Return to last page


Editorial #14 3/19/02





Click here for Israel National News.com


German Film Implies That Arabs Shot 12-Year-Old Muhammad

German Film Implies That Arabs Shot 12-Year-Old Muhammad A film aired last night on German ARD television showed evidence that 12-year-old Mohammed A-Dura - who became a hero for Palestinian Authority Arabs when his death by gunfire was broadcast worldwide - was not killed by Israelis, as the Palestinians have long accused. The boy found his death when he chanced upon a battle-site between Arab gunmen and Israeli forces near Kfar Darom, Gaza, shortly after the current violence began almost 18 months ago. The movie, produced by Esther Shapira, is based on photographs and documents proving that contrary to the PA's propaganda campaign, the boy was actually killed by Palestinian gunfire.

Some of the points raised by Shapira to support
this hypothesis include the following:

* The fatal bullets were shot from the front, when the only forces firing from that angle were Palestinian.

* A big rock had obstructed the view of the boy and his father from the view of the IDF forces, thus that the latter could not see them. The day after the incident, however, an unknown hand removed the rock and replaced it with a smaller one, as if to hide the fact that the IDF did not have a view of the site.

* The Palestinians refused to release the many minutes of footage that cameraman Talal Abu Rachman actually filmed, and the world saw separate, disjointed scenes amounting to only about 45 seconds' worth.

* The Palestinian doctor did not allow an autopsy of the body.

* The Palestinian camera team arrived about an hour beforehand, as if to prepare for a significant event.

Arutz-7 similarly reported shortly after the incident that a study by a former IDF sniper strongly indicated that the boy was the victim of a cruel plot staged by Palestinian sharpshooters and a television cameraman. Former IDF sniper Yosef Doriel, who initiated a re-enactment, said at the time that he had several reasons to suspect that it was not the Israelis who shot the boy: ³For one thing, the boy and his father were hiding behind and to the left of a barrel that was between them and the Israeli forces,² he told Arutz-7. ³In the video clip, you see four clean bullet holes to the side of them. These were not shot by the Israelis, as they are 'clean' and full holes - not mere grazes that would have been formed by the 30-degree angle of the Israelis, but rather by Palestinians (stationed more directly in front of the father and son) to make sure that the two would stay put. Suddenly, you see the boy lying down in his fatherıs lap, with another bullet hole in the wall directly behind him - again, it could not have come from the IDF position, which was behind the barrel and to the side, but only from the Palestinian position, which was more directly in front of the father and son. This is the bullet that went through his stomach and out of his back. At that point in the video, you can hear the firing - but the Israeli position was far away! Rather, what happened was that a Palestinian advanced to a spot very close to the photographer, and shot the fatal shot. You can also notice that at that moment of the fatal shots, the photographer suddenly Œshookı and the picture was blurred - a signal that the shots came from close to him.²

Cameraman Talal Abu Rachman refused to comment on the German film, saying he had to watch it first. His original testimony was that no Arabs had fired shots at the time the boy was killed. Gen. (res.) Yom-Tov Samiyeh, who headed the IDF Southern Command at the time, said today, "One day, it will be proven that the whole story... was one big Palestinian production. And Palestinian propaganda has been riding on this for a long time now."



ARUTZ SHEVA, website, 18 March 2002




© 2002/5762 Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
All rights reserved.
Comments to Webmaster

TORAH EDUCATION PROGRAMS Allen M. Wasserman Academy of Judaic Studies/Midrashia * Yeshivat Chovevei Torah * MeORoT * Torat Miriam * Havurah Study Groups * Scholar-In-Residence Shabbatonim * Living Room Limud * Summer Camp for the Soul * Riverdale Ulpan * Conversion Educational Track ISRAEL / ACTIVISM PROGRAMS Coalition for Jewish Concerns/AMCHA ZACHOR The Committee to Remember The 6 Million OUTREACH ACTIVITIES High Holiday Free Services * Traveling Hanukkia * Free Passover Seder * Outreach Newspaper BEGINNERS PROGRAMS High Holiday Learning Services * Saturday Morning Learning Services