The activist sued for claiming that French TV faked the murder of a Palestinian child visited the United States.
Philippe Karsenty, director of the media watchdog group Media Ratings, was invited to discuss the future of European relations with the United States at an Oct. 2 forum sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington.
Karsenty was found guilty of defamation for claiming that a French television station faked the murder of Mohammed al-Dura, a Palestinian boy whose apparent death at the hands of Israeli soldiers in 2000 was caught on video and instantly became an icon of the Palestinian struggle.
Last month, an appeals court ordered the station to show the court 25 minutes of raw footage that is said to reveal the killing as a hoax.
Karsenty told JTA his story has received virtually no coverage in France and that he is in the United States to raise awareness.
“France is a little USSR,” he said.
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