The CAMERA media watchdog organization (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) demands that B'Tselem redress a false video its program initiated, and that Ynet retract, apologize for, and correct the false B'tselem-based article.
B'Tselem is a human rights organization that is often hyper-critical of Israel. The Jerusalem office of the CAMERA media watchdog organization reports that an Arab photographer taking part in a "citizen journalism" project initiated by B'tselem staged a video clip. The clip makes it appear that Israeli forces refused to allow an Arab mother to accompany her 11-year-old son who was detained for rock-throwing.
In fact, however, a close analysis of the video shows that it was actually Arabs on the scene who refused to allow the mother to get into the police car with her son – despite entreaties by the Israelis that she do so. CAMERA further reports that the Israeli news outlet Ynet reported the anti-Israel interpretation on both its Hebrew and English sites.
CAMERA analyzes the Jan. 25th clip by Narimen al-Tamimi, a participant in B'Tselem's film project. "A careful analysis of al-Tamimi's footage of the arrest of 11-year-old Karim al-Tamimi," the organization reports, "reveals that the scene is staged. The staged episode was then reported as fact by Ynet, a major Israeli news site, amplifying the bogus event in the public arena. B'Tselem needs to retract the false information before it spreads further... Ynet should publish an article explaining how a B'Tselem photographer fabricated footage and passed it off to the media. Ynet should also apologize for its own failure to carefully view the manipulated video."
"Clearly," CAMERA concludes, "the human rights of 11-year-old Karim al-Tamimi, and possibly those of his mother, were of no concern to the Palestinian adults (Narimen and maybe others) who orchestrated this event, putting the boy in harm's way. The exploitation of Palestinian children by adults intent on producing defamatory anti-Israel propaganda calls out for serious investigation on B'Tselem's part. If B'Tselem can find no satisfactory solution to this phenomenon, the video project ought to be suspended to prevent harm to additional manipulated and exploited Palestinian children. Surely B'Tselem, not to mention the European Union and the governments of [B'tselem -sponsors] Holland, Norway and Britain, do not wish to be party to the abuse of Palestinian youngsters."
A detailed report of the staged nature of the video can be viewed here.