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CYBER-REFERRALS—San Diego Jewish World appreciates and thanks those individuals and organizations which recommend or post stories of interest to the worldwide Jewish community:

●United Jewish Communities: An article about Israel President Shimon Peres' trip to Italy during which he will confer with Italian leaders and Pope Benedict XVI. Here is the link.

JEWISH OFFICEHOLDERS
● U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (Democrat, New York) is pushing what is known as the ABC Bill for "America's Better Classrooms." The measure, which he cosponsored, would pump $25 billion into interest-free funds for construction and renovation of local schools.

● U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley (Democrat, Nevada) has praised a recent federal court ruling precluding the appropriation of water by the federal government for use at the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear dump. "Water is one of the most important natural resources we have and allowing these supplies to be polluted by toxic nuclear waste is not in the best interest of the families who call Las Vegas and other Nevada communities home," she said on September 4.

● U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl (Democrat, Wisconsin) is studying ways to prevent financial advisors who merely attend seminar from representing themselves as experts on senior needs. "Seniors should be able to truth the people who invest their money. They should not b worried that the title after their advisor's name is scarcely more than a marketing ploy, and that it was not earned through sufficiently rigorous financial education or training."

●U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (Democrat, New York) has joined with U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (both Democrats, New York) in releasing a report by the Government Accounting Office (a congressional arm) indicating serious flaws in the Environmental Protection Agency's assessment and response to the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11. Said Nadler: "The GAO report confirms the horrible reality that to this day, due to their negligence and inaction, the EPA cannot say with certainty that even a single building in the area is free of World Trade Center contamination. As such, we cannot know how many people will become sick because of lingering environmental toxins in their homes, workplaces and schools.."

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News Sleuths:

Watching the media gathering and reporting the news of Jewish interest

Who: Tom Casey, State Dept. deputy spokesman
What: Press Briefing
Where: U.S. State Department
When: Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Subject: Middle East diplomacy

MR. CASEY: Okay. Well, good afternoon everybody. I actually do have a small personnel announcement to share with you as we start the briefing today.

The United States is pleased to support the mission of Quartet envoy Tony Blair by offering Ambassador Don Bandler, a senior retired U.S. diplomat of considerable experience, to serve as the Quartet Representative's Head of Mission in Jerusalem. He will, in fact, be based in Jerusalem and is taking part in former Prime Minister Blair's current visit to the region.

This is part of a commitment that the Quartet made at the time of Mr. Blair's appointment to have some officials seconded from the various Quartet governments to be based in Jerusalem to be able to support his mission. And so Mr. Bandler, former Ambassador Bandler, will be the U.S. representative in this effort, and we look forward to him continuing on with his work with former Prime Minister Blair now and in the future.

QUESTION: Where was he ambassador to?

MR. CASEY: He was Ambassador to Cyprus, as Mr. Lambros probably knows.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MR. CASEY: I could get you -- I can get you a -- the bio for him, in full and in complete. But among the other positions he's held, he's been Ambassador to Cyprus. He was Special Assistant to the President and Counselor at the National Security Advisor handling issues related to the NATO summit, Deputy Chief of Mission in Paris, has extensive experience elsewhere in Europe and the Middle East.

QUESTION: Can I --

QUESTION: Will he -- will his mandate be limited, like Tony Blair's, to infrastructure building?

MR. CASEY: Well, he is, in effect, a staff support for former Prime Minister Blair and therefore will be helping Prime Minister Blair carry out his mandate. Yeah.

QUESTION: So no diplomacy here?

MR. CASEY: No. Again, he's there to support Prime Minister Blair, and the mandate for him is as given by the Quartet.

QUESTION: Sorry to get down into the weeds on this, but does he have a title and does he have colleagues from other countries who are also --

MR. CASEY: Well, he will be the Quartet Representative's Head of Mission, would be his title.

QUESTION: So he's like the chief of staff or something?

MR. CASEY: Effectively, yeah.

QUESTION: And --

MR. CASEY: And yes, other -- the other members of the Quartet, as I understand it, either will have or will be very shortly announcing some of their contributions to this effort as well.

QUESTION: And then getting back to the whole thing about Blair's mission, so does he get paid by the U.S. to do this?

MR. CASEY: You know, I actually don't know whether he's compensated for this in any particular way. I'll have to find out.

QUESTION: You mean he might be a volunteer?

MR. CASEY: Well, he's a retired -- a distinguished retired diplomat, Matt. I am unaware of what forms of compensation he may have for this activity.

QUESTION: Will he report to the State Department on his own?

MR. CASEY: He will report to Prime -- former Prime Minister Blair. He is, again, the Head of Mission for Prime Minister Blair. And again, this is -- why are we doing this? We're doing this because at the time of Prime Minister Blair's appointment by the Quartet, it was agreed that understandably former Prime Minister Blair would require some staff to work with him and support his efforts. So he is, in effect, seconded to the Office of the Quartet Representative to the Office of Prime Minister Blair and will be heading that effort.

Yeah, Elise.

QUESTION: I have a new topic.

QUESTION: No.

MR. CASEY: Staying on this. Okay, sure.

QUESTION: The Middle East. Can you give us a readout of the meetings David Welch had in Middle East today and yesterday?

MR. CASEY: If I'd known he was there, I'd be happy to, but I don't. So I'll try and get something for you later.

QUESTION: Well, according to the Palestinians, he met with Abbas and he announced that the Secretary is going to visit the Palestinian territories on the 18th and the 19th.

MR. CASEY: Well, again, as I told you this morning, we certainly expect that the Secretary will have an opportunity to travel to the region in the near future, but we don't have any travel plans to announce for you and we'll certainly keep you updated as those plans develop.

QUESTION: You don't know that he's there?

MR. CASEY: I frankly had forgotten that he was there, Matt. Yeah, sorry.

QUESTION: Well, that's all right. I mean, he wasn't in the meeting this morning?

MR. CASEY: Didn't see him, no.

QUESTION: Okay.

The preceding transcript was provided by the U.S. State Department

Greater San Diego County

Women's Film Festival board sets
aside director's boycott of Israel films

SAN DIEGO (Press Release)—The American Jewish Committee today expressed appreciation to the San Diego Women Film Foundation and Festival (SDWFF) after it reversed a ban that the festival director had unilaterally imposed against showing Israeli films during the October event.

“We are pleased that the Film Foundation recognized the Festival Director’s errant behavior and has moved expeditiously to correct the injustice of excluding Israeli filmmakers,” said Tad Seth Parzen, president of AJC’s San Diego Chapter.

The Foundation’s apology was posted on the SDWFF website, after AJC’s San Diego Chapter made a number of inquiries earlier today about the Festival’s posture regarding Israeli filmmakers.

“We are embarrassed and horrified to learn such a position was taken without our knowledge or consent,” states the Foundation’s Board of Directors’ statement. “It is the personal view of the Festival Director and not the view of the San Diego Women’s Film Foundation.”

AJC had expressed deep concern about the recent decision of the Film Festival Director to exclude Israeli films from the festival, which opens October 4. “The decision to boycott films from the State of Israel was completely antithetical to the fundamental mission of the San Diego Women’s Film Festival,” Parzen said.

Parzen said the community should applaud the SDWFF Board for immediately correcting the situation.

Responding to AJC and the broader San Diego community, the SDWFF Board said: “For the record, the San Diego Women Film Foundation and Festival is NOT boycotting Israeli films. We are hopeful that film makers from the Israeli community will continue to submit films. Actions regarding the Festival Director will be dealt with internally. Again, our deepest and most sincere apologies.”

(Editor's Note: Although the press release did not mention Jenny Hsu, the festival director, by name, the website of the San Diego Women's Film Festival Board, as it was posted today, indicated that her politics should not have come as a surprise to anyone.

It said: "Jennifer Hsu is currently the Festival Director for the San Diego Women Film Festival, Videographer for the San Diego Unified School District and video documentary-maker. She has an activist art media focus that pervades her work, and she works in the name of feminism, Arabism and the civil liberties movement. Her most recent video project, a collaboration with her partner, Jeremy Taylor, centers on Palestinian and Iraqi refugees living in Yarmouk, a refugee camp in Damascus, Syria. The project is loosely affiliated with Alternate Focus, a San Diego-based non-profit educational media group promoting an alternative view of Middle East issues. Jennifer has also worked extensively with Women in the Director's Chair, TV show 'UpFront with Reverend Jesse Jackson,' and the University of Chicago Center for Urban School Improvement.)


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Commentary
Justice, public safety, politics highlight Dumanis, Gore event

By Michael Rosen

SAN DIEGO—“Tzedek, tzedek tirdof” – “Justice, justice shalt thou pursue.” These words, from Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:20, adorn the office wall of San Diego County’s Jewish District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis who, along with Undersheriff William Gore, addressed the Jewish community last week at an event jointly sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition and Congregation Adat Yeshurun.

This seemingly clear verse is actually rather enigmatic: why is the phrase “justice” repeated? Over the centuries, Jewish commentators have grappled with this double language. Some have suggested it denotes emphasis: the importance of pursuing justice is paramount.

Others have argued that the verse commands us to secure justice even when it’s inconvenient or personally burdensome.

But perhaps the most compelling explanation, put forward by the 18th century Polish scholar Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa, is that the doubling of “justice” requires that we pursue justice with justice, i.e. that the pursuit of justice itself be just.

This means that we must adhere to the highest ethical standards in our efforts to create a just society. Too often, prosecutors or other ostensible advocates for the public (Durham, North Carolina’s Mike Nifong comes to mind; closer to home, City Attorney Mike Aguirre occasionally fits the bill) abuse the considerable power entrusted to them by the law and by the voters. Instead of ensuring due process and conducting themselves with humility, they instead try suspects through the media and launch much-ballyhooed investigations in front of the cameras.

But in DA Dumanis and Undersheriff Gore (as well as his boss, longtime San Diego County Sheriff Bill Kolender), we San Diegans are very fortunate to have three committed public servants who have spent their long and storied careers pursing justice with justice.

A Massachusetts native, Bonnie Dumanis began her career in the DA’s office decades ago as a typist clerk. She went to law school at night and worked her way up in the prosecutor’s office, trying more than 50 felony jury cases. After serving as a Municipal and Superior Court Judge, Dumanis was elected San Diego’s first-ever female District Attorney in 2003. Although she leads an office of more than 300 attorneys, 150 investigators, and hundreds of support staff, she sports a plaque in her office that reads “The clerk helping in your division today may be your boss tomorrow.”

Undersheriff Gore displays a similar sense of humility, despite his many accomplishments. Gore spent 32 years in the FBI, rising to the level of Special Agent in Charge of the San Diego and Seattle Field Divisions. He implemented the Bureau’s Joint Terrorism Task Force here in San Diego and helped establish the county’s Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory – a sort of CSI San Diego. As the Undersheriff (since 2005), he oversees the day-to-day operations of the Sheriff Department’s 4,000 employees and $550 million budget.

Yet the note that these two indomitable public servants sounded during their interactive talk was one of courtesy, respect, and service to the community. Their modesty and respect for their offices was brought into stark contrast when one attendee inquired about Aguirre’s aggressive prosecutorial tactics.

Gore explained that, generally, an investigation has a certain sequence: (1) law enforcement officers open an inquiry and gather evidence; (2) the officers seek a subpoena or search warrants; (3) they make an arrest; (4) prosecutors formally charges a crime; (5) they try a suspect; (6) they secure a conviction; and then (7) they hold a press conference.

But Gore observed that certain obtuse city officials start by holding a press conference, and then and only then fill in the gaps by bothering to conduct a legitimate investigation.

Dumanis echoed these comments, noting that she recently established a Public Integrity Unit in her office that monitors all allegations against publicly elected or appointed officials. She stressed that despite receiving dozens of letters from citizens, political parties, and others asking her to open investigations into the requestors’ professional or political enemies, her office processes these requests with great care, discretion, and caution.

The DA and Undersheriff addressed numerous other topics as well: the DNA database that will soon expand to include all felons (not just violent felons) and the impact the expansion will have on prosecuting property crimes; the increasing overcrowding of our prisons and the Herculean efforts that local and state officials are making to ease the pressure; the organizational structure of the various city- and county-wide law enforcement organizations; and the helpfulness of surveillance cameras installed in various critical locations around the county.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Dumanis and Gore also touched on the importance of vigilance during the High Holiday period. The County has dedicated hate crimes and interdepartmental counter-terrorism units that closely monitor activity and threats to the Jewish community. But they also urged everyone attending synagogue this month to keep their eyes peeled for suspicious or unusual activity. Echoing New York City’s public safety campaign slogan, they strongly reminded the community that “if you see something, say something!”

The evening concluded with Superior Court Judge Howard Shore, a member of Adat Yeshurun, offering detailed advice on how to prevent and deal with home burglaries and other security concerns. Among other recommendations, Judge Shore encouraged all San Diego residents to keep their security alarms active throughout the day, to monitor any drivers idling in cars outside of residential neighborhoods, and to exercise special watchfulness when tenting homes for termites – an all-too-inviting target for brazen thieves.

In short, in keeping with the values of the sponsoring organizations, it was a night dedicated to the majesty and humility of justice and to the importance of building a safe, secure, and just society.

Michael M. Rosen, a San Diego Jewish World columnist, is the San Diego Chapter Leader of the Republican Jewish Coalition and a member of the Board of Directors of Congregation Adat Yeshurun.



Story continuations

Arab League office...
(Continued from above)

I have also pointed out that Italy encourages Israel to undertake every effort, in order to improve the living standards of the Palestinian people. Particularly I refer to the full implementation of the agreements for the freedom of movement. Furthermore, I have stressed that we deem it absolutely necessary to offer to the moderate Palestinians, to President Abu Mazen, the concrete political perspective of a Palestinian State.

Coming from Cairo, where yesterday I had, important meetings as Tzipi said, with the Arab League colleagues, and I have also reported to Minister Livni that I did not fail to encourage the Arab League continue having a constructive approach. And I am deeply convinced that the Arab initiative is really worth carrying on precisely because the normalization of the relations between Israel and its neighbors would provide Israel with the security bench mark, based on specific co-existence and mutual recognition.

In this perspective, Italy – although within the framework of the European Union - tends to strongly support a more effective action of the International Community to revive the pragmatic process and offer a comprehensive solution to the Arab Israeli conflict.

We trust that the effort of the Quartet special representative, Tony Blair. I met him this morning and he is working well. We are ready to cooperate with him. He is working for a Conference after the international meeting proposed by President Bush. I think that – I believe that Italy is ready to offer its contributions and support to the conference. Because I think that it is very important – it is crucial – to support Palestinians in building a capability and a strong democratic institution.

We talk about international meeting convened by President Bush. We agreed that any effort should be made in the next weeks to prepare it well. In order to ensure that these important initiatives be a success. I think that – although our Arab friends are seriously committed, there is some concern because the preparation of the meeting - we need to a definition of success.

I know that Condoleezza Rice is coming to the region and I think that the next meeting of the European Foreign Ministers can provide some support.

Finally, we are aware that the success of this process depends upon the protagonists in the region. It is not Italy or Europe’s responsibility and it is very important, and I think what it is very important, in the next months, is the confidence between Palestinian moderate leadership and the Israeli government. We can support – we want to be part of an active European presence and initiative. I think that we have an important occasion. My opinion after meeting so many Arab leaders, including President Mubarak is that the Arab world seems really to be ready to be willing to finally have peace with Israel. And they are supporting truly, the idea of a Palestinian State – a viable Palestinian State, which means that a peaceful democratic Palestinian State.

It is a great occasion and in the past I think, there was one Israeli Prime Minister who said – in the region we never lost the occasion to lose an occasion.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni: I think that he said this basically about the Palestinians, but we are part of the blame.

FM D’Alema:I think that now we can not lose another occasion – I understand that there is a great concern for security after the Sderot events in Israel, but at the same time, I think that we cannot lose the opportunity to add some important effective step forward, in the path of peace.

Thank you.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni: Thank you very much.

Question: For Mrs. Livni, Mr. D’Alema told us yesterday, that Syria should be invited to the international meeting proposed by Mr. Bush. Do you agree and do you think that the meeting could be in November, or do you think that it would be better to delay it?

And, a question for Mr. D’Alema what does he mean when he says that the Arab League should normalize the relationship with Israel; in which format and with which instruments?.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni: Everybody is talking about the meeting in November. But what is more important is the outcome of the bilateral dialogue between Prime Minister Olmert and President Mahmoud Abbas, since the idea is that if they bridge the gap between both sides, reach an understanding on several issues, this could be something that will be embraced in the meeting by the Arab World, by the International Community and this can also launch ongoing negotiations on more concrete issues later on.

So basically the real question, and this is what we are working on, is the bilateral dialogue and to reach an understanding. And I believe that sometimes, high expectations can lead to frustration and frustration can lead to violence especially in the Palestinian society. We met this in the past, after Camp David 2000, when we could not reach an agreement even though the Israeli proposal was more than enough, but was not agreed, and instead of an ongoing process, we saw terror on Israel from the Intifada for years.

So, basically, I would like to see more realistic expectations, and of course, Israel is eager to reach an agreement; it is a part of our interest, stagnation is not our policy, nor our interest. But at the end of the day, we have to understand that the situation is complicated and let us hope that both leaders can reach an understanding on let us say, the widest common ground that can be reached and then this can be embraced in the meeting, and the meeting can be the beginning of a more concrete process between Israel and the Palestinians, but it is too early to say.

So, from our perspective any understanding should reflect the Israeli interest, but we do believe that right now, there are several issues which are not a zero sum game and the Israeli interests, are also the understanding of the Palestinians.

I would like to give one example. Since any understanding or the implementation of any understanding will be according to performance on the ground, I think that there is a better understanding right now, and I think that Salaam Fayyad shows great courage in understanding that Israel understands that enhancing and helping the Palestinian economy to rise, there is a better understanding by the Palestinians that Israel’s security is not only an Israeli problem, but that this is something that they need to give an answer to, and this can be their part to achieve their own independent state. Thank you.

FM D’Alema: I proposed to the Secretary General of the Arab League, to open an Arab League liaison office in Israel. And my opinion that it would be an important signal, not only to the Israeli government, but also to the Israeli public opinion. He did not answer no. There are some problems but I think that it is important; we will see. We are in the preparation of the meeting.

I agree with Tzipi that it is important to establish and to define a realistic target – a realistic outcome for the meeting, and as you know, the international meeting is not our proposal, but the risk is on the table, and the – I think that now, we cannot fail.

We cannot fail, because an international meeting proposed by President Bush means something important. And we feel– we and the Arab world, we feel that it is important.

And now I think that we have to focus our effort on any possible step forward and positive outcome of the conference

The preceding story was provided by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Al-Durah ...
(Continued from above)

The 55 seconds of footage shows al-Durah and his father seeking cover during a crossfire between an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) outpost and Palestinian police and gunmen, who were shooting from 7 main locations, including the towers behind the Israeli post, and the boy later slumped over, allegedly dead. The broadcast, basing itself on Abu Rahma's words, claimed that the boy was shot by Israeli troops. Enderlin's story, which France-2 provided free of charge to the rest of the international media, led to world-wide accusations against Israel that the boy had been deliberately killed by IDF during a shoot out with Palestinian Authority (PA) forces.

The edited 55-second al-Durah footage was shown repeatedly worldwide and particularly on Arab television networks, resulting in a wave of hatred and terror directed against Israel and Israelis. On October 12, two IDF soldiers, Yosef Avrahami and Vadim Novesche, who had mistakenly wandering into PA-controlled territory, were murdered, their bodies disemboweled beyond recognition and their entrails passed around and literally chewed and swallowed at a PA police station in Ramallah. The mob invoked Durah's death as a justification for its barbarism.

The Orr Commission, which investigated the violent rioting by Israeli Arabs in October 2000, concluded in its final report that "Muhammad al-Durra's picture, which was distributed by the media, was one of the causes that led people in the Arab sector to take to the streets on October 1, 2000." Also, the Mitchell report, drafted in May 2001 by a joint U.S.-European committee, also noted that the al-Durah incident was one of the events that sparked the Palestinian Arab violence.

Additionally, innumerable suicide bombers and other Palestinian terrorists have cited al-Durah as a justification for their crimes. In June 2005, a 21-year old Palestinian Arab woman, Wafa Samir al-Bis, who was stopped on her way to blow herself up and kill as many Israeli children as possible at the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, acknowledged that she specifically wanted to kill children in revenge for the death of Mohammad al-Durah . Moreover, al-Durah is prominently featured in al-Qaeda recruitment videos and on Hizballah banners. The murderers of Wall Street Journal 's Daniel Pearl interspersed their video of his beheading with the France-2 film. Throughout Europe, and particularly in France, Muslims have used al-Durah as a rallying cry in their attacks against Jews, which broke out shortly after the Durah film was broadcast ( Jerusalem Post, October 23, 2006).

For the past six years, PA television has continuously aired a film showing al-Durah in heaven beckoning other Palestinian children to "martyr" themselves by becoming terrorists so that they can join him in paradise. Postage stamps bearing his crouched image have been issued in Jordan, Egypt and Tunisia, a street in Baghdad and a square in Morocco bear his name, while many schools across the Arab world are named after him. His image has even been reproduced on a designer dress in Saudi Arabia.

However, the accusation that Israeli forces deliberately targeted a boy (and his father), whom they had clearly seen is debunked by investigations and evidence that has already come to light, and which suggests even that al-Durah's death did not occur, including the following:

The 55 seconds of Abu Rahma's footage that was publicly broadcast does not show al-Durah dying or any bloodstains where the boy and his father were crouched, nor any ambulance evacuating them.
No autopsy was ever performed on Muhammad's body.
In the weeks that followed the event, physicists Nahum Shachaf and Yosef Doriel conducted investigations on behalf of the IDF's Southern Command. Both men separately proved mathematically and physically that the IDF forces on the ground could not see al-Durah and his father from their outpost and that it was physically impossible for their bullets to have killed al-Durah.
3 hours of raw footage from Reuters and Associated Press taken in the vicinity at the time show dozens of Palestinian boys attacking Israeli guards posts with stones, Molotov cocktails and projectiles, appliances etc. Yet, if the IDF had wanted to deliberately kill children, it could have easily done so, yet none were killed and and al-Durah was the only one allegedly killed on the scene.
The few people who have been allowed to watch Rahma's entire film have stated that it is impossible to conclude that al-Durah was killed because he is shown in this unpublicized footage to be raising his elbow and right leg, turning his head and looking around furtively, then putting his head and elbow back in position, but leaving his leg suspended in air ( FrontPageMag.com , August 29, 2007).
Al-Durah's father was allegedly wounded in the arm elbow and leg – but no blood appears in the footage.
The cameraman, Talal Abu Rahma, claims that the IDF were firing for an astonishing 45 minutes at al-Durah and his father which is not only absurd but, if true, would have resulted in many wounds, bloodstains and bullet marks that are simply not present in the footage.
The al-Durahs were sheltering from gunfire behind a concrete wall and barrel not visible to IDF soldiers in the guard post from which they were allegedly shot and on which there are no bullet marks ( FrontPageMag.com, August 29, 2007).
Respected media organizations like the Wall Street Journal , CBS News, Atlantic Monthly and Commentary magazine have published detailed investigations that all conclude that the footage was either staged or simply edited to show something that didn't happen.
On October 2, 2002, a German television documentary film by Esther Schapira called Three Bullets and a Dead Child: Who Shot Muhammad al-Durah? was broadcast and concluded that IDF bullets could not have killed Al-Durah.

According to the cameraman, Abu Rahmeh, Mohammad bled for 20 minutes. But, in the film clip broadcast the world over, and in the additional 3 seconds not commonly seen by television viewers, there are no signs of blood on the Al Durahs, on the wall behind them, nor on the ground.

The findings of this German documentary and other investigations shown that, at a minimum, the probability that the IDF killed al-Durah is virtually nil and, more likely, the event was either staged or edited to lead to the false conclusion that al-Durah had been killed by Israeli forces. Yet France-2 refuses to release the full 27 minutes of its own footage to public scrutiny and has sued three French Jews who accused them in various ways of manufacturing a blood libel against Israel by purposely distorting the events at Netzarim junction that day.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, "It is past time that France-2 stop hiding behind legal action aimed at penalizing those who have questioned the veracity of its report that misleadingly lead the world to believe that Israeli forces deliberately killed this Palestinian child, if in fact al-Durah was killed at all. Even without seeing the full 27 minutes of France-2 footage, which it has simply refused to publicly release, it is already clear that it is highly unlikely, if not in fact impossible, that IDF bullets killed al-Durah (again, if in fact he was killed).

"This staging of a phony murder and lying about Israeli killings of Palestinians would be nothing new for the PA. It is has been demonstrated on several occasions that the PA and other terror have deliberately staged propaganda incidents involving non-existent massacres, like the one that supposedly occurred at Jenin in April 2002 in which PA officials claimed that 5,000, then 1,000, then 500 Palestinian civilians had been killed. (In fact, 52 Palestinians, at least 30 of them combatants, were killed in the heart of a civilian area in a ground battle which also claimed the lives of 23 Israeli soldiers). The PA has been known to present live bodies as corpses and stage armed confrontations in collaboration with sympathetic media. Or, to give another example, the Lebanese terrorist group Hizballah last year mounted an elaborate hoax in which an ambulance was made to appear as if it had been deliberately targeted by Israeli forces, only this hoax was quickly exposed. Or in June 2006, when a girl, Hoda Ghalia, was killed with six other members of her family on a Gaza beach in an explosion for which the PA accused Israel although the IDF had not been conducting any operations in the area. It has also been reported that Palestinians have been filmed on stretchers taken to and from ambulances, with the supposed casualties then climbing off unhurt when the news cameras have left the scene.

"As this particular incident was not exposed in a timely manner and has been shown to have inspired further acts of terror against Israelis and other Westerners, we call upon France-2 Television to come clean by releasing the entire footage so that all can make an informed judgment on the events at Netzarim junction on September 30, 2000. It is deeply suspicious that France-2, if it believes its story to have been correct and truthful, has refused until now to release the footage which ought to back up its case and has instead attempted to silence and penalize those who have raised legitimate and searching questions about its story. We also urge all American Jewish organizations to call upon France-2 to release the footage."

The preceding story was provided by the Zionist Organization of America

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