Karsenty explains the verdict in the France2/al-Dura case
Now that he has lost the most recent defamation judgment in the long-running saga of his fight against Charles Enderlin, France2, and the famous al-Dura tape, Philippe Karsenty describes why the French “Court” of Appeals (scare quotes mine) decided against him. Their reasoning would be laughable if the consequences weren’t so very very serious:
On June 26, the Paris Court of Appeals found me guilty of defamation against television station France 2 and broadcaster Charles Enderlin.
After waiting one long week following the verdict, I was finally able to get the written arguments of the judges. The arguments state that ”” despite the hoax eventually becoming obvious to all who looked at the case ”” I was found guilty for having said that the al-Dura news report was a hoax ”¦ too early, in November 2004.
Had I published that exact same article today now that the facts are clear, I would not have been found guilty…
This verdict confirmed that France 2 still doesn’t have a single piece of evidence to substantiate their al-Dura report. The judges had to reverse the burden of the evidence ”” using the extremely restrictive French defamation laws ”” to prevent France 2 from having to produce any evidence to confirm the report’s authenticity, and to temporarily block the recognition of the hoax.
French taxpayer money has been used to silence legitimate and necessary criticism of France 2’s disinformation.
The significance of France 2’s report on the tape and the supposed killing of the boy by Israeli soldiers cannot be overestimated, as well as the significance of this case in showing how little free speech or even truth matters in France. The damage goes on.
[NOTE: You can read my many previous posts on earlier aspects of this case and related ones here. I especially refer you to this post, which explains the very large differences between French and US libel laws, and this one, about the facade of French justice.]
Good for Karsenty! It may be that one gets more defamed by suing for defamation. Sort of like the Streisand Effect.
La justice en France est une affaire complexe et alambiquée.
France has so many convoluted and contradictory regulations its catching up with the USA. Vive la France.
I don’t know if the French are particularly prone to this sort of thing, (perhaps not) but this case reminds me greatly of the Captain Alfred Dreyfus affair, a famous miscarriage of justice.
“This case is often seen as a modern and universal symbol of iniquity justified by reasons of state, and remains one of the most striking examples of a complex miscarriage of justice where a major role was played by the press and public opinion.”
Once again, history repeats itself.
Right after I posted the above comment, I thought of the parallels between Dreyfus and our own current Zimmerman case. The same press and public opinion factors but instead of antisemitism, good old racism.
BTW, via Thomas Sowell; According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 31 percent of blacks recognize that the majority of blacks are racist.
BTW define racism?
The Oxford dictionary;
“Definition of racism
noun
[mass noun]
the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races: theories of racism
prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior:
a programme to combat racism”
In the case of American black racism, it is the belief that all or the vast majority of whites share racist beliefs just by being white, despite all evidence to the contrary
“… despite all evidence to the contrary”
They don’t need no evidence or badges, they have their meme and they are sticking to it.
BTW, the heat index in my area is around 95F at 20:30 hours.
So long as evil is not destroyed, politics and laws are meaningless. Merely a farce.
Unbelievable. So would it be premature (and defamatory) to call the French judges fools?
Peasants who call their lords fools will get what’s coming to them one way or another. That was called, in the ancient world, as “speaking out of turn” or “not knowing one’s place (in society)”. The Left’s “society” is very stark and finely delineated. For a utopia.