French media analyst has been convicted of defamation for accusing a state television network of staging a video that depicted a Palestinian boy being killed in a firefight between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces, reports The Guardian.
The footage more than a decade ago galvanised anti-Israeli sentiment, and shaped perspectives of the Middle East conflict during the second Palestinian uprising.
The al-Dura case has long stirred emotions in Israel, tapping into a larger sense of the Jewish state being victimised in the media.
The footage by France-2 broadcast on 30 September 2000, showed the terrified boy, Mohammed al-Dura, 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.
In a report issued in 2004, Philippe Karsenty said the footage was orchestrated and there was no proof that the boy had been killed.
France-2 sued for defamation, and after a long legal battle, a Paris court fined Karsenty €7,000 (£5,900). He called the verdict "outrageous".
Over the past decade, Karsenty has amassed hours of video about the day of the shooting. At the heart of his claim is the fact 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 is real, but the shooting of the man and boy was staged for the camera.
"I am serene because I know the truth will come out," Karsenty said.
Read more of this report from The Guardian.