The Israeli Prime Minister’s office has finally denounced the infamous France 2 footage of Mohammed al-Dura as staged.

(israelnn.com) Seven years after Arab 12-year-old Mohammed al-Dura was allegedly killed in Gaza, the Prime Minister’s Office has released a statement saying that a video supposedly showing al-Dura’s death was staged. The announcement, the first of its kind from a government agency, confirmed what many activists and media watchdogs have been saying for years.

“The creation of the Mohammed al-Dura myth did great damage to the state of Israel,” said Government Press Office head Daniel Siman. “It was a blood libel against the state… it caused damage and dozens of deaths.” The government decided the video was staged based on several factors, he said, including the fact that soldiers could not possibly have shot al-Dura from the angle at which they were standing, and the fact that crucial parts of the scene are missing from the video footage provided to major media outlets.