Enderlin's Appeal of Al-Dura Verdict May Have Started A Backlash

Nidra Poller reports that France2 should have left bad enough alone:

Citizen-readers, overwhelmingly critical of this appeal, have greater mastery of the issues than the know-it-all press corps.

THE APPEAL set off an unexpected chain reaction. The Al-Dura affair, which had been kept under wraps by French media, was out in the open and out of control. The Al-Dura myth-keepers are being countered by rational, unemotional arguments from prestigious personalities and a host of voices that have kept silent over the years.

Spurred by the Nouvel Observateur manifesto, Radio Communauté Juive director Shlomo Malka, who had been avoiding the Al-Dura controversy, invited Alain Finkielkraut, a brilliant philosopher who always does his homework, to comment on the case (http://www.radiorcj.info/). The obsessively anti-Sarkozy weekly Marianne published an op-ed by Eli Barnavi, former Israeli ambassador to France and a darling of highbrow leftists, who spoke out against the appeal. The tide is turning.

In dragging the case on to France's highest court, as France 2 and Charles Enderlin have now done, they demonstrate disrespect for the public service they represent. There is good reason to expect that President Sarkozy will step in and ask them to clean house.

Read the whole thing.

Poller concludes:

The Al-Dura affair teaches us that it takes something stronger than hasbara - information - to put a stop to this perverse, murderous game.

Which is Israel's weakness. Information requires marketing as well--and not the kind that features swimsuit models.

Technorati Tag: Al-Dura and Philippe Karsenty.