said in 2008 that Abu Rahma denied having accused the Israeli army of firing at the boy in cold blood, and that this had been falsely attributed to him.<ref name=Cahen15Feb2005>Eva Cahen, [http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/french-tv-sticks-story-fueled-palestinian-intifada "French TV Sticks by Story That Fueled Palestinian Intifada"], Cybercast News Service, 15 February 2005.<!--Note: this source is now dated July 2008 but that is not correct.--></ref>

===Israel's early response===
[[File:Isaac Herzog 2004.JPG|thumb|upright=0.80|Isaac Herzog]]
The position of the IDF changed over time, from accepting responsibility in 2000 to retracting the admission in 2005.<ref name=Seaman2008>Daniel Seaman, [http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=105522 "We did not abandon Philippe Karsenty"], ''The Jerusalem Post'', 25 June 2008.</ref> The IDF's first response, when Enderlin contacted them before his broadcast, was that the Palestinians "make cynical use of women and children," which he decided not to air.<ref name=Schwartz8Nov2007/>

On 3&nbsp;October 2000, the IDF's chief of operations, Major-General Giora Eiland, said an internal investigation indicated the shots had apparently been fired by Israeli soldiers.<ref name=BBC3Oct2000/> The soldiers, under fire, had been shooting from small slits in the wall of their outpost; General Yom-Tov Samia, then head of the IDF's Southern Command said they may not have had a clear field of vision, and had fired in the direction from which they believed the fire was coming.<ref name=Fallows2003/> Eiland issued an apology: "This was a grave incident, an event we are all sorry about."<ref name=BBC3Oct2000/>

The Israelis had been trying for hours to speak to Palestinian commanders, according to Israel's Cabinet Secretary, Isaac Herzog; he added that Palestinian security forces could have intervened to stop the fire.<ref name=BBC2Oct2000>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/952600.stm "Boy becomes Palestinian martyr"], BBC News, 2&nbsp;October 2000.</ref>

==Controversy==

===Overview===
[[File:Arlette Chabot, April 2009 (cropped).jpeg|thumb|left|France&nbsp;2 news editor, Arlette Chabot, said that no one could say for certain who fired the shots.<ref name=Carvajal7Feb2005/>]]
Three mainstream narratives emerged after the shooting. The early view that Israeli gunfire had killed the boy developed into the position that, because of the trajectory of the shots, Palestinian gunfire was more likely to have been responsible. This view was expressed in 2005 by Denis Jeambar, editor-in-chief of ''L'Express'', and {{ill|Daniel Leconte|fr}}, a former France&nbsp;2 correspondent, who viewed the raw footage.<ref name=Jeambar25Jan2005/> A third perspective, held by Arlette Chabot, France 2's news editor, is that no one can know who fired the shots.<ref name=Carvajal7Feb2005/>

A fourth, minority, position held that the scene was staged by Palestinian protesters to produce a child martyr or at least the appearance of one.<ref name=Carvajal7Feb2005/><ref name=Gelernter/><ref>David Frum, [http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=877a8d56-eda5-4b86-96c6-9e1ab9a07880 "L'affaire al-Dura"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071124172217/http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=877a8d56-eda5-4b86-96c6-9e1ab9a07880 |date=2007-11-24 }}, ''The National Post'', 17 November 2007.</ref> This is known by those who follow the case as the "maximalist" view, as opposed to the "minimalist" view that the shots were probably not fired by the IDF.<ref name=Fallows2003/><ref name=Johnson2012pp126-127/> The maximalist view takes the form either that the al-Durrahs were not shot and Muhammad did not die, or that he was killed intentionally by Palestinians.<ref name=Fallows2003/><ref name=Orme28Nov2000>William A. Orme, [https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/28/world/israeli-army-says-palestinians-may-have-shot-gaza-boy.html "Israeli Army Says Palestinians May Have Shot Gaza Boy"], ''The New York Times'', 28 November 2000.</ref><ref name=Fallows2007>James Fallows, [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2007/10/news-on-the-al-dura-front-israeli-finding-that-it-was-staged/7764/ "News on the al-Dura front: Israeli finding that it was staged"], ''The Atlantic'', 2&nbsp;October 2007.</ref><ref>Amnon Lord, [http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp482.htm "Who killed "Muhammad al-Dura. Blood libel—model 2000"], Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 15 July 2002.</ref>

The view that the scene was a media hoax of some kind emerged from an Israeli government enquiry in November 2000.<ref name=Fallows2003/> It was most persistently pursued by Stéphane Juffa, editor-in-chief of the {{ill|Metula News Agency|fr}} (Mena), a French-Israeli company;<ref>Stéphane Juffa, [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB110142775550283921 "The Mythical Martyr"], ''Wall Street Journal'', 26 November 2004.</ref> Luc Rosenzweig, former editor-in-chief of ''Le Monde'' and a Mena contributor;<ref>Luc Rosenzweig, [http://www.cairn.info/revue-cites-2010-4-page-159.htm "Charles Enderlin et l’affaire Al Dura"], ''Cités'', 4(44), 2010. {{doi|10.3917/cite.044.0159}}{{pb}}
Luc Rosenzweig, [http://www.atlantico.fr/decryptage/apres-jerome-cahuzac-et-gilles-bernheim-charles-enderlin-luc-rosenzweig-731779.html "Après Jérôme Cahuzac et Gilles Bernheim, Charles Enderlin?"], ''Atlantico, 20 May 2013.</ref> Richard Landes, an American historian who became involved after Enderlin showed him the raw footage during a visit to Jerusalem in 2003;<ref name=Cahen2006/><ref name=Johnson2012p199>Johnson 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ri0tiLVQU4kC&pg=PA199 199], n.&nbsp;81.</ref> and Philippe Karsenty, founder of a French media-watchdog site, ''Media-Ratings''.<ref>Ruthie Blum Leibowitz, [http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/One-on-One-Muhammed-al-Dura-has-become-a-brand-name "'Muhammed al-Dura has become a brand-name'"], ''The Jerusalem Post'', 29 November 2007 (interview with Philippe Karsenty).{{pb}}
Richard Landes, Phillipe Karsenty, [http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Right-of-reply-Conspiracy-theories-and-Al-Dura "Right of reply: Conspiracy theories and al-Dura"], ''The Jerusalem Post'', 11 June 2008.</ref> It was also supported by {{ill|Gérard Huber|fr}}, a French psychoanalyst, and [[Biography:Pierre-André Taguieff|Pierre-André Taguieff]], a French philosopher who specializes in antisemitism, both of whom wrote books about the affair.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Gérard Huber, ''Contre-expertise d'une mise en scène'', Paris; Éditions Raphaël, 2003.</ref><ref>{{in lang|fr}} [[Biography:Pierre-André Taguieff|Pierre-André Taguieff]], ''La nouvelle propagande antijuive: Du symbole al-Dura aux rumeurs de Gaza'', Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2015.</ref> The hoax view gained further support in 2013 from a second Israeli government report, the Kuperwasser report.<ref name=Dawber20May2013>Alistair Dawber, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-killing-of-12-year-old-mohammed-al-durrah-in-gaza-became-the-defining-image-of-the-second-8624311.html "The killing of 12-year-old Mohammed al-Durrah in Gaza became the defining image of the second intifada. Only Israel claims it was all a fake"], ''The Independent'', 20 May 2013.</ref><ref>Michael Schwartz, Elise Labott, [http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/21/world/meast/israel-palestinians-disputed-video/ "New controversy over video of Gaza boy's death 13 years ago"], CNN, 21 May 2013.</ref> Several commentators regard it as a right-wing [[Unsolved:Conspiracy theory|conspiracy theory]] and smear campaign.<ref name=Moutet2008/><ref>Ed McLoughlin, [http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/truth-is-sometimes-caught-in-crossfire/2007/10/05/1191091362085.html?page=fullpage "Truth is sometimes caught in crossfire"], ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 6&nbsp;October 2007.</ref><ref>Larry Derfner, [http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Rattling-the-Cage-Al-Dura-and-the-conspiracy-freaks "Rattling the Cage: Al-Dura and the conspiracy freaks"], ''The Jerusalem Post'', 28 May 2008.{{pb}}Larry Derfner, [http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Rattling-the-Cage-Get-real-about-Muhammad-al-Dura "Rattling the Cage: Get real about Muhammad al-Dura"], ''The Jerusalem Post'', 18 June 2008.</ref><ref name=Derfner22May2013>Larry Derfner, [http://972mag.com/on-the-al-dura-affair-israel-officially-drank-the-kool-aid/71812/ "On the al-Dura affair: Israel officially drank the Kool Aid"], ''+972 Magazine'', 22 May 2013.</ref>

===Key issues===
Several commentators questioned what time the shooting occurred; what time Muhammad arrived at the hospital; why there seemed to be little blood on the ground where they were shot; and whether any bullets were collected.<ref name=Fallows2003/> Several alleged that, in other scenes in the raw footage, it is clear that protesters are play acting.<ref name=Fallows2003/> One physician maintained that Jamal's scars were not from bullet wounds, but dated back to an injury he sustained in the early 1990s.<ref name=Shams2May2012/>

There was no criminal inquiry.<ref name=Segev2002>Tom Segev, [http://www.haaretz.com/who-killed-mohammed-al-dura-1.49741 "Who killed Mohammed al-Dura?"], ''Haaretz'', 22 March 2002.</ref> Palestinian police allowed journalists to photograph the scene the following day, but they gathered no forensic evidence. According to a Palestinian general, there was no Palestinian investigation because there was no doubt that the Israelis had killed the boy.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:29:52:00.</ref> General Yom Tov Samia of the IDF said the presence of protesters meant the Israelis were unable to examine and take photographs of the scene.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:29:42:00.</ref> The increase in violence at the junction cut off the Nezarim settlers, so the IDF evacuated them and, a week after the shooting, blew up everything within 500 metres of the IDF outpost, thereby destroying the crime scene.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:33:14:00.</ref>

A pathologist examined the boy's body, but there was no full autopsy.<ref name=Segev2002/><ref name="Schapira 2002 24:17"/> It is unclear whether bullets were recovered from the scene or from Jamal and Muhammad.<ref name=Segev2002/> In 2002 Abu Rahma implied to Esther Schapira that he had collected bullets at the scene, adding: "We have some secrets for ourselves. We cannot give anything&nbsp;... everything."<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:30:44:00.</ref> According to Jamal al-Durrah, five bullets were recovered from his body by physicians in Gaza and four in Amman.<ref name="Schapira 2002 00:26:49:00"/> In 2013 he said, without elaborating: "The bullets the Israelis fired are in the possession of the Palestinian Authority."<ref name=Koury29May2013/>

===Footage===

====How long, what it showed{{anchor|length of footage}}====
Questions arose about how much footage existed and whether it showed the boy had died. Abu Rahma said in an affidavit that the gunfight had lasted 45&nbsp;minutes and that he had filmed about 27&nbsp;minutes of it.<ref name=AbuRahma3Oct2000/><ref name=Schwartz3Feb2008/> Doreen Carvajal of the ''International Herald Tribune'' said in 2005 that France&nbsp;2 had shown the newspaper "the original 27-minute tape of the incident."{{refn|group=n|"As questions were raised, some France&nbsp;2 executives privately faulted the channel's communication. Last week, they showed ''The International Herald Tribune'' the original 27-minute tape of the incident, which also included separate scenes of rock-throwing youths."<ref name=Carvajal7Feb2005/>}} When the Court of Appeal of Paris asked, in 2007, to see all the footage, during France&nbsp;2's libel case against Philippe Karsenty, France&nbsp;2 presented the court with 18&nbsp;minutes of film, saying the rest had been destroyed because it had not been about the shooting.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} "La justice visionne les rushes d'un reportage de France&nbsp;2, accusé de trucage," Agence France-Presse, 14 November 2007.</ref> Enderlin then said only 18&nbsp;minutes of footage had been shot.<ref name=Schoumann2007/>

According to Abu Rahma, six minutes of his footage focused on the al-Durrahs.<ref name="Schapira 2009, 00:10:39:24"/> France&nbsp;2 broadcast 59&nbsp;seconds of that scene and released another few seconds of it. No part of the footage shows the boy dead.<ref name=Schwartz8Nov2007/> Enderlin cut a final few seconds from the end, during which Muhammad appears to lift his hand away from his face.<ref name=Fallows2003/><ref name=finalfootage>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75hiDGp89Xk Final moments of footage], France&nbsp;2, 30 September 2000, courtesy of YouTube.</ref> Enderlin said he had cut this scene in accordance with the France&nbsp;2 ethical charter, because it showed the boy in his death throes ("''agonie''"), which he said was "unbearable" ("''J'ai coupé l'agonie de l'enfant. C'était insupportable&nbsp;... Cela n'aurait rien apporté de plus'').<ref name=Jeambar25Jan2005/>{{refn|group=n|Charles Enderlin, ''The Atlantic'', September 2003: "James Fallows writes, 'The footage of the shooting&nbsp;... illustrates the way in which television transforms reality' and, notably, 'France&nbsp;2 or its cameraman may have footage that it or he has chosen not to release.' We do not transform reality. But since some parts of the scene are unbearable, France&nbsp;2 cut a few seconds from the scene, in accordance with our ethical charter."<ref name=EnderlinSept2003>Charles Enderlin, [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/09/letters-to-the-editor/376863/ "Letters to the Editor: Who Shot Mohammed al-Dura?"], ''The Atlantic'', September 2003.</ref>}}<ref name=Johnson2012pp126-127>Hannah Johnson, ''Blood Libel: The Ritual Murder Accusation at the Limit of Jewish History'', University of Michigan Press, 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ri0tiLVQU4kC&pg=PA126 126–127].</ref> In 2007 he said he had meant to use the word ''agony'', not ''agonie''. If he were editing the footage again, he said in 2005, he would include that scene.{{refn|group=n|Eva Cahen, CNS News, 15 February 2015: "However, in an online discussion forum for ''Le Nouvel Observateur'' news magazine on Feb. 10, Enderlin was asked how he would describe the same video images today. He replied that he would say the same things, but that in the editing process he would include footage of the 'child's agony,' raising a question once again about his previous claims. During the first edit, Enderlin said, the video in question was 'cut considerably at the time because it made the report too hard.'"<ref name=Cahen15Feb2005/>}}

====Why the footage stopped when it did{{anchor|break in footage}}====
Another issue is why France&nbsp;2, the Associated Press and Reuters did not film the scene directly after the shooting, including the shooting death of the ambulance driver who arrived to pick up Jamal and Muhammad. Abu Rahma's footage stops suddenly after the shooting of the father and son, then begins again—from the same position, with the white minibus behind which Abu Rhama was standing visible in the shot—with other people being loaded into an ambulance.<ref name="Schapira and Hafner 2009"/>

Abu Rahma said Muhammad lay bleeding for at least 17&nbsp;minutes before an ambulance picked up Jamal and Muhammad together,<ref name="Schapira 2009 00:14:13:21"/> but he did not film any of it. When Esther Schapira asked why not, he replied: "Because when the ambulance came it closed on them, you know?"<ref name="Schapira 2009 00:13:32:14">[https://vimeo.com/67054759 Schapira and Hafner 2009], 00:13:32:14.</ref> When asked why he had not filmed the ambulance arriving and leaving, he replied that he had only one battery.<ref name="Schapira 2009 00:14:01:09">[https://vimeo.com/67054759 Schapira and Hafner 2009], 00:14:01:09.</ref> Enderlin reportedly told the Paris Court of Appeal that Abu Rahma changed batteries at that point.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67054759 Schapira and Hafner 2009], 00:13:45:09.</ref> Enderlin wrote in 2008 that "footage filmed by a cameraman under fire is not the equivalent of a surveillance camera in a supermarket." Abu Rahma "filmed what circumstances permitted."<ref name=Enderlin6June2008>[http://blog.mondediplo.net/2008-06-06-Fischer-Israel-pourrait-attaquer-l-Iran#Charles-Enderlin-repond "Charles Enderlin répond"], ''Le Monde'', 6&nbsp;June 2008.</ref>

====French journalists view the footage====
[[File:Denis Jeambar 2010 a.jpg|thumb|Denis Jeambar]]
In October 2004 France&nbsp;2 allowed three French journalists to view the raw footage—Denis Jeambar, editor-in-chief of ''L'Express''; Daniel Leconte, former France&nbsp;2 correspondent and head of news documentaries at Arte, a state-run television network; and Luc Rosenzweig, former editor-in-chief of ''Le Monde''.<ref name=Moutet2008/> They also asked to speak to the cameraman, who was in Paris at the time, but France&nbsp;2 apparently told them he did not speak French and that his English was not good enough.<ref name=Poller2005>Nidra Poller, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080618220310/http://www.commentarymagazine.com/printArticle.cfm/Myth--Fact--and-the-al-Dura-Affair-9935 "Myth, Fact, and the al-Dura Affair"], ''Commentary'', September 2005.</ref>

Jeambar and Leconte wrote a report about the viewing for ''Le Figaro'' in January 2005. None of the scenes showed that the boy had died, they wrote. They rejected the position that the scene had been staged, but when Enderlin's voiceover said Muhammad was dead, Enderlin "had no possibility of determining that he was in fact dead, and even less so, that he had been shot by IDF soldiers." They said the footage did not show the boy's death throes: "This famous 'agonie' that Enderlin insisted was cut from the montage does not exist."<ref name=Carvajal7Feb2005/><ref name=Jeambar25Jan2005>{{in lang|fr}} Denis Jeambar and Daniel Leconte, [http://www.lefigaro.fr/debats/2006/10/19/01005-20061019ARTWWW90323-guet_apens_dans_la_guerre_des_images.php "Guet-apens dans la guerre des images"], ''Le Figaro'', 25 January 2005.</ref>

Several minutes of the film showed Palestinians playing at war for the cameras, they wrote, falling down as if wounded, then getting up and walking away.<ref name=Jeambar25Jan2005/> A France&nbsp;2 official told them, "You know it's always like that," a comment that Leconte said he found disturbing given the controversy. Christine Delavennat, France 2's communications director, said that none of the scenes in the footage had been staged.<ref name=Cahen15Feb2005/> Jeambar and Leconte concluded that the shots had come from the Palestinian positions, given the trajectory of the bullets.<ref name=Jeambar25Jan2005/> Leconte said in an interview: "If they had been Israeli bullets, they would be very strange bullets because they would have needed to go around the corner." He dismissed France&nbsp;2's explanation—that perhaps the bullets that hit the boy had ricocheted off the ground. "It could happen once, but that there should be eight or nine of them, which go around a corner? They're just saying anything."<ref name=Cahen15Feb2005/>

The idea of writing about the raw footage had been Luc Rosenzweig's; he had initially offered a story about it to ''L'Express'', which is how Jeambar (editor of ''L'Express'') had become involved.<ref name=Poller2005/> But Jeambar and Leconte ended up distancing themselves from Rosenzweig. He was involved with the Israeli-French Metula News Agency (known as Mena), which was pushing the view that the scene was a fake.<ref name=Carvajal7Feb2005/><ref name=Jeambar25Jan2005/> Rosenzweig later called it "an almost perfect media crime."<ref name=Gelernter>[[Biography:David Gelernter|David Gelernter]], "When pictures lie," ''Los Angeles Times'', 9&nbsp;September 2005 ([http://www.jewishworldreview.com/david/gelernter091205.php3 courtesy link]).</ref> When Jeambar and Leconte wrote up their report about the raw footage, they initially offered it ''Le Monde'', not ''Le Figaro'', but ''Le Monde'' refused to publish it because Mena had been involved at an earlier stage. Jeambar and Leconte made clear in ''Le Figaro'' that they gave no credence to the staging hypothesis:

<blockquote style="background:none; margin-right:5em; margin-left:0; border-left:solid 3px #ccc; padding:1.5em;">
To those who, like Mena, tried to use us to support the theory that the child's death was staged by the Palestinians, we say they are misleading us and their readers. Not only do we not share that point of view, but we attest that, given our present knowledge of the case, nothing supports that conclusion. In fact, the reverse is true."{{refn|group=n|Denis Jeambar and Daniel Leconte, ''Le Figaro'', January 2005: "''A ceux qui, comme la Mena, ont voulu nous instrumentaliser pour étayer la thèse de la mise en scène de la mort de l'enfant par des Palestiniens, nous disons qu'ils nous trompent et qu'ils trompent leurs lecteurs. Non seulement nous ne partageons pas ce point de vue, mais nous affirmons qu'en l'état actuel de notre connaissance du dossier, rien ne permet de l'affirmer, bien au contraire.''"<ref name=Jeambar25Jan2005/>}}</blockquote>

====Enderlin's response====
Enderlin responded to Leconte and Jeambar in January 2005 in ''Le Figaro''. He thanked them for rejecting that the scene had been staged. He had reported that the shots were fired by the Israelis because, he wrote, he trusted the cameraman, who had worked for France&nbsp;2 since 1988. In the days following the shooting, other witnesses, including other journalists, offered some confirmation, he said. He added that the Israeli army had not responded to France 2's offers to cooperate with their investigation.<ref name=EnderlinJan2005/>

Another reason he had attributed the shooting to Israel, he wrote, was that "the image corresponded to the reality of the situation not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank." Citing Ben Kaspi in the Israeli newspaper ''Maariv'', he wrote that, during the first months of the Second Intifada, the IDF had fired one million rounds of ammunition—700,000 in the West Bank and 300,000 in Gaza; from 29 September to late October 2000, 118 Palestinians had been killed, including 33 under the age of 18, compared to 11 adult Israelis killed during the same period.<ref name=EnderlinJan2005/>

===Confusion about timeline{{anchor|timeline}}===
Confusion arose about the timeline. The cameraman said the shooting began at noon and continued for 45 minutes.<ref name=AbuRahma3Oct2000/> Jamal's account matched his: he and Muhammad arrived at the junction around noon,<ref name="Schapira 2002 00:19:00:00"/> and were under fire for 45 minutes.<ref name=ScharyMotro2000/>

Enderlin's France&nbsp;2 report placed the shooting later in the day. His voiceover said that Jamal and Muhammad were shot around 3:00&nbsp;pm local time (GMT+3).<ref name=Enderlin30Sept2000/>{{refn|group=n|Israel Summer Time, which ended that year on 6&nbsp;October, is three hours ahead of GMT.<ref>{{in lang|he}} [http://www.nevo.co.il/Law_word/law14/LAW-1748.pdf ''Book of Laws: Time Determination Law - 2000 (5760)''], Israeli Government Printing Office, 1748, 28 July 2000, 249.</ref>}} James Fallows agreed that Jamal and Muhammad first made an appearance in the footage around 3:00&nbsp;pm, judging by comments from Jamal and some journalists on the scene.<ref name=Fallows2003/> Abu Rahma said he remained at the junction for 30–40 minutes after the shooting.<ref name=AbuRahma3Oct2000/> According to Schapira, he left for his studio in Gaza at around 4&nbsp;pm, where he sent the footage to Enderlin in Jerusalem at around 6&nbsp;pm. The news first arrived in London from the Associated Press at 6:00 pm BST (GMT+1), followed minutes later by a similar report from Reuters.<ref>Brian Whitaker, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/oct/05/israel6 "War of words in the Middle East"], ''The Guardian'', 5&nbsp;October 5, 2000. (At that point, the AP and Reuters were calling Muhammad "Rami Aldura" by mistake.)</ref>

Contradicting the noon and 3&nbsp;pm timelines, Mohammed Tawil, the doctor who admitted Muhammad to the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, told Esther Schapira that the boy had been admitted around 10:00&nbsp;am local time, along with the ambulance driver, who had been shot through the heart.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67054759 Schapira and Hafner 2009], 00:38:22:11.</ref><ref>{{in lang|de}} Thomas Thiel, [https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/fernsehen/im-gespraech-esther-schapira-was-geschah-mit-mohammed-al-dura-1922381.html?printPagedArticle=true#pageIndex_2 "Was geschah mit Mohammed al-Dura?"], ''Frankfurter Allgemeine'', 4&nbsp;March 2009.</ref> Tawil later said that he could not recall what he had told reporters about this.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Charles Enderlin, ''Un Enfant est Mort: Netzarim, 30 Septembre 2000'', Paris: Don Quichotte, October 2010.<!--add page number--></ref> Records from the Al-Shifa Hospital reportedly show that a young boy was examined in the pathology department at midday. The pathologist, Dr.&nbsp;Abed El-Razeq El Masry, examined him for half an hour. He told Schapira that the boy's abdominal organs were lying outside his body, and he showed Schapira [[:File:Muhammad al-Durrah pathologist's image.JPG|images of the body]], with a card identifying the boy as Muhammad.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67054759 Schapira and Hafner 2009], 00:39:28:01.</ref> A watch on a pathologist's wrist in one of the images appeared to say 3:50.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67054759 Schapira and Hafner 2009], 00:40:39:22.</ref>

===Interview with soldiers===
In 2002 Schapira interviewed three anonymous Israeli soldiers, "Ariel, Alexej and Idan," who said they had been on duty at the IDF post that day.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:03:59:00; 00:14:59:00 for the names.</ref> They knew something was about to happen, one said, because of the camera crews that had gathered.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:05:00:00.</ref> One soldier said the live fire started from the high-rise Palestinian blocks known as "the twins"; the shooter was firing at the IDF post, he said.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:15:50:00.</ref> The soldier added that he had not seen the al-Durrahs.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:16:15:00.</ref> The Israelis returned fire on a Palestinian station 30 metres to the left of the al-Durrahs. Their weapons were equipped with optics that allowed them to fire accurately, according to the soldier, and none of them had switched to automatic fire.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:16:48:00.</ref> In the view of the soldier, the shooting of Jamal and Muhammad was no accident. The shots did not come from the Israeli position, he said.<ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Schapira 2002], 00:17:24:00</ref>

===Father's injuries{{anchor|father's injuries}}===
In 2007 Yehuda David, a physician at Tel Hashomer Hospital near Tel Aviv, told Israel's Channel 10 that he had treated Jamal Al-Durrah in 1994 for knife and axe wounds to his arms and legs, injuries sustained during a gang attack. David maintained that the scars Jamal had presented as bullet wounds were in fact scars from a tendon-repair operation David had performed in the early 90s.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U03h2oEZd0 "Scars from the past"], Channel 10, 13 December 2007; [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQna9EY6DFg Interview with Yehuda David], Channel&nbsp;7 (Israel National News), 20 May 2012, courtesy of ''YouTube''.</ref> When David repeated his allegations in an interview with a "Daniel Vavinsky," published in 2008 in ''Actualité Juive'' in Paris, Jamal filed a complaint with the Tribunal de grande instance de Paris for defamation and breach of doctor-patient confidentiality.<ref name=Tribunal29April2011>{{in lang|fr}} [http://asset.rue89.com/files/Weil.20110429_151418-1.pdf "Ministere Public c/ Benattar, Weill, David"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516102455/http://asset.rue89.com/files/Weil.20110429_151418-1.pdf |date=2011-05-16 }}, ''Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris'', 29 April 2011.</ref>

The court established that "Daniel Vavinsky" was a pseudonym for {{ill|Clément Weill-Raynal|fr}}, a deputy editor at France 3.<ref name=Lherm21Feb2011>{{in lang|fr}} Sophie Lherm, [http://television.telerama.fr/television/quand-un-redac-chef-de-france-3-se-prend-pour-le-justicier-masque,65899.php "Affaire Al-Dura: quand un rédac'chef de France 3&nbsp;se prend pour le justicier masqué"], Télérama, 21 February 2011.</ref> In 2011 it ruled that David and ''Actualité Juive'' had defamed Jamal. David, Weill-Raynal and Serge Benattar, the managing editor of ''Actualité Juive'', were fined €5,000 each, and ''Actualité Juive'' was ordered to print a retraction.<ref name=Tribunal29April2011/><ref name=JPostApril292911/> The Israeli government said it would fund David's appeal.<ref name=JPostApril292911>[http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=218467 "French court convicts Israeli of slandering al-Durra"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501122606/http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=218467 |date=2011-05-01 }}, ''The Jerusalem Post'', 29 April 2011.</ref> The appeal was upheld in 2012; David was acquitted of defamation and breach of confidentiality.<ref>[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4190320,00.html "French court acquits Israeli doctor of libel over al-Dura case"], ''YNet News'', 15 February 2012.</ref> Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli's prime minister, telephoned David to congratulate him.<ref name=Walden19Feb2012/> Jamal Al-Durrah said he would appeal the court's decision.<ref name=Shams2May2012/>

In 2012 Rafi Walden, deputy director of the Tel Hashomer hospital and board member of [[Organization:Physicians for Human Rights|Physicians for Human Rights]], wrote in ''Haaretz'' that he had examined Jamal's 50-page medical file, and that the injuries from the 2000 shooting were "completely different wounds" from the 1994 injuries. Walden listed "a gunshot wound in the right wrist, a shattered forearm bone, multiple fragment wounds in a palm, gunshot wounds in the right thigh, a fractured pelvis, an exit wound in the buttocks, a tear in the main nerve of the right thigh, tears in the main groin arteries and veins, and two gunshot wounds in the left lower leg."<ref name=Walden19Feb2012>Rafi Walden, [http://www.haaretz.com/rubbing-salt-into-the-wound-1.413383 "Rubbing Salt Into the Wound"], ''Haaretz'', 19 February 2012.</ref>

===Israel's inquiries{{anchor|IDF investigation}}===

====2000: Shahaf report{{anchor|Shahaf report}}====
[[File:Yom Tov Samia (cropped).jpg|thumb|Major General Yom Tov Samia]]
Major General Yom Tov Samia, the IDF's southern commander, set up an inquiry soon after the shooting.<ref name=Cygielman7Nov2000>Anat Cygielman, "IDF keeps shooting itself in the foot," ''Haaretz'', 7&nbsp;November 2000 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20021219063255/http://www.proche-orient.info/images/mbd/Anata_deux_Al_doura.htm courtesy link]).</ref> According to James Fallows, Israeli commentators questioned its legitimacy as soon as it started; ''Haaretz'' called it "almost a pirate endeavour."<ref name=Fallows2003/> The team was led by Nahum Shahaf, a physicist, and Joseph Doriel, an engineer, both of whom had been involved in the [[Unsolved:Yitzhak Rabin assassination conspiracy theories|Yitzhak Rabin assassination conspiracy theories]].<ref name=Cygielman7Nov2000/><ref>Ed O'Loughlin, [http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/battle-rages-over-fateful-footage/2007/10/05/1191091366434.html "Battle rages over fateful footage"], ''The Age'', 6&nbsp;October 2007.</ref> Other investigators included Meir Danino, chief scientist at Elisra Systems; Bernie Schechter, a ballistics expert, formerly with the Israeli police's criminal identification laboratory; and Chief Superintendent Elliot Springer, also from the criminal identification lab. A full list of names was never released.<ref name=Schwartz8Nov2007>Adi Schwartz, [http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/in-the-footsteps-of-the-al-dura-controversy-1.232296 "In the footsteps of the al-Dura controversy"], ''Haaretz'', 8&nbsp;November 2007.</ref>

Shahaf and Doriel built models of the wall, concrete drum and IDF post, and tried to reenact the shooting. A mark on the drum from the Israeli Bureau of Standards allowed them to determine its size and composition. They concluded that the shots may have come from a position behind the France&nbsp;2 cameraman, where Palestinian police were alleged to have been standing.<ref name=Fallows2003/>

On 23 October 2000, Shahaf and Doriel invited CBS ''60 Minutes'' to film the reenactment. Doriel told the correspondent, Bob Simon, that he believed the boy's death was real, but that it had been set up to damage Israel. Those in the know, he said, included the cameraman and the boy's father, though the latter had not realized the boy would be killed.<ref>Bob Simon, [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/probing-root-causes-of-mideast-violence/ "Probing Root Causes Of Mideast Violence"], CBS 60 Minutes, 9&nbsp;November 2000.</ref><ref name=Cordesman2005p372>Anthony H. Cordesman, Jennifer Moravitz, ''The Israeli-Palestinian War: Escalating to Nowhere'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-dRUGqwLSE4C&pg=PA372 372].</ref> When General Samia heard about the interview, he removed Doriel from the investigation.<ref name=Cygielman7Nov2000/> The investigators' report was shown to the head of Israeli military intelligence; the key points were published in November 2000 as not ruling out that the IDF had shot the boy, though describing it as "quite plausible" that he had been hit by Palestinian bullets aimed at the IDF post.<ref name=NYT27Nov2000>[https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/28/world/28MIDE.html "Israeli Army Says Palestinians May Have Shot Gaza Boy"], ''The New York Times'', 27 November 2000.</ref><ref>[https://vimeo.com/67662480 Shapira 2002], 00:37:07:00.</ref> The inquiry provoked widespread criticism.<ref name=Goldenberg28Nov2000>Suzanne Goldenberg, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/nov/28/israel "Israel washes its hands of boy's death"], ''The Guardian'', 28 November 2000.</ref> A ''Haaretz'' editorial said, "it is hard to describe in mild terms the stupidity of this bizarre investigation."<ref>"Stupidity marches on," ''Haaretz'', 10 November 2000 ([http://www.seconddraft.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=283:stupidity-marches-on&catid=43:the-a-dura-case courtesy link]).</ref>

====2005: Retraction of earlier position====
In 2005 Major-General Giora Eiland publicly retracted the IDF's admission of responsibility, and a statement to that effect was approved by the prime minister's office in September 2007.<ref name=Seaman2008/> The following year an IDF spokesman, Col. Shlomi Am-Shalom, said that the Shahaf report had shown the IDF could not have shot Muhammad. He asked France&nbsp;2 to send the IDF the unedited 27&nbsp;minutes of raw footage, as well as footage the France&nbsp;2 cameraman shot the following day.<ref>Haviv Rettig Gur, [https://archive.today/20080526213849/http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1211288137213&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull "French court overturns al-Dura libel judgment"], ''The Jerusalem Post'', 24 May 2008.</ref>

====2013: Kuperwasser report{{anchor|Kuperwasser report}}====
In September 2012 the Israeli government set up another inquiry at the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The team was led by Yossi Kuperwasser, director-general of the Strategic Affairs Ministry.<ref>Ben Caspit, [http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Muhammad-Al-Dura-The-boy-who-was-not-really-killed-312930 "Muhammad Al-Dura: The boy who wasn't really killed"], ''The Jerusalem Post'', 12 May 2013.</ref> In May 2013 it published a 44-page report concluding that the al-Durrahs had not been hit by IDF fire and may not have been shot at all.<ref name=Kershner19May2013>Isabel Kershner, [http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/israeli-report-casting-new-doubts-on-shooting-in-gaza/ "Israeli Report Casting New Doubts on Shooting in Gaza"], ''The New York Times'', 19 May 2013.</ref><ref name=Kuperwasser2013>[https://www.scribd.com/doc/142658793/Kuperwasser-Report "The France&nbsp;2 Al-Durrah Report, its Consequences and Implications: Report of the Government Review Committee"], Ministry of International Affairs and Strategy, State of Israel, 19 May 2013.</ref><ref name=Kuperwasserpressrelease2013>[http://www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Spokesman/Pages/spokeadora190513.aspx "Publication of the Report of the Government Review Committee Regarding the France&nbsp;2 Al-Durrah"], Prime Minister's Office, State of Israel, 19 May 2013.</ref>

The Kuperwasser report said that France 2's central claims were not substantiated by the material the station had in its possession at the time; that the boy was alive at the end of the video; that there was no evidence that Jamal or Muhammad were injured in the manner reported by France&nbsp;2 or that Jamal was seriously injured; and that they may not have been shot at all.<ref name=Kuperwasser2013/>{{rp|3–4}}<ref name=Kuperwasserpressrelease2013/> It included a medical opinion from Yehuda David, the doctor who treated Jamal in 1994.<ref name=Kuperwasser2013/>{{rp|31}} The report said it is "highly doubtful that bullet holes in the vicinity of the two could have had their source in fire from the Israeli position," and that the France&nbsp;2 report was "edited and narrated in such a way as to create the misleading impression that it substantiated the claims made therein." The France&nbsp;2 narrative relied entirely on the cameraman's opinion, the report said.<ref name=Kuperwasser2013/>{{rp|3–4}}<ref name=Kuperwasserpressrelease2013/> Yuval Steinitz, Minister of International Affairs, Strategy and Intelligence, called the affair a "modern-day blood libel against the State of Israel."<ref name=Kuperwasserpressrelease2013/>

France&nbsp;2, Charles Enderlin and Jamal al-Durrah rejected the report's conclusions and said they would cooperate with an independent international investigation.<ref name=Mackey20May2013/> France&nbsp;2 and Enderlin asked the Israeli government to supply the commission's letter of appointment, membership and evidence, including photographs and the names of witnesses.<ref>Barak Ravid, [http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/diplomania/after-state-panel-s-mohammed-al-dura-report-france-2-hits-back-at-israeli-government.premium-1.526629 "After State Panel's Mohammed al-Dura Report, France&nbsp;2 Hits Back at Israeli Government"], ''Haaretz'', 29 May 2013.</ref> Enderlin said the commission had failed to speak to him, France&nbsp;2, al-Durrah or other eyewitnesses,<ref name=Mackey20May2013>Robert Mackey, [https://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/complete-text-of-israels-report-on-the-muhammad-al-dura-video/ "Complete Text of Israel's Report on the Muhammad al-Dura Video"], ''The New York Times'', 20 May 2013.</ref> and had consulted no independent experts.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Elena Brunet, [http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/medias/20130521.OBS0002/charles-enderlin-pas-un-seul-expert-independant.html "Charles Enderlin: 'Pas un seul expert indépendant'"], ''L'Obs'', 21 May 2013.</ref> According to Enderlin, France&nbsp;2 stood ready to help al-Durrah have his son's body exhumed; he and al-Durrah said they were willing to take polygraph tests.<ref name=Sherwood20May2013>Harriet Sherwood, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/20/israeli-inquiry-film-aldura-death-gaza "Israeli inquiry says film of Muhammad al-Dura's death in Gaza was staged"], ''The Guardian'', 20 May 2013.</ref><ref name=Sherwood23May2013>Harriet Sherwood, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/23/israeli-report-denies-death-al-dura "Father of Muhammad al-Dura rebukes Israeli report on son's death"], ''The Guardian'', 23 May 2013.</ref>

==Philippe Karsenty litigation==

===2006: ''Enderlin-France 2 v. Karsenty''===
[[File:Philippe Karsenty.JPG|thumb|Philippe Karsenty was convicted of defamation.]]
In response to claims that it had broadcast a staged scene, Enderlin and France&nbsp;2 filed three defamation suits in 2004 and 2005, seeking symbolic damages of [[Finance:Euro|€]]1.<ref name=Carvajal2006>Doreen Carvajal, [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/technology/17iht-blogs18.2838546.html "Can Internet criticism of Mideast news footage be slander?"], ''International Herald Tribune''/''The New York Times'', 18 September 2006.</ref> The most notable lawsuit was against Philippe Karsenty, who ran a media watchdog, Media-Ratings.{{refn|group=n|A second case, against Pierre Lurçat of the Jewish Defense League, was dismissed on a technicality. A third, against Dr. Charles Gouz, whose blog republished an article in which France&nbsp;2 was criticized, resulted in a "mitigated judgement" against Gouz for his posting of the word "désinformation".}} He published an analysis of the footage on his website in November 2004, based on work from the French-Israeli Metula News Agency, that alleged the shooting scene had been faked, as had several scenes leading up to it where protesters were shown being injured.<ref name=Cahen2006>Eva Cahen, [http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/french-tv-network-sues-over-palestinian-shooting-controversy "French TV Network Sues Over Palestinian Shooting Controversy"], Cybercast News Service, 2006.<!--Note: this is dated 7 July 2008, but that date is not correct.--></ref> France&nbsp;2 and Enderlin issued a writ two days later.<ref name=Karsenty2008/>{{rp|00:03:05}}

The case began in September 2006. Enderlin submitted as evidence a February 2004 letter from Jacques Chirac, then president of France, which spoke of Enderlin's integrity.<ref name="Chiracletter" /> The court upheld the complaint on 19 October 2006, fining Karsenty €1,000 and ordering him to pay €3,000 in costs.<ref name=Moutet2008/> He lodged an appeal that day.<ref name=Karsenty2008>Roger L. Simon, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J63FZz6k2Wo Interview with Philippe Karsenty], Pajamas Media, 2&nbsp;March 2008.</ref>{{rp|00:03:45}}

===2007: ''Karsenty v. Enderlin-France 2''===
The first appeal opened in September 2007 in the [[Social:Court of Appeal of Paris|Court of Appeal of Paris]], before a three-judge panel led by Judge Laurence Trébucq.<ref name=Poller2008/> The court asked France&nbsp;2 to turn over the 27&nbsp;minutes of raw footage the cameraman said he had shot, to be shown during a public hearing. France&nbsp;2 produced 18&nbsp;minutes; Enderlin said that only 18 minutes had been shot.<ref name=Schoumann2007>Helen Schoumann, [https://archive.today/20080622192742/http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1195036613140&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull "French court sees raw footage of al-Dura"], ''The Jerusalem Post'', 14 November 14, 2007.</ref>

[[File:3919ParigiPalaisDeJustice.JPG|thumb|left|upright=1.35|The appeal was heard in the Palais de Justice.]]
During the screening, the court heard that Muhammad had raised his hand to his forehead and moved his leg after the cameraman had said he was dead, and that there was no blood on his shirt.<ref name=Schoumann2007 /> Enderlin argued that the cameraman had not said the boy was dead, but that he was dying.<ref name="Haaretz16May2007"/> A report prepared for the court by Jean-Claude Schlinger, a ballistics expert commissioned by Karsenty, said that had the shots come from the Israeli position, Muhammad would have been hit in the lower limbs only.<ref name=Schlinger2008>{{in lang|fr}} Jean-Claude Schlinger, [https://web.archive.org/web/20081112083110/http://www.m-r.fr/balistique.pdf "Ballistics report prepared for Karsenty"], 19 February 2008.</ref>{{rp|60}}<ref name=Schwartz3Feb2008>Adi Schwartz, [http://www.haaretz.com/news/independent-expert-idf-bullets-didn-t-kill-mohammed-al-dura-1.240438 "Independent expert: IDF bullets didn't kill Mohammed al-Dura"], ''Haaretz'', 3&nbsp;February 2008.</ref>

France&nbsp;2's lawyer, {{ill|Francis Szpiner|fr}}, counsel to former President of France Jacques Chirac, called Karsenty "the Jew who pays a second Jew to pay a third Jew to fight to the last drop of Israeli blood," comparing him to 9/11 conspiracy theorist Thierry Meyssan and Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson. Karsenty had it in for Enderlin, Szpiner argued, because of Enderlin's even-handed coverage of the Middle East.<ref name=Poller2008>Nidra Poller, [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121183795208620963 "A Hoax?"], ''Wall Street Journal'', 27 May 2008.</ref>

The judges overturned the ruling against Karsenty in May 2008 in a 13-page decision.<ref>For a translation: :s:Karsenty v. Enderlin-France2, Wikisource, 21 May 2008.</ref> They ruled that he had exercised in good faith his right to criticize and had shown the court a "coherent body of evidence."<ref name=Moutet2008/><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7415858.stm "French TV loses Gaza footage case"], BBC News, 22 May 2008.</ref> The court noted inconsistencies in Enderlin's statements and said that the cameraman's statements were not "perfectly credible either in form or content."<ref name=Moutet2008/><ref name=Poller2008/> There were calls for a public inquiry from historian Élie Barnavi, a former Israeli ambassador to France, and Richard Prasquier, president of the ''Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France''.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Élie Barnavi, "L'honneur du journalisme," ''Marianne'', 581, 7–13 June 2008.</ref><ref name=Prasquier2008>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081022210110/http://www.crif.org/?page=articles_display%2Fdetail&aid=11608&returnto=articles_display%2Flist&artyd=2 "Prasquier: 'establishing the truth about the Al-Dura case'"], ''Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France'', 19 July 2008.</ref><ref name=Lauter8July2008>Devorah Lauter, [http://www.jta.org/2008/07/08/news-opinion/world/french-jews-demand-al-dura-probe "French Jews demand al-Dura probe"], ''Jewish Telegraphic Agency'', 8&nbsp;July 2008.</ref> The left-leaning ''Le Nouvel Observateur'' began a petition in support of Enderlin that was signed by 300 French writers, accusing Karsenty of a seven-year smear campaign.<ref name=Moutet2008/>

===2013: Defamation ruling===
France&nbsp;2 appealed to the Court of Cassation (supreme court). In February 2012 it quashed the decision of the appeal court to overturn the conviction,<ref name=Haaretz26June2013/> ruling that the court should not have asked France&nbsp;2 to provide the raw footage.<ref>[http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/02/29/197701.html "France high court ordered judges to examine Palestinian boy killing case"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509045505/http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/02/29/197701.html |date=2016-05-09 }}, Agence France-Presse, 29 February 2012.</ref><ref>{{in lang|fr}} [http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Arr%C3%AAt_de_la_Cour_de_Cassation_A-Dura_France-2_Karsenty "Arrêté de la Cour de Cassation A-Dura Frane-2 Karsenty"], Wikisource.</ref> The case was sent back to the appeal court, which convicted Karsenty of defamation in 2013 and fined him €7,000.<ref name=AP26June2013/><ref name=Haaretz26June2013>[http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/.premium-1.532184 "French Media Analyst Convicted of Defamation, Fined in Mohammed al-Dura Case"], Associated Press and ''Haaretz'', 26 June 2013.</ref>

==Impact of the footage==
[[File:Avenue Al Qoods, Bamako, Mali, 2006.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Place de l'enfant martyr de Palestine, [[Place:Bamako|Bamako]], Mali]]
The footage of Muhammad was compared to other iconic images of children under attack: the [[:File:Stroop Report - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 06b.jpg|boy in the Warsaw ghetto]] (1943), the [[:File:TrangBang.jpg|Vietnamese girl]] doused with napalm (1972), and the [[:File:Firefighterbabyocb.jpg|firefighter carrying the dying baby]] in Oklahoma (1995).<ref name=ScharyMotro2000/> Catherine Nay, a French journalist, argued that Muhammad's death "cancels, erases that of the Jewish child, his hands in the air before the SS in the Warsaw Ghetto."<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Ivan Rioufol, [http://www.lefigaro.fr/debats/2008/06/10/01005-20080610ARTFIG00634-les-mediaspouvoir-intouchable.php "Les médias, pouvoir intouchable?"], ''Le Figaro'', 13 June 2008.</ref>

Palestinian children were distressed by the repeated broadcasting of the footage, according to a therapist in Gaza, and were re-enacting the scene in playgrounds.<ref>Bryan Pearson, "Death of Mohammed al-Durra haunts Palestinian children," Agence France-Presse, 6&nbsp;November 2000.</ref> Arab countries issued postage stamps bearing the images. Parks and streets were named in Muhammad's honour, and [[Biography:Osama bin Laden|Osama bin Laden]] mentioned him in a "warning" to President George Bush after 9/11.<ref name=Cordesman2005p371>Cordesman and Moravitz 2005, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-dRUGqwLSE4C&pg=PA371 371].</ref> The images were blamed for the 2000 Ramallah lynching and a rise in antisemitism in France.<ref name=Lauter8July2008/> One image could be seen in the background when journalist Daniel Pearl, an American Jew, was beheaded by al-Qaeda in February 2002.<ref name=Fallows2003/>

Sections of the Jewish and Israeli communities, including the Israeli government in 2013, described the statements that IDF soldiers had killed the boy as a "blood libel," a reference to the centuries-old allegation that Jews sacrifice Christian children for their blood.<ref name=Johnson2012pp126-127/><ref name=Kuperwasserpressrelease2013/> Comparisons were made with the Dreyfus affair of 1894, when a French-Jewish army captain was found guilty of treason based on a forgery.<ref name=Taguieff2008>{{in lang|fr}} Pierre-André Taguieff, [https://web.archive.org/web/20081008235728/http://www.lemeilleurdesmondes.org/A_chaud_Pierre-Andre-Taguieff-affaire-al-Dura-ou-le-renforcement-des-stereotypes-an.htm "L'affaire al-Dura ou le renforcement des stéréotypes antijuifs&nbsp;..."], ''Le Meilleur des mondes'', September 2008.</ref><ref>{{in lang|fr}} Pierre-André Taguieff, ''La nouvelle propagande anti-juive'', Presses Universitaires de France, 2010.</ref> In the view of Charles Enderlin, the controversy is a smear campaign intended to undermine footage coming out of the occupied Palestinian territories.<ref name=Patience2007>Martin Patience, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7083129.stm "Dispute rages over al-Durrah footage"], BBC News, 8&nbsp;November 2007.</ref> Doreen Carvjal wrote in ''The New York Times'' that the footage is "a cultural prism, with viewers seeing what they want to see."<ref name=Carvajal7Feb2005/>

==Notes==
{{reflist|2|group=n}}

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

==Further reading==
*{{in lang|fr}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TQS5Ie9-lI Debate. Arlette Chabot of France&nbsp;2 and Philippe Karsenty], part 1/21, 18 September 2008, courtesy of YouTube.

'''Books'''
*{{in lang|fr}} Gérard Huber, ''Contre-expertise d'une mise en scène'', Paris; Éditions Raphaël, 2003.
*{{in lang|fr}} Guillaume Weill-Raynal, ''Les nouveaux désinformateurs'', Paris: Armand Colin, 2007.
*{{in lang|fr}} Charles Enderlin, ''Un Enfant est Mort: Netzarim, 30 Septembre 2000'', Paris: Don Quichotte, October 2010.
*{{in lang|fr}} Guillaume Weill-Raynal, ''Pour en Finir avec l'Affaire Al Dura'', Paris: Du Cygne, 2013.
*{{in lang|de}} Georg M. Hafner, Esther Schapira, ''Das Kind, der Tod und die Medienschlacht um die Wahrheit: Der Fall Mohammed al-Durah'', Berlin: Berlin International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, 2015.
*{{in lang|fr}} [[Biography:Pierre-André Taguieff|Pierre-André Taguieff]], ''La nouvelle propagande antijuive: Du symbole al-Dura aux rumeurs de Gaza'', Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2015.

'''Footage of the scene'''
*{{in lang|fr}} Charles Enderlin, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130423153836/http://geopolis.francetvinfo.fr/charles-enderlin/2008/05/28/le-sujet-du-30-septembre-2000.html "La mort de Mohammed al Dura"], France&nbsp;2, 30 September 2000 ([http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbl5r2_le-reportage-de-charles-enderlin-ob_news courtesy link]).
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arRgkXDLwlM Raw footage], France&nbsp;2, 30 September 2000, courtesy of YouTube.
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75hiDGp89Xk Final seconds of footage], not shown by France&nbsp;2, 30 September 2000, courtesy of YouTube.

{{Arab–Israeli conflict}}




{{DEFAULTSORT:Durrah, Muhammad}}
[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]

{{Sourceattribution|Muhammad al-Durrah incident|1}}