Israel, Suppressed Story Verified

Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 | Posted by 
Photo Accurate, Israel Lied Says French News Agency

AFP confirms veracity of debated Israeli abuse story

Agence France- Presse

Editor?s Note:  Israel Caught Lying About Apartheid Abuse:
?Following the surfacing of the photos, the Israeli Embassy in Washington had asked all American newspapers ?to consider ceasing to publish the photographs of Hazem Bader,? claiming both the caption and the photo of the injured worker were untrue and ?perhaps staged.?
AFP (Agence France-Presse) agency responded to criticism over a Jan. 25 photo showing an Israeli Army soldier driving a truck over the leg of an injured Palestinian construction worker, saying both the story and photo were valid.
A recent press release by the news agency said ?after several days of thorough research […] AFP wishes to confirm the veracity of both the picture and the accompanying photo caption.?

Confirmed as Accurate, Evidence of Criminal Assault

Photos were taken by AFP photojournalist Hazem Bader during the Israeli soldiers? attempts to stop Palestinian construction workers from building on their land, defined as ?occupied zone C? whereIsrael forbids any Palestinian construction from taking place. The caption to the photo showing an injured worker screaming in pain said an Army driver had intentionally driven over his legs.
Following the surfacing of the photos, the Israeli Embassy in Washington had asked all American newspapers ?to consider ceasing to publish the photographs of Hazem Bader,? claiming both the caption and the photo of the injured worker were untrue and ?perhaps staged.?
AFP said the Jerusalem bureau of the agency went back and consulted other press agencies that were present in the area and also revisited footage filmed at the location.
?Their [Jerusalem bureau reporters] trust in the events described by Hazem Bader is unequivocal,? the press release read.
The official medical certificate by the doctors who treated the injured worker, Mohammed Abu Qbeita, was included in the press release, as well as a recent interview of Qbeita, conducted by AFP reporters.
?I started walking over to where my stuff was so I could get my phone and my ID card and that?s when the tractor hit me. It hit me twice, first on my side, which knocked me over on the ground,? Qbeita was quoted saying.
?Then it drove over one of my legs. I didn?t see it coming. It went over one of my legs, one was under the wheel, the other one was outside it.

Israelis Told Press to Suppress This Photo

Author: Shahidul Alam

Time Magazine Person of the Year 2018. A photographer, writer, curator and activist, Shahidul Alam obtained a PhD in chemistry before switching to photography. His seminal work “The Struggle for Democracy” contributed to the removal of General Ershad. Former president of the Bangladesh Photographic Society, Alam set up the Drik agency, Chobi Mela festival and Pathshala, South Asian Media Institute, considered one of the finest schools of photography in the world. Shown in MOMA New York, Centre Georges Pompidou, Royal Albert Hall and Tate Modern, Alam has been guest curator of Whitechapel Gallery, Winterthur Gallery and Musee de Quai Branly. His awards include Mother Jones, Shilpakala Award and Lifetime Achievement Award at the Dali International Festival of Photography. Speaker at Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, Oxford and Cambridge universities, TEDx, POPTech and National Geographic, Alam chaired the international jury of the prestigious World Press Photo contest. Honorary Fellow of Royal Photographic Society, Alam is visiting professor of Sunderland University in UK and advisory board member of National Geographic Society. John Morris, the former picture editor of Life Magazine describes his book “My journey as a witness”, (listed in “Best Photo Books of 2011” by American Photo), as “The most important book ever written by a photographer.”

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