French court convicts Israeli of slandering Jamal al-Dura

Yehuda David fined for rejecting claims that former patient was wounded by IDF in iconic second intifada incident.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Israeli Dr. Yehuda David was convicted of slandering the father of Muhammad al- Dura, Jamal, by a French court on Friday.
Muhammad al-Dura, 12, became a symbol of the second intifada when he was shot to death at the Netzarim junction in Gaza on September 30, 2000 – Rosh Hashana.
Television station France 2 showed footage of al-Dura and his father seeking cover while ostensibly caught in the crossfire between Palestinian gunmen and IDF soldiers. The France 2 report controversially reported that the two had been targeted by the IDF. Muhammad al-Dura was hailed as a martyr throughout the Arab world. The accuracy of the France 2 report was widely debated in the following years.
Dr. Yehuda David said in an interview with a French Jewish publication that Jamal al-Dura, on whom he had operated at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer in 1994, had sustained a hand injury in 1992 that he now claimed came as the result of IDF fire in the September 2000 episode.
Al-Dura then filed a lawsuit against David claiming he had broken doctor-patient confidentiality and slandered him in the interview.
On Friday, David was ordered by the court to pay al-Dura NIS 30,000 in damages.
David plans to appeal the verdict. Vice Premier Moshe Ya’alon and Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein notified David that the government would fund his defense going forward.


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