Israeli "Truthers"

Today, Andrew Sullivan linked to a 2003 article by James Fallows of The Atlantic about the death of Mohammad al-Dura, a 12-year-old Palestinian boy killed in 2000, apparently by Israeli troops, during the 2nd Intifada. Film of the event, shot by a French journalist and seen all over the world, shows a boy cowering behind his father as shots ring out all around them - eventually, both are shot, the father is wounded and the boy is killed. Mohammad al-Dura became a martyr for the Palestinian cause, a potent symbol of Israeli blood lust. However, a number of Israeli "truthers" believe that the entire event was staged (the maximalist position), or that the boy was shot by Palestinians (the minimalist position), not Israelis.

Here's a video from You Tube making the case that the entire event was manufactured:


It's true, in this particular case things look a little fishy. However, if the IDF did not routinely kill civilians, this would be a little easier to believe. It's like a concentration camp commandaer arguing, in his defense, "but this one inmate died of natural causes."