Israel Matzav: Like father-in-law, like son-in-law

Monday, February 20, 2012

Like father-in-law, like son-in-law

You will recall that last week, a French appeals court dismissed a libel lawsuit by Jamal al-Dura, father of the fake 'Palestinian martyr' Mohamed al-Dura, against Dr. David Yehuda, a doctor at Sheba Tel HaShomer Hospital who treated the father in 1994. At Sunday's cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu hailed Dr. Yehuda's victory as a victory over 'Palestinian' propaganda, and declared Dr. Yehuda an 'Israeli hero.' It should be noted that the government did not - at least until now - pay Dr. Yehuda's legal expenses.

Enter Haaretz, which on Sunday afternoon published an op-ed by one Rafi Walden, who is, according to Haaretz deputy director of Sheba Medical Center, a member of the board of directors of the Physicians for Human Rights, and a lieutenant colonel in the IDF reserves. According to my sources, he is also a son-in-law of Israel's moonbat President, Shimon Peres. This one was so bad that Haaretz actually took it down. I got it first as an email, and eventually someone supplied me with the Google cached page, which is here. Here's the key part:

My sole intention is to address testimony provided by Dr. David, who has been praised by the prime minister for having acted with integrity and persistence to defend the reputation of the state of Israel. The facts are completely different. After the incident in 2000, Jamal al-Dura was treated in Gaza, and transported the next day to Amman's King Hussein Hospital. His entire medical file has been relayed to me; it is 50 pages in length, and features pictures of the wounds and x-rays.

Dr. David claimed it was indisputable that the wounds were identical to ones treated eight years previously. The fact is that the medical documentation compiled in Amman shows completely different wounds: there is 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.

Diagnoses in this file also provide detailed documentation of the 1992 wounds, including a paralyzed nerve in the right hand which was, in fact, treated by Dr. David. Photographs, x-rays, surgery reports, expert consultation reports and the rest of the data compiled in this medical file corroborate the diagnoses. I regretfully state that the statements made by my colleague, formulated as though "there isn't a shadow of doubt," are not well founded.

It apparently never occurred to the brilliant Dr. Walden that a hospital in Amman might have substituted different records for those of Jamal al-Dura circa 2000. As far as we can tell, Dr. Walden never saw al-Dura and had no way of knowing whether the records supplied to him from Amman were al-Dura's or someone else's. Dr. Yehuda, on the other hand, treated al-Dura in 1994 and knew exactly what wounds he had suffered in 1992.

Even Haaretz apparently recognized that Dr. Walden was taking the Amman hospital records on faith and took the article down. That's why I had to get it from Google cache. Perhaps Dr. Walden owes Dr. Yehuda an apology.

But then, taking everything one is told on faith runs in Dr. Walden's extended family, doesn't it? Think how we got into the Oslo mess in the first place....

Labels: Jamal al-Dura, libel and slander, Physicians for Human Rights, Shimon Peres