Does this look like a dying child to you?
The Mohammad al-Dura film that France2 TV showed sparked the second, bloody Intifatah, since the video appeared to show a 12 year old boy being killed by Israeli gun fire. In the years since then, analysts have demonstrated that, given where the Israelis were positioned, it would have been virtually impossible for them to have fired the fatal shots. However, there have also always been rumors that al-Dura’s death was staged, and that he didn’t die at all. Thanks to a trial in France that is forcing publication of video shots that were withheld from the original inflammatory footage, this second theory may gain some evidentiary ground. For example, Danny Lemieux sent me to this newly revealed 10 second shot, which shows the boy in the famous death pose, except he doesn’t look as if he is either dead or dying. You can see more rejected footage (that is, footage French television deliberately elected not to show) at Augean Stables.
