Monday, October 1, 2007
Wow, it only took seven freaking years:
Seven years after the death of the Palestinian boy Muhammad al-Dura in Gaza, the Prime Minister's Office speaks out against the "myth of the murder".
An official document from Jerusalem denied – for the first time – that Israel was responsible for the death of al-Dura at the start of the second intifada.
The document argued that the images, which showed al-Dura being shot beside his father and have become a symbol of the second intifada, were staged.
"The creation of the myth of Muhammad al-Dura has caused great damage to the State of Israel. This is an explicit blood libel against the state. And just as blood libels in the old days have led to pogroms, this one has also caused damage and dozens of dead," said Government Press Office director Daniel Seaman.
The arguments were based on investigations that showed that the angles of the IDF troops' fire could not have hit the child or his father, that part of the filmed material, mainly the moment of the boy's alleged death, is missing, and the fact that the cameraman can be heard saying the boy is dead while the boy is still seen moving...
Shurat HaDin, Israel Law Center is planning on suing the government into revoking France2's press certification, and they're considering a damages suit -- that would be a lot of damges. Charles Enderlin, France's Dan Rather (though with even more blood on his hands), is going to brazen it out:
Charles Enderlin, the France 2 reporter who is still working in Israel, said in response to this report, "This is not the first time that Seaman makes such allegations against me – it is nonsense. It is pure slander. The video that we filmed is authentic and I stand behind it.
"We plan to show the film in court in France, and I am certain it will end the repeated mudslinging," the French reporter said.
Update: Arab MK Ahmad Tibi lies:
Commenting on the government’s shirking of responsibility for Muhammed al-Dura’s death, MK Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) said Monday, “The statement is not credible, and it constitutes abuse of al-Dura’s body.â€
“Those behind the investigation are shameless people. Those responsible for this terrible murder, which the whole world saw live, must be brought to justice,†Tibi added.
The world saw nothing live. It was all selectively edited (after having been staged).
I wonder if the raw video footage will eventually be released to the public. That might be what is required for people to make the final determination on this.
BHG
The Post-modernists ought to start constructing a methodology for de-mythification. The only precedent model that comes to mind is the process of de-Nazification, which aimed at loosening the grip on the German mind of myth upon which the Third Reich was erected.
Does anybody think this news will have much currency among the Palestinians?
At this stage of the game, for most of all those myriads of bright lights of a "progressive," pro-Palestinian bent, it matters not at all that Israel did not murder that defenseless, little boy---or even if the Palestinians themselves murdered him or stage his murder so that he is currently alive (let's hope).
This because Israel is still culpable---will always be culpable, symbolically, metaphorically, and really---until Israel is destroyed. The al Dura affair is simply further, irrefutable proof of Israel's malevalence (even though the event never actually happened). It is only one more reason why Israel must be erased because it COULD so easily have happened and is symbolic (in the "progressive" imagination) of what is always happening in Palestine---every hour of every day.
It is but another example of the "false but accurate," which seems to be exemplify the spirit of the age. Having passed through the looking glass (for many years, now), it is not possible for all too many to realize that they are living in a looking glass world.
And in such a world, their view of the Truth is essentially: "Anything that leads to the destruction of the Zionist Entity and those who support it." Similarly, Morality is reserved for "Anyone who works towards the destruction of the Zionist Entity and those who support it."