Philippe Karsenty, head of a French media monitoring group, was convicted of defamation by a Paris court on Wednesday over his claim that Charles Enderlin, correspondent in Israel for French television channel France 2, doctored footage of the killing of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Dura in Gaza in 2000.
The court fined Karsenty 7,000 euros (9,120 $).
"This is an outrageous decision," said Karsenty, who has claimed that the French tv report was staged from beginning to end and that France 2 had engaged in manipulation.
The footage, broadcast on September 30, 2000, showed the boy and his father amid a furious exchange of fire in the Gaza Strip. It then cut to the motionless boy slumped in his father's lap.
The report blamed Israeli forces for the death.
The news footage galvanized anti-Israeli sentiment more than a decade ago and the start of the Second Intifada or Palestionian uprising in which over 1000 Israelis were killed was largely attributed to the video.
“I am very disappointed because I thought that there was a chance that the justice system would find me not guilty of defamation,” he said. “I think it is a dark day for French democracy and I think it is a dark day for the truth,” he added. “The truth will prevail in the end, I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but I know that it will prevail.”
Karsenty sharply criticized the French justice system and those that participated in what he calls the “covering up” of a “blood libel.”
“I see that some people on the other side are very happy because they are saying it is a day of honor for journalism. It is a day of shame for journalism, and I think it is a day of shame for French democracy which is covering up from the bottom, to each and every level a blood libel,” he said.
Karsenty was first convicted of libel in 2006, but the judgment was overturned on appeal in 2008. France 2 appealed that appeal at France’s highest court, and last year the court annulled the 2008 acquittal.
“I saw that France 2 said that they would be willing to work with any investigation committee. Let’s see what they are talking about, if they are really willing to fight for their good name and fight for the truth,” he challenged, further considering his options.
Speaking about the feedback he has been receiving since the verdict, Karsenty says he has received a lot of support.
“Everybody is very upset, because everybody who has seen the evidence knows it is a hoax,” he shared. “So when you see that the French judicial system is covering it up and even fining me, it is a disgrace.”
In September 2007, a French court instructed the TV channel to hand over the entire, unedited footage shot that day, thus reopening the case. In the full video, Muhammad al-Dura can be seen waving his hand, moving his leg and without any visible bloodstains, despite claims made during the news report that the boy had died.
Over the past decade, Karsenty has amassed hours of video about the day of the shooting. At the heart of his claim is that according to the reporting by France 2, father and son received a total of 15 high-velocity bullets but in the video, neither appears to be bleeding. He says the firefight was real, but the shooting of the man and boy was staged for the camera.
Last May, an official Israeli government report on the incident exonerated the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of killing Muhammad al-Dura, stating that the France 2 footage was misleading, provided no evidence and was part of a smear campaign against Israel.
France 2 Jerusalem correspondent Charles Enderlin and France Televisions welcomed Wednesday's decision.
"Today's result is a relief," Enderlin said, but added it did not put the matter to rest. He said "conspiracy theorists" continue to hound him over the incident. But he added that he welcomed an investigation.
"We are ready whenever Israel wants to go for a professional investigation following international standards," he told The Associated Press.
The spokesman of the Israeli foreign ministry, Yigal Palmor, said he had no comment on a case, explaining that it was a matter of intricate French defamation law. He said, however, that the Israeli position on the al-Dura case remains unchanged.
"It is improbable, not to say impossible, that the bullets which hit Jamal and Muhammad al-Dura came from the Israeli position," he said. "Where they did come from remains subject to many hypotheses, though none can be proved," Palmor said.