An independent French ballistics expert testified last week that 12-year-old Mohammed al-Dura was not killed by IDF fire in Gaza in 2000 as the Palestinian Authority then claimed. If Al-Dura and his father were shot, they could not have been shot from the Israeli position, said Jean-Claude Schlinger, but only from the Arab position nearby. In addition, they could not have been shot at the time that France 2 reporters said they were, he told the court.
Schlinger said there was no evidence on the videotapes presented by France 2 indicating that Al-Dura was killed at all. France 2’s Middle East correspondent Charles Enderlin rejected Schlinger’s testimony, saying it was based on partial evidence.
Enderlin and France 2 sued Phillipe Karsenty in 2005 for accusing France 2 of broadcasting the staged death of Mohammed al-Dura. Karsenty was found guilty in 2006 but appealed the verdict.