Below you will find listed selected news coverage of the Al-Durah affair:
- BBC Coverage of Al Durah Incident, October 2, 2000
- BBC Coverage of Al Durah, 2 October 2000 (fisked)
- Hadar Sela, Another lethal narrative on the BBC website (BBC Watch): a summary of the BBC’s coverage of Al Durah over time.
- LA Times, October 4, 2000
- LA Times Commentary: Can a Dying Boy’s Image Be the Catalyst for Peace? October 6, 2000
- Ha-aretz Editorial: Israeli Army Stupidity – Al-Durra Case, November 25, 2000
- The Guardian’s coverage of Al Durah Incident, Oct. 3, 2000
- Adam Levick, A Blood Libel is Born: Fisking the Guardian’s Original Report about Mohammed Al Durah
News Coverage of the Mohammed Al-Durah Affair: a Chronology
September 30, 2000:
Netzarim: near to Magen 3, an Israeli military outpost in The Gaza Strip, Jamal Al-Durah and his son, Mohammed, seek cover from gunfire and are shot, allegedly by Israelis; the son is killed and the father receives several gun wounds before he is evacuated to a hospital.
The scene is videoed by Talal Abu Rahma, a freelance cameraman working for France 2, a major French news network.
Charles Enderlin, Jerusalem bureau chief for France 2, declares the boy killed by Israeli fire, and all major news networks pick up the line. Enderlin and France 2 distribute the 55-second footage to all the networks free of charge.
September 30th
The Associated Press reports on the story, alleging that a Palestinian ambulance driver was killed attempting to evacuate the father and son.
October 1, 2000:
Talal Abu Rahma is interviewed on National Public Radio program All Things Considered. Host Jacki Lyden asks him to recount his version of the shooting.
October 2, 2000
Robert Fisk, editor of British newspaper ‘The Independent’, writes an article titled ‘Where caught in the crossfire can leave no room for doubt,’ about the press’s cowardice in its reluctance to implicate Israel in the killing of Al-Durah.
October 2 2000
The BBC reports on the incident, repeating Fisk’s claims that the boy was killed by Israeli fire. For a ‘Fisking’ of the original BBC report and the subsequent unravelling of the narrative, see this link.
October 3rd, 2000
The Guardian’s Suzanne Goldberg publishes her account of the debate surrounding the incident. Talal Abu Rahma is interviewed, and argues that: ‘They (the Israelis) were aiming at the boy, and that is what surprised me, yes, because they were shooting at him, not only one time, but many times’.
For a ‘Fisking’ of this Guardian article, see this article by Adam Levick.
The Associated Press reports on the story, under the headline ‘Israeli Army Blamed for Boy’s Death’.
October 4, 2000
Le Monde and the Los Angeles Times report that Israeli Defense Forces major general Moshe Ya’alon admitted the possibility that one of his soldiers could have potentially mistaken the boy and his father for gunmen, and thus fired in their direction.
October 6 2000
In an emotive Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times, Basil and Riad Abdelkarim describe the alleged shooting of Mohammed Al-Durah, arguing that: ‘rarely has the face of human tragedy been captured with such poignancy and raw emotion’.
October 8, 2000
An editorial published in the Boston Globe ( and since reprinted elsewhere ) by Israeli writer Helen Schary Motro describes a personal relationship with Jamal Al-Durah, and paints a very different portrait of the man from that which can be gleaned from his other statements.
October 10, 2000
An article in Paris daily Le Monde discusses the losing battle Israel is waging in the war of images, largely a result of their ‘murder’ of Al-Durah.
October 12, 2000
Le Monde discusses the most poignant images of the Intifada thus far, with that of al-Durah ranking at the top.
October 16, 2000
People Weekly runs a brief article about the Mohammed Al-Durah tragedy titled ‘No Way Out: The death of a terrified Palestinian child, caught in a crossfire, shocks even a world accustomed to carnage.’
The Telegraph (UK) describes the determination of Palestinians at the outset of the Intifada. The article is called, ‘We’ll buy freedom with our blood, warn Gaza’s children.’
December 25, 2000
Time Magazine Europe names Mohammed al-Durah a ‘Newsmaker for 2000’.
January 11, 2001
The Mirror (UK) interviews Jamal al-Durah in a very moving piece about the shooting.
January 17, 2001
Talal Abu Rahma is awarded ‘Le Prix de la Communication Culturelle Nord-Sud,’ though he is forced to share the prize with ‘all of the children of the Intifada.’
September 30, 2001
The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs publishes an article, ‘Death of a Palestinian Child’ in its August/September issue, in which proof is offered that Israel was the culprit in Al-Durah’s death.
December 22, 2001
NPR’s On the Media devotes a program to ‘The Images of Mohammed al-Durah,’ in which Charles Enderlin, Jamal al-Durah, and Talal Abu Rahma are interviewed. Enderlin claims that ‘the sad story of Mohammed Al-Durah belongs to the sad reality of this region,’ while Abu Rahma pledges proud loyalty to his nation—journalism.