Middle East Reporting: The Liars Are Still Active

Philippe Karsenty
Hudson New York
14 October '10

European politicians want to force Israel to make concessions to its enemies, so they need to demonize Israel. European media outlets have therefore constructed a narrative in support of these politicians' agenda; and any facts not in keeping with it are ignored.

In the United States there are media-monitoring groups such as the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting, but organizations like this would not work in France.

(Pajamasmedia Richard Landes examines the evidence in the Al Dura case
 and other examples of "Pallywood" journalism)


Why? Because in France, Jews would not be trusted to monitor news about the Middle East: they would be considered biased. In France, monitoring work on the Middle East done by a Jew would be treated as irrelevant. So I created Media-Ratings in France to monitor the press – and it is treated as irrelevant.

In 2002, when I understood, thanks to Israeli and American researchers, that the Mohammed al Dura news report – the image of the 12-year-old Palestinian boy huddling against his father, who were said to have been shot by Israelis -- was a hoax, I tried to raise awareness about it, but no one would listen. There is no blood anywhere in the footage after the alleged shooting; a forensic investigation of the bullet holes showed they could not have come from the Israeli position, and only witness was the Palestinian cameraman who shot the footage, the most crucial part of which, the shooting itself, is still missing.

People told me: "We don't listen to Holocaust deniers, so we won't listen to you."

The French public TV station which was responsible for creating and airing the Al Dura hoax would not engage in any debate about their news report.

Consequently, I had to find a proper way to participate in the debate, and enter the stage by creating a watchdog organization, which would monitor all media outlets on all topics.

This is why and how, in 2004, Media-Ratings was created.

We were very careful not to deal with Israeli topics, ignoring the solicitations of some of our readers.

Very quickly, I received some invitations to appear on TV in France to critique the media.

As soon as it was established, we received coverage in the mainstream media.

Six months after our creation, I was "part of the club."

(Read full story)

If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.
.