The New York Times Buries al Dura StoryThe New York Times buried on page 6 of the Business section (Section C) an important story (February 7, 2005) on the escalating scandal surrounding the facts of the infamous Muhammad al Dura episode. The case involved the alleged Israeli killing of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy and the severe wounding of his father at Gaza's Netzarim Junction in September 2000.
Then the Times buried in paragraph 26 the key finding of the article itself which is that two prominent French journalists reviewed footage of the event shot by France 2 televison and found there is no "definitive scene showing that the boy had died."
CAMERA is asking why this story was buried on the business page. They also point out that the story omitted some important information.
Unmentioned at all in the Times story is the pair's statement in their article in the January 25 edition of Le Figaro that the 27 minutes, including footage taken just prior to the alleged shooting of al Dura, shows scenes in which the "Palestinians seem to be organizing a staged event. They 'play' at war with the Israelis and simulate, in most of the cases, imaginary injuries."
Jeambar and Leconte do not say the al Dura event was staged, nor do they say it was not.
David S. points out that there is more on the NYT story here and on the Al-Dura hoax generally here. You can also find previous In Context posts with more details and links here and here.
Update: I'd like to point out one piece of misinformation that seems to have taken on a life of its own recently. A number of articles have credited Al-Dura's "murder" with igniting the so-called "intifada" (more accurately called the terror war or Oslo war). But the Al-Dura incident was filmed on September 30, 2002. The palestinians had already been rioting for two days by then, and in fact the fire fight in which Al-Dura and his father were allegedly caught was a part of those riots. While the incident has subsequently been used (and was most likely staged) to enrage the "Arab street," it was not the trigger of the violence, which at the time was blamed on Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount. (See MEMRI Special Dispatches from early October, 2000, in which the causes and goals of the "intifada" are discussed at length, without a single mention of Al-Dura)
*Note: if the link to the NYT article doesn't work (which it probably won't), Google "New York Times Al Dura" and it should be the first hit.
