Al-Dura: Nahum Shahaf meeting with Robert Morgenthau District Attorne of N.Y, following Shahaf's lecture at the annual conferance of the AAFS

May 13, 2005

Summarization of meeting with Robert Morgenthau, District Attorney of New York, U.S.A., in the bureau of the Mayor of New York City,

on March 10, 2005

Present:  Mr. Robert Morgenthau, District Attorney of New York and Chairman of the New York Holocaust Museum; Ms. Martha Bashford, Senior Trial Counsel at the Bureau of the District Attorney of New York, Dr. David G. Marwell, General Director of the New York Holocaust Museum; Ms. Felica N. Kobylanski, Development Director of the New York Holocaust Museum; Mr. Nahum Shahaf, Israeli Physicist and Journalist; Ms. Rachel Klein Elazari, Editor of the Israeli journal Eye To Eye.

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The meeting took place at the invitation of Mr. Robert Morgenthau, following

Mr. Shahaf's lecture at the annual conference of the AAFS (American Academy of Forensic Sciences) which took place in New Orleans on February 2005,  on the subject of Shahaf's investigation into the alleged death of the young Palestinian boy Mohammed A-Dura at the start of The Second Intifada.

Ms. Martha Bashford, together with Ms. Melissa Mourges and Ms. Kerry O'Connell, Senior Trial Counsels at the Bureau of the District Attorney of New York, represented the Bureau at the AAFS conference, were presented at the lecture given by Nahum Shahaf.  Bashford reported her impressions of the extensive in-depth research done by Shahaf, with the assistance of Dr. Maurice Rogev, former head of the institute of legal medicine of the Israeli government.

Dr. David Marwell related his meeting with Dr. Rogev in the U.S.A. upon Rogev's return from a trip abroad in 1986, after having identified the bones of the infamous Dr. Mengele.

Bashford said that Shahaf's lecture had been received with fervent applause among the scientists who filled the auditorium.  The lecture convinced the listeners that the film footage - which incited the outbreak of the armed Intifada and the new anti-Semitism – had been staged.

Shahaf spoke about the ramifications of the A-Dura images upon anti-Semitism in the world, and how the event recalled the dark days of blood libel and their peak in the Holocaust, in which most of the family members of Shahaf's mother and father perished. He said that on his approaching return to Israel he would be speaking at the Knesset regarding the A-Dura film footage as the origin of the eruption of the new anti-Semitism.

 Moved by Shahaf's words, Morgenthau related his personal history as a young Jewish soldier in the U.S. Marines during World War II; about the extensive activity being done at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York which he heads – for passing down Jewish tradition; about the importance of the war against anti-Semitism; and about the proud stand of the Jewish people in the face of eruptions of hatred around the world.

Morgenthau expressed his esteem for Shahaf's activities and the energy and resources which he has been investing in his initiative to fight the new anti-Semitism. The book Ours to Fight For, published by the Museum – stories of Jewish soldiers in World War II - was presented by Morgenthau to Shahaf.

Upon the closure of the meeting, Ms. Klein-Elazari and Mr. Shahaf were invited to a personal tour of the New York Holocaust Museum.

Written by Rachel Klein-Elazari

Translated to English by Taube Furst Lann