Remember Muhammed al-Dura?

He was the young boy allegedly shot by Israelis in 2000, whose 'martydom' helped launch the second Intifada. Last May, a French court protected the right to free speech of a blogger who alleged that the story was fraudulent. The court did not, however, rule directly on the allegation itself.

France2, the television channel that broadcast the story and then sued the blogger, has now agreed to an independent investigation into the Muhammed al-Dura affair. (Thanks to Richard Landes for this update.) If the investigators find that the video of the incident is a fake, their findings probably won't change many minds in the European political elite and the Muslim world. Nevertheless, any honest search for the truth is valuable.