PA TV falsified Mohammed Al Dura clip as it falsified Gaza beach video
mj | 28.06.2006 15:00
PA TV falsified Mohammed Al Dura clip as it falsified Gaza beach video
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
PMW reported yesterday that Palestinian Authority (PA) TV has been broadcasting a falsified video clip of the events on the Gaza beach on Friday in an attempt to blame Israel for the deaths. [Yesterday's bulletin is reprinted below.]
In the new falsification, an unrelated video clip of an Israeli missile boat was edited into news footage to make it appear as if the Israeli boat intentionally fired on civilians. This is the same technique that PA TV used after Muhammad Al-Dura was killed in a cross fire in the Gaza Strip in 2000. Subsequent analysis of that incident has shown that Palestinian fire likely killed the boy. But the PA TV propaganda clip inserted footage of an Israeli soldier from a completely different incident to make it look as if a soldier deliberately aimed at and shot Al-Dura. That doctored video clip was broadcast hundreds of times on PA TV.
The following is the time frame of the PA TV editing and falsification:
00:00-0:32 seconds: PATV clip introduces the scene by showing an Israeli missile boat firing on the Gaza coast. Audio of ambulance siren is added to visual to create false impression that boat was shooting at same time as ambulances were present.
0:32-1:05 seconds: Scene switches directly to the victims, creating a false connection between the events.
1:05-1:09 seconds: PA TV returns to the naval vessel showing sailor with binoculars looking at shore, again creating the false impression he is observing the evacuation.
1:09-2:00 seconds: The evacuation scene continues ending with the word "Why" on the screen only in English, indicating a foreign target audience, possibly media.
The video of the Israeli navy was unrelated to the deaths, having been filmed earlier in the day and had already released to the media and to the internet by the Israeli army at 4:00 PM, an hour prior to the deaths.
Comment: It should be noted that not only is the video falsified, but the beach scene clearly backs the Israeli contention that the deaths were not caused by an Israeli shell. Any Israeli shell would have left a giant crater and spread sand over the entire area, as well as on the victims. There is no crater and the beach scene is not disturbed in a way that indicates an Israeli shell could have landed nearby.
In the new falsification, an unrelated video clip of an Israeli missile boat was edited into news footage to make it appear as if the Israeli boat intentionally fired on civilians. This is the same technique that PA TV used after Muhammad Al-Dura was killed in a cross fire in the Gaza Strip in 2000. Subsequent analysis of that incident has shown that Palestinian fire likely killed the boy. But the PA TV propaganda clip inserted footage of an Israeli soldier from a completely different incident to make it look as if a soldier deliberately aimed at and shot Al-Dura. That doctored video clip was broadcast hundreds of times on PA TV.
The following is the time frame of the PA TV editing and falsification:
00:00-0:32 seconds: PATV clip introduces the scene by showing an Israeli missile boat firing on the Gaza coast. Audio of ambulance siren is added to visual to create false impression that boat was shooting at same time as ambulances were present.
0:32-1:05 seconds: Scene switches directly to the victims, creating a false connection between the events.
1:05-1:09 seconds: PA TV returns to the naval vessel showing sailor with binoculars looking at shore, again creating the false impression he is observing the evacuation.
1:09-2:00 seconds: The evacuation scene continues ending with the word "Why" on the screen only in English, indicating a foreign target audience, possibly media.
The video of the Israeli navy was unrelated to the deaths, having been filmed earlier in the day and had already released to the media and to the internet by the Israeli army at 4:00 PM, an hour prior to the deaths.
Comment: It should be noted that not only is the video falsified, but the beach scene clearly backs the Israeli contention that the deaths were not caused by an Israeli shell. Any Israeli shell would have left a giant crater and spread sand over the entire area, as well as on the victims. There is no crater and the beach scene is not disturbed in a way that indicates an Israeli shell could have landed nearby.
mj