Claim No. 2: Muhammad was shot in the stomach and the shot “exploded his stomach”
Aldurah.com critique
In the first of journalist Esther Schapira’s documentaries of the Al-Durah incident, entitled ‘Das Rote Quadrat – Drei Kegeln und ein totes Kind’ (13.10.2008), Dr. Abed El Raqez El-Masry – the Pathologist at Shifa Morgue who performed a limited autopsy on the body alleged to be Muhammad Al Durah’s – describes two fatal and bloody wounds. (The transcript of Dr. El-Masry’s statement, in English translation, appears just below the videotaped testimony below):
[0:24:50.3] Dr. Abed El Raqez El-Masry: “Following the examination, it was clear that the bullet entered the body from the front and from above. The bullet entered the body in the abdomen and exited the body, here. This wound was fatal. The second injury lies just beneath the chest, and the bullet exited through the left hip bone. This wound was also fatal because it shredded major blood vessels. The third injury in the left leg was relatively harmless.” [0:25:16.0]
Compare the foregoing with Talal Abu Rahma’s graphic testimony about Mummad Al Durah’s wounds, including the bloody stomach wound:
Abu Rahma: [CLIP 4. TAR 0:30:17.7] I believe – I believe the boy he got one bullet in his knee – in the beginning, when I heard his screaming. Then he got the bullet in his stomach. [0:30:27.8].
Schapira: [0:30:28.3] So you think the second bullet was the one that killed him already? [0:30:31.9]
Abu Rahma: [0:30:33.0] Well the second one is – explode his stomach. [0:30:36.8].
Schapira: [0:30:38.0] It must have been awful for you to watch this – to sit there…
Abu Rahma: [0:30:41.2] Well I saw the blood is coming – you know – I – I could manage it right now. His blue shirt and the blood is coming red – I still remember it up to this minute. [0:30:50.5].
Now, consider the following:
A stomach wound of the nature described by Abu Rahma – and apparently confirmed by Dr. El-Masry’s statement – should have produced massive and conspicuous bleeding, readily visible to anyone viewing the contemporaneous video footage shot by Abu Rahma. Recall Abu Rahma’s vivid recollection of the bleeding. Abu Rahma also claimed that the boy lay bleeding on the ground for at least 17 minutes.
However, Abu Rahma’s contemporaneous footage of the alleged shooting and its aftermath – including video of the scene broadcast the following morning by France2 and narrated by Charles Enderlin personally – is remarkable for displaying the decisive absence of any blood at the scene. Indeed, given that said France2 video of the barrel and ground clearly shows no blood whatsoever at the scene, one is justified in wondering whether that footage was shot after the alleged shooting, or before it. (If that segment was shot before the alleged shooting – one can only wonder why a photojournalist would just happen to film a – then – unremarkable barrel by a wall? If the segment was shot after the alleged shooting, one wonders – why not a drop of blood there, given the reported bloodiness of the wounds allegedly suffered by Muhammad Al Durah?-
Indeed, Abu Rahma’s contemporaneous video of the alleged shooting also shows no blood spatter whatsoever – neither on Jamal Al-Durah, who was right next to Muhammad, nor on the wall behind the Al-Durahs. In fact, the only evidence in the video of Muhammad Al Durah’s reported stomach wound – or anything resembling blood – is a reddish blotch on Muhammad’s shirt, which most probably originates from a red-stained rag, or handkerchief, clutched in the boy’s left hand as he lays near his father.
This ‘evidence’ is also referred to in our critique regarding claim #1 – Muhammad Was Shot in The Knee, and more fully examined in our critique of claim #9 There Was Blood Visible During The Shooting and At the Scene On The Following Morning on this site. In our critique of claim #9, we also discuss the spontaneous appearance of a reddish substance on the ground by the barrel a day after the incident (certainly after the France2 film segment referenced above was filmed – at a spot well removed from where blood should have pooled if it had actually been draining from the stomach of Muhammad Al Durah as he was filmed laying in his father’s lap, immediately after the alleged shooting.