Philippe Karsenty has been convicted of defamation by a French court for claiming that France 2's Charles Enderlin
fabricated at least part of the 'death' of Muhammad al-Dura.
A Paris court fined Philippe Karsenty 7,000
euros (NIS 33,000) in the defamation case filed by network France
2. Karsenty accused the network’s Jerusalem bureau chief, Charles
Enderlin, of fabricating parts of the segment.
The 55 seconds of edited footage, broadcast on
September 30, 2000, showed the terrified boy, Mohammed al-Dura, and his
father amid a furious exchange of fire in the Gaza Strip. It then cut
to the boy slumped in his father’s lap. The report blamed Israeli forces
for the death.
Karsenty called the verdict “outrageous.” A lawyer for France 2 said it was a victory for journalists.
Karsenty was convicted of libel in 2006, a
judgment that was overturned on appeal in 2008.
France 2 subsequently
appealed that appeal at the “Cour de cassation,” France’s highest court.
Last year, the Cour de cassation annulled the ruling acquitting
Karsenty of libel in 2008.
Last month, an official Israeli government report concluded that al-Dura was not harmed by Israeli forces and did not die in the exchange of fire.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who
commissioned the report in 2012, said the accusations aired on France 2
were “a manifestation of the ongoing, mendacious campaign to
delegitimize Israel.”
I sure hope this can be appealed. The fine is small but it's outrageous.
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