Note: If you haven't done so yet I recommend reading the posts in this series starting with Post 1. You can find all the posts in reverse order below this one on the page. You can also find each post in the series in the archives at right. The first post provides the basic intro information on the Nakba Day killings of May 15, 2014. This includes a set of notated maps that gives a sense of where this happened and what you'd see around you if you actually were there on that day. It also shows you a way to view videos frame by frame. If you are drawn to be a blog detective this will be a valuable tool and much of the evidence I'll introduce in this series of posts will require frame by frame analysis - especially if you'd like to check my conclusions for yourself.
From the start there was something about that CNN "Smoking Gun" footage that bothered me. It seemed there was almost no time at all from the moment the smoke appeared above "Real Shooter's" muzzle in the playback at RowVid frame 113.85 sec, and the sound of the shot in the playback. From the foreshortening of the image of the IDF personnel on the veranda I reasoned that the distance from the shooter to the CNN camera must be at least some tens of meters. I finally found the time to examine the footage on my video editing software that allows me to view the audio track and compare it with the frame by frame video images.
The "Smoking Gun" Audio Track
Note: The distances from the SHOOTER to CAMERA was corrected from a previous version of this post and reflect my most accurate estimates at this time of 58.7 meters. (July 7, 2014)
First Shot Video / Audio Data
One of the first things that appeared from the audio track was the classic N-shaped wave, characteristic of the sharp "crack" of gunshots. But, there's something in this audio data that's very strange. The shot was fired 58.7 meters from the CNN camera that recorded both video and audio of the shot. It should take the sound of the shot .178 seconds ( 58.7 m / 330 m / sec ) to reach the camera after the shot was fired. But, as can be seen in the Audio Track image above, the audio signature of the recorded shot appears slightly before the video image of the shot is recorded. It is, of course, physically impossible for the sound of a shot to arrive at the camera before the visual image.
Note: I am assuming that the smoke plume from the shot would appear at the same instant (in the same frame) that the sound waves of the shot from the rifle began their travel to the camera microphone. This is because the rapid expansion of gas at the barrel exit is what creates the audio signature of the shot that the camera records on its audio track. The red line in the audio track above marks the frame where that smoke plume first appeared.
The exact moment of the image on the recording is however, only accurate to +/- one frame since we do not know when in the frame the shot occurred. This is the same as +/- .o4 seconds. Therefore the red line could actually be located coincident with the audio spike of the shot. The problem however, remains.
Except for distances of thousands of miles or more, photons, which travel about 300 million meters in one second, will arrive at a camera at virtually the same instant they are emitted. This is certainly true for distances of only a few tens of meters. Sound waves travel at a much slower speed, about 330 m / secs - or almost a million times slower. That means the audio signature of the shot should arrive at the camera microphone - which was about 58.7 meters from the shooter - about .178 seconds after the first frame where the smoke plume appears - certainly not before it - which would violate several laws of nature. A time span of .178 seconds is equivalent to a bit more than four frames of video - each frame being .04 seconds.
I'd expect that the high quality professional CNN video cameras digitize and record the audio and video signals very quickly, possibly less than a millisecond or two. And also that the audio and video tracks would be synchronized during the recording with less error than a millisecond at most. It seems very unlikely that the CNN camera could have caused this four-plus frame discrepancy (.16 to .20 seconds) between the audio and video tracks. I suspect the audio track was shifted forward by about four video frames when the footage was edited - possibly to make the shot appear coincident with the smoke plume, for some reason..
Time shifting aside, there's still something else that seems amiss about the CNN footage which could be an artifact of the time-shifting process. As the camera microphone is recording the background sounds just before the shot, the audio track goes completely blank for 1/3 of a second before the audio of the shot is recorded. For this 1/3 of a second the audio track is wiped clean from all background sounds. If you listen carefully you can hear the voice-over narration stop, then normal background sounds - birds are chirping - then complete silence for 1/3 second, then the shot. I can't help but wonder what sounds may have been recorded and then deleted from the CNN footage during that 1/3 second interval.
CNN Camera View Diagram
The only explanation I can imagine that can account for this strange data is that someone in the CNN editing room manipulated the audio and / or video tracks with respect to each other Then, they seem to have erased all the audio that the camera was capturing for almost 1/3 second before the moment of the shot.
But why would CNN tamper with the audio / video at the exact timing of the shot - especially when they are broadcasting this as "proof" to millions of viewers around the world - that the Israel Border Police and / or IDF murdered Nadeem Nuwarah. I welcome anyone's thoughts on this intriguing puzzle.
I am not sure what CNN's motive was for editing the footage in this way. But, since it was apparently manipulated, at the very least I think we deserve an explanation.
Full Scene of the Supposed Crime for reference
Update 11/25/2014: Note that I wrote this post several months ago (7/10/2014) but then ran out of time. Also, Operation Protective Edge soon was consuming the news reports. I had not completely finished editing this post so I pulled it down at the time. I am reposting it now since both the IDF and an Arab group have now accused the person I described several months ago in Post 2 of this series as "Real Shooter" - as having committed either "manslaughter" or "murder", respectively - in the death of Nadeem Nuwarah.
I believe it is curious (and troubling) that neither the IDF nor the Arab group have tried to explain how the CNN video could have recorded the paper wads appearing shortly after the shot was fired if it was indeed a live 5.56 mm NATO round as they are claiming.
(To see the proof of the existence of the paper wads that accompany the Nuwarah shot recorded by CNN - please review post 2 in this series.)
Added 11/26/2014: And also, why he stood up and manually recharged his weapon immediately after the shot, which would not be necessary if he had shot a live NATO 5.56 round. To make this clearer, the M16 rifle is designed so that a live 5.56 NATO round is capable of cycling the ammunition - to automatically eject the spent brass shell and inject the next live round from the magazine into the chamber. Military M16s can therefore selectively fire in either automatic or single shot modes - in both cases without the shooter having to manually clear the chamber or recharge it. This allows the shooter to keep his or her eyes looking down the sights at the target. IDF blank ammo used for rubber coated bullets has a lower energy powder load to minimize injury. These blanks don't have the ability to cycle the ammo. The shooter must do it manually. The CNN footage clearly shows Real Shooter standing up and manually recharging his weapon after firing the shot correlated with Nuwarah's fall. This would only be necessary if he had fired a blank cartridge.
Perhaps there is a reasonable explanation for these events. And of course, if the border policeman did violate orders then he should be dealt with according to Israeli military law. But I believe the world deserves a clear explanation that reveals the truth of what actually happened that day on the veranda above the Beitunia junction.
