Myths die hard. In 2000 the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) allegedly killed a young boy named Mohammed al-Dura and injured his father. The image of the father trying to protect his son from the evil IDF bullets became an iconic symbol propagated by mass media and many Middle Eastern governments. Not long after the footage went on the air people had been skeptical about the validity of the story. Many have since challenge the authenticity of the scene, and in recent events people independent of the Israeli government agree.

As reported by Haaretz, an independent ballistics expert named Jean-Claude Schlinger told a French court "that the death of Mohammed al-Dura, a Palestinian child seen being shot in the Gaza Strip during the first days of the intifada in September 2000, could not have been the result of Israeli gunfire, corroborating claims that the shocking footage was doctored."

This case derives from "a libel suit brought by the France 2 television channel and its Middle East correspondent, Charles Enderlin, against Phillipe Karsenty. On November 22, 2004 Karsenty wrote on his Web site, Media Ratings, that Dura's death had been staged and that France 2's conduct 'disgraces France and its public broadcasting system.'"

Says Schlinger, "If Jamal [the boy's father] and Mohammed al-Dura were indeed struck by shots, then they could not have come from the Israeli position, from a technical point of view, but only from the direction of the Palestinian position."

Source:

Schwartz, Adi, "Independent expert: IDF bullets didn't kill Mohammed al-Dura", Haaretz, February 3rd, AD 2008, found at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/959836.html