JERUSALEM NEWS
NEWS AND INFORMATION
Events, happenings, and Opinions Concerning
Israel, Israelites, Judah, and Everyone Else
Jerusalem News-813
Jerusalem News-813
25 Tishrei 5768, 24th October 2008
Contents:
1. Diplomatic Sources:
Nasrallah
Ill from Chemical Murder Attempt
2. The Muhammad al-Dura
Boold
Libel Should be Made Known!
3. David Tempelhoff:
Sarah Palin
May Yet Become President!
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1. Diplomatic Sources:
Nasrallah
Ill from Chemical Murder Attempt
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128037
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
(IsraelNN.com) Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah is seriously ill from a
chemical attack nearly two weeks ago, according to Iraqi sources quoted by
Beirut diplomats. Nasrallah has not been seen in public for more than a week,
but his aides have vehemently denied the report, published in the Iranian
newspaper Khoursid.
It stated that Iran sent 15 doctors to Lebanon to save his life and that they
are prepared to fly him to Iran, if necessary. They estimate that Nasrallah was
poisoned by an unidentified chemical substance.
The report may explain rumors 10 days ago that Nasrallah has appointed his heir
in case he is assassinated. Safi al-Din, the chairman of the terrorist
organization's executive council and Nasrallah's cousin, will take over the
leadership of Hizbullah if "the Zionists succeed in assassinating Hassan
Nasrallah," the newspaper reported.
Hizbullah officials have investigated everyone who has visited Nasrallah since
the reported attack and also are questioning Hizbullah officials. Israel was
immediately blamed for the attack, but it also may have been carried out
Hizbullah dissidents.
Nasrallah took over as Hizbullah leader in 1992 after his predecessor Abbas Al-Mousawi,
was assassinated.
Nasrallah reportedly was the target of an assassination attempt two years ago,
shortly after the conclusion of the Second Lebanon War. The Lebanese A-Safir
newspaper reported at the time that Lebanese army intelligence officials foiled
an attempt on his life by a Palestinian-Lebanese cell.
2. The Muhammad al-Dura
Boold
Libel Should be Made Known!
From: imra@netvision.net.il
Philippe Karsenty: "We Need to Expose the Muhammad al-Dura Hoax"
Middle East Quarterly
Fall 2008, pp. 57-65
Extracts Only (for complete article see URL below):
www.meforum.org/article/1998
Editors' preface:
Philippe Karsenty
Philippe Karsenty is the founder and president of Media-Ratings
(www.M-R.fr), an online French
media watchdog. In November 2004, he
published an article entitled "Arlette Chabot and Charles Enderlin Must Be
Fired Immediately,"[1] alleging that France 2, the television news station
for which Chabot and Enderlin worked, violated journalistic standards by
airing footage depicting as fact the alleged shooting of Muhammad al-Dura, a
12-year-old Palestinian boy, by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Dura
tapes showed a 12-year-old boy crouching behind his father while only one
bullet whistles and pops in the background; it is clear now that during the
fifty-five seconds of aired footage, the boy was not fired at and that, at
the end of the film, he remained alive. Karsenty claimed the footage was
staged by Palestinian cameraman Talal Abu Rahma, who staged similar scenes
elsewhere in the eighteen minutes of the tape that Karsenty viewed.
After France 2 aired the clip as fact and then distributed the footage for
free, other networks rebroadcast it. The death of Dura at the hands of the
IDF became a cause c l bre throughout the Muslim world, inspiring violence
and anti-Semitism.[2]
In the article, Karsenty also announced his readiness to defend his claims
in court.[3] Chabot and Enderlin subsequently sued Karsenty for defamation
in a French court of law.[4]
The French court, against the recommendation of the public prosecutor who
had argued in favor of Karsenty's free speech rights, initially ruled in
favor of Chabot and Enderlin and ordered Karsenty to pay a symbolic fine of
one euro to each plaintiff, as well as a 1,000 euro fine and 3,000 euros in
court costs.[5]
In September 2007, the Eleventh Chamber of the Appeals Court of Paris heard
Karsenty's appeal. The judge demanded that France 2 turn over the
twenty-seven minutes of raw footage. Enderlin, however, claimed he was not
in possession of the rest of the tape. Three French journalists who were
invited by France 2 to see the footage testified to seeing twenty-four
minutes of film preceding the footage of Dura, in which young Palestinians
are performing for the television cameras, falling and getting up when they
think that no one is watching.[6] In the end, only eighteen minutes of the
entire tape were shown in court, and none depicted Dura being killed. In
fact, at the end of the footage shown in court, the boy is still clearly
alive.[7]
Karsenty won his appeal on May 21, 2008.[8]
Brooke Goldstein conducted this interview with Karsenty in two parts, the
first in New York City on October 4, 2007, and the second, by telephone on
May 27, 2008, after Karsenty's victory.
The Lawsuit
Middle East Quarterly: What specifically led France 2 television to sue you
for defamation?
Philippe Karsenty: The defamatory words were that the Muhammad al-Dura tapes
are fakes, a hoax, that Charles Enderlin was misled, that he misled people,
and that he should resign.
MEQ: You said that the majority of the twenty-seven minutes not initially
shown to the public are rushes and staged scenes. Laurence Trebucq, the new
judge on appeal, ordered the tapes released but only within the court. Why
doesn't she release the images to the general public?
Karsenty: We don't know yet.
MEQ: In the ruling against you in the lower court, the judge went against
the recommendation of the public prosecutor who said there was no evidence
that you acted with personal animosity, but the judge also seemed upset when
he read the judgment against you, and he awarded the plaintiff very little.
What does this say to you?
Karsenty: That the judge may have felt uncomfortable, received orders, and
was not proud of what he was doing.
What Happened to Muhammad al-Dura?
MEQ: There are different theories about the fate of Muhammad al-Dura. Some
say he was killed by the Palestinians, and others say he is alive at the end
of the tape but are not clear if he is alive now. What is your version of
the incident?
Karsenty: We shouldn't talk about theories but about facts and evidence. At
the end of the France 2 film, the boy is not dead. He is raising his elbow
and looking at the cameraman. These images are available on Richard Landes'
website and on Youtube.[12] If you look at the images, you will see that the
boy is clearly not dead. There are no bullet wounds or blood. Those images
were never broadcast in France, but they were shown in England on the BBC
and in Arab countries. What amazes me is that nobody said, "Wait a minute.
There is a problem here." It doesn't make sense. In a news report done one
year after his son's alleged death, Dura's father says the first bullet hit
his son on the right knee,[13] but the tape shows not a single drop of blood
there; it is ridiculous. Nothing makes sense in his version, but nobody
wanted to look at the images.
MEQ: Why did Chirac write a letter to the court on behalf of Charles
Enderlin?
Karsenty: Chirac wrote a letter commending Charles Enderlin and his
attention to accuracy[14] in his latest book. Chirac's team knew this letter
would be used at the trial, but the letter was not directly about the
Muhammad al-Dura footage. Chirac did this to further his idea of France's
politique-arabe.
MEQ: What contributed to the change in Israeli governmental policy towards
you?
Karsenty: When the government was fighting such a difficult campaign on the
ground, it just wanted to put the Muhammad al-Dura affair behind it. But
lies endure.
If the good name of Israel is besmirched in this case, it will haunt the
country for generations. Note that millions of people continue to believe in
the anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Muhammad
al-Dura postage stamps already exist in Tunisia, Egypt, Iran, and Jordan.
Squares in Morocco and Mali and streets in many cities are named for Dura.
Daniel Pearl was beheaded with the image of Muhammad al-Dura behind him. We
need to expose the Dura hoax now so our children needn't suffer for this
lie.
MEQ: Do you think that the French media seek to appease the local Muslim
population?
Karsenty: The media go well beyond appeasement to incitement.
MEQ: You are saying France 2 actually sought to incite violence against the
Jewish population by airing the Muhammad al-Dura tapes?
Karsenty: Yes, it used this as a form of pressure on Israel. Chirac used the
French Jews as hostages. He seemed to say to the State of Israel, "I have
600,000 Jews in France, and if you don't behave correctly towards the
Palestinians, we will show this footage and the Jews of France will be
assaulted."
MEQ: How independent is the French media?
Karsenty: Everyone in the private media depends on the state in one way or
another, which explains why they refused to report on my trial, even after
foreign media began to cover it. When it comes to foreign policy, there is
no independence in either public or private media.
MEQ: Why does the French media have not only an anti-Israel and anti-U.S.
agenda but also a pro-Arab agenda?
Karsenty: The French don't like Arabs at all. The proof? They mistreat them
in France, but they feel guilty for the way they treated them in the
colonies.
MEQ: Do you sense hostility to Jews?
Karsenty: Yes, the French will never forgive Jews for exposing French
collaboration in the Holocaust. This is one motivation for depicting Israel
as a Nazi state. It is the French way of saying "We behaved no worse than
the Jews do now." It helps the French feel less responsible for their
collaboration with the Nazis.
MEQ: You recently won your appeal?
Karsenty: Yes, we won the case completely; the court decision was clear. The
court, however, did not have to rule that the tapes were staged but, rather,
said that I could publish what I wanted because I had evidence that it was
staged. The written arguments say that I am right, yet all of what the court
said intrinsically supported my statement that the incident was staged.
MEQ: Has any French media covered your success?
Karsenty: At the beginning, no, of course not, but The Wall Street Journal
had a huge piece on it.[18] There was also a short article in Le Monde.[19]
Le Monde said that France 2 had lost but not that I had won. There is a
difference. And now, Le Figaro published one editorial piece and a
confidential note.[20] And we're expecting more to come.
MEQ: What are the implications of your case for French Jews and Muslims?
Karsenty: People who really care about the Arabs see that I am pro-Arab. Who
suffers most in this war with Israel? Arabs. Incitement creates hatred.
Chirac was not a friend of the Arab people; rather, he was their worst
enemy. He was the best friend of Arab dictators because of business and
political deals. Telling Arabs to stop wanting to die for lies helps them to
have a better life, and this is also what I tried to do. The Muhammad
al-Dura tapes were a lie that created much hatred and violence, contrary to
the interests of Arab peoples.
--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il
3. David
Tempelhoff:
Sarah Palin
May Yet Become President!
From: David Tempelhoff <david.tempelhoff@gmail.com>
Hello Yair,
I live in Wasilla, AK the home of Governor Palin. A friend of mine
was in a Christian Chruch meeting a number of years ago with Gov
Palin, before she was Major.
The Speaker stopped in the middle of the service and said " God has
told me that there is someone in this room who is going to be in
Politics and go to the very top of the Political world. The very, very
top". It was a Prophecy if you believe those sorts of things in this
day and age.
Since that time--Gov Palin has gone from Major, Head of Alaska Oil and
Gas Commission, Alaska Governor now nominee Vice President of the
United States.
Alot of people think that the reason John Mc Cain picked Sarah was
because he made a deal with God while in Prison years ago.
Some say God is calling in that favor and that is the reason He picked
Sarah Palin. She is extremely Pro-Isreal ( has an Isreali Flag on her
desk), She is anti-Abortion, she is the mother of a son who is serving
in Iraq, She is a lady and she fears God. There are alot of other
reasons.
I think it drives the 'left nuts' that a Beautiful Christian women not
a manly looking Professional women has a shot at the job. She came out
of nowhere they say. I say God put her there. The media hates her and
are hammering her hard but all they are doing is forging tougher
steel.
Another thing people should know is that there is an amazing number of
Pro-Isreal supporters in Alaska. More per capita that I have found
down below in the lower 48. Wasilla gets hammered for being a Red-neck
enclave. It is far from it. There was a Sukkot celebration for none
jews at a town hall in neighboring Palmer, AK this weekend. Imagine
that.
Alaska Airlines was the airline that rescued the Yemminite Jews years
ago. The current Jordanian Kings Mother used to work as an Alaska
Airlines Stewardess. There are many other connections of Isreal and
Alaska.
Dont be surprised if Mc Cain get nominated and Sarah Palin eventually
becomes President.
This is an ancient, ancient land and there is something special about it.
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