Al Dura case is far from proven

Those who rejoiced to hear that Israel has now "officially" denied that little Muhammad Al-Dura was a victim of Israeli fire may be disappointed. Though news stories said the denial was "official," it seems, as a sharp analyst has pointed out, that only Daniel Seaman, the official in charge of antagonizing the foreign press composed this denial and knew that it existed.  The Prime Minister's Office did not know. It is not clear what evidence, if any, led Seaman to this conclusion, The timing of Seaman's denial is also odd, since the raw footage of the France-2 film that was allegedly fabricated to show the Al-Dura murder has not been aired in court yet, and Seaman himself doesn't seem to have any independent evidence that he could not have had seven years ago.

 

The best outcome one could have wished for is that this little boy had never died. The worst outcome, worse even than finding out that Israeli soldiers killed him for whatever reason, would be if, in addition, it would now be proven that the film appears to be authentic, and that there is a great chance that al-Dura was killed by Israeli fire. That would make not only Seaman, but the Israeli government, look really silly. 

 

Ami Isseroff