A Break In the al Dura Case?

We wrote here and elsewhere about the case of Mohammed Al Dura, a boy who became a cause celebre in the Arab world after he and his father were apparently caught in a crossfire between Palestinian terrorists and Israeli soldiers, and Mohammed was killed. The claim that he was murdered by Israelis is universally accepted in the Arab world–some Arab governments have gone so far as to issue postage stamps bearing al Dura’s iconic image–but the facts are far from clear.
France 2 television, which reported on the event, has long refused to release its raw footage of what happened that day in 2000. Many observers think there is strong reason to believe that the conventional narrative is wrong, and al Dura was not killed by Israeli fire at all. The controversy has led to a libel suit by France 2 and the reporter who covered the story, Charles Enderlin, against Philippe Karsenty, who has questioned France 2’s account of the incident.
Yesterday, a hearing on the case in a French court was attended by a handful of journalists, one of whom represented Pajamas Media. The French judges stunned France 2’s counsel by ordering that France 2’s raw footage, which has not yet seen the light of day, be produced for viewing. A hearing has been scheduled for November, in which the raw footage will be shown. Perhaps this will finally resolve the lingering questions about what happened to Mohammed al Dura, and why; or–possibly more likely–it will show that what really happened remains unknown and perhaps unknowable.
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