(IsraelNN.com) The Israel Law Center (ILC), has asked the Supreme Court to order the Government Press Offfice (GPO) to revoke the press credentials of the France-2 Television crew, and especially that of France-2's Israel bureau chief Charles Enderlin.

The reason: the Muhammed Al-Dura blood libel.

France-2 disseminated throughout the world, in late 2000, a film clip that appeared to show Israeli forces shooting a defenseless 12-year-old boy to death as his father tried futilely to shield him.  The boy, Muhammed al-Dura, became an icon for the Palestinian cause and an inspiration for the Oslo War against Israel that began around the same time.

The clip was shot by an Arab photographer from Gaza at Gaza's Netzarim Junction, where IDF forces and Arab terrorists appeared to be engaged in an exchange of fire.  France-2's Enderlin, who narrated the video item, stated that the boy was dead - though the screened pictures did not bear this out.  Enderlin, who was not on the scene as the pictures were shot, also blamed the IDF for the boy's death.

The clip did not only spur on the Oslo War, but the State of Israel was also widely condemned, and Jews around the world were attacked in outbursts of violence.  The fact that IDF officials, relying on the video, did not deny their responsibility, but said only they "would investigate," did not help Israel's image.  Photos of Al-Dura were disseminated around the Arab world, and Israel was forced to fight its defensive battle against Oslo War terrorism with a clear loss in the "public relations" column.

Soon, however, evidence began to mount showing that the boy could not have been killed by IDF fire.  German filmmaker Esther Schapira was first to present the evidence in an organized manner, in a March 2002 video release entitled, "Three Bullets and a Dead Child: Who Shot Mohammed al-Dura?" She concluded that Israeli bullets could not have killed the boy.  More research surfaced, and in Nov. 2004, France-2's news director admitted that it was impossible to know with 100% certainty whether Israelis or Arabs killed Al-Dura.

Also in 2004, Philippe Karsenty, director of the French website Media Ratings, published an article calling for the resignation of Charles Enderlin and another France-2 employee, for staging the Al-Dura boy's death.

France-2 sued Karsenty for libel, and won the case in October, 2006. Enderlin and France-2 were awarded symbolic damages of one euro each, and Karsenty was ordered to pay a small fine and court costs.  Karsenty is currently appealing the decision, and France-2 has been ordered to hand over many of the missing minutes of raw footage of the clip.

Endre Mozes, Chairman of TakeAPen.org, attended the opening of the trial and said he saw much evidence supporting the contention that the entire event was staged. He noted that while youth are seen fleeing from danger of bullets, "you see others in their 30's walking peacefully by in no hurry. So your feeling is much more that you are in Hollywood than on a battle site."

GPO Refuses to Revoke
This past February, the Israel Law Center, headed by Attorney Nitzana-Darshan Leitner, asked the GPO to suspend Enderlin's press credentials until he retracts and apologizes for the accusations against Israel.  GPO Director Daniel Seaman, however, said that though the Al-Dura video was staged and inaccurate, he was not authorized to revoke the credentials of those responsible.

Darshan-Leitner says, "This modern-day blood libel has led to the killing of hundreds of Jews and Arabs, and is still a burning torch of hatred towards Israel and Jews... Pictures of Al-Dura are borne aloft at anti-Israel demonstrations up to this very day in Iran, the Arab world, western Europe and on American campuses - and all because France-2 wanted to increase its ratings... The Muhammed Al-Dura legend is apparently the biggest media scam in the last 100 years."

"Those responsible for this fabrication must either apologize, or pay the price for their actions," Darshan-Leitner continued, "if only to prevent similar cases from happening again, and to put an end to this scam once and for all.  The GPO must protect Israel's clear interests, and cannot claim that it can issue press credentials but cannot revoke them."