Philippe Karsenty

Philippe Karsenty (born 25 June 1966) is a French-Jewish politician and founder of Media-Ratings, a company monitoring the French media for bias. Karsenty came to public attention when he was sued for libel by the public French television network, France 2, over accusations of staged footage by France 2 over the killing of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, Muhammad al-Durrah, libel for which he was eventually and definitively convicted.

Philippe Karsenty
Born25 June 1966 (1966-06-25) (age 54)
Issy-les-Moulineaux, Paris, France
NationalityFrench
OccupationMedia analyst, founder of the watchdog, Media-Ratings, local councilor of Neuilly-sur-Seine
Known forMuhammad al Durrah conspiracy and lawsuit
Websitewww.m-r.fr

Early life

Karsenty was born into a family of Jewish immigrants from North Africa. When he was in his 20s, he set up a share-trading company on the Paris Bourse, and continued to work as a broker until 1997.

Career

In 1996, he set up a business consultancy, and in 2002, he ran for parliament on a center-right ticket, obtaining only 3% of the vote.[1] He was then condemned to one-year ineligibility for not deposing his campaign budget.[2] In 2008, he was elected a deputy mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine.[3]

2012 Legislative Election

He stood as a dissident right-wing candidate, against the candidate endorsed by Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement, in the Eighth constituency for French residents overseas (which includes French residents in Israel, as well as in Italy, Turkey, Greece and several other countries) for the 2012 legislative election.[4] He finished third, with 14.45% of the vote, and did not advance to the run-off vote.[5] In February 2013, the Constitutional Council found irregularities in the funding of his electoral campaign, and barred him from standing for public office for a period of one year.[6]

Views on Israel and Palestine

In 2002, he was proactive in a tentative to censor the diffusion of a pro-Palestinian book "Rêver la Palestine" (i.e., "dreaming of Palestine") edited by renowned French editor Flammarion.[7]

Orit Arfa of the Jewish Journal described Karsenty as a "pro-Israel activist".[8]

Muhammad al-Durrah Controversy

Karsenty came to public attention in 2004, when he was sued for libel by the French television network, France 2, after accusing the network of having broadcast a staged footage of the reported killing of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, Muhammad al-Durrah, during a gun battle in the Gaza Strip in 2000.[1] France 2 won its case in October 2006,[9] but the judgment was overturned by the Paris Court of Appeal in May 2008, with France 2 refusing to release the full footage taken by their stringer on that day.[10] France 2 has appealed the decision to the Cour de cassation, France's highest court.[11] In February 2012, the Cour de cassation cancelled the ruling of the Court of Appeal which had acquitted Karsenty.[12] On 26 June 2013, the Paris Court of Appeals once again convicted Karsenty of defamation, and fined him €7000.[13][14]

In parallel, on 10 June 2010, a court in Nanterre sentenced Canal Plus and Tac Press for defaming Philippe Karsenty in a documentary entitled Rumors, Brainwashing: The New News War,[15] broadcast by this channel on 24 April 2008.

Karsenty said that "Israel is despised in France. It’s perceived as a strong and wealthy country whose army behaves like the Nazis. My decision to fight infuriated many people, not only in the French establishment, but in the Jewish community too. A lot of Jews and non-Jews have told me that I’m right, but that they can’t support me publicly because they can’t fight against this establishment".[16]

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References
  1. Schwartz, Adi. In the footsteps of the al-Dura controversy, Haaretz, 8 November 2007.
  2. "Décision n° 2002-2818 et autres AN du 6 février 2003". Conseil Constitutionnel. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
  3. "La Mairie", Neuilly-sur-Seine local council, accessed 22 January 2010.
  4. "Combat sans merci à droite pour le vote des Français d'Israël", Rue 89, 23 June 2011
  5. Official results of the first round, French Ministry for Foreign Affairs
  6. "Le Conseil constitutionnel annule l'élection de deux députées PS des Français de l'étranger", Le Monde, 15 February 2013
  7. "Retour sur un rêve de Censure". Le Nouvel Observateur 16/01/03.
  8. "Europe on Lockdown From COVID-19". Jewish Journal. 18 March 2020.
  9. Durand-Souffland, Stéphane. "France 2 blanchie pour l'image choc de l'intifada". Le Figaro, 20 October 2006.
  10. "Al-Durra case revisited", Wall Street Journal Europe, 28 May 2008.
  11. "Reportage sur la mort d'un enfant palestinien: Charles Enderlin débouté en appel", Libération, 21 May 2008.
  12. "La Cour de Cassation annule la relaxe de Philippe Karsenty", Le Petit Journal
  13. "Leading critic of French al-Dura coverage convicted". The Times of Israel. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  14. "Frenchman guilty of defamation in Mohammed al-Dura case". BBC News. 27 June 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  15. 20 minutes Rumeurs, intox : les nouvelles guerres de l’Info,
  16. https://www.sunypress.edu/pdf/63533.pdf
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