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Hamas By Any Other Name: The Media’s Masterclass on Biased Sources
People hold Hamas flags as Palestinians gather after performing the last Friday of Ramadan, May 7, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
News consumers don’t often get a free masterclass in how not to tell a story. But that’s precisely what The Independent did when it failed to mention Hamas even once in its report on Gaza.
The story — published without a Gaza dateline by the paper’s senior Asia correspondent — relied on multiple sources that sound neutral but are in fact affiliated with Hamas, and made it seem like Israel wages a war against Gaza, not against the terrorists.
Not a single mention of Hamas in a story that cites multiple sources to back up its claims against Israel.
So let’s see who @Independent‘s senior reporter @Maroosha_M relies on for her information.
pic.twitter.com/PeS3Mqznrb
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) January 2, 2025
Biased Sources
When it’s impossible to get professional reporters on the ground in Gaza, journalists should be extra careful with the sources they use.
But Maroosha Muzaffar, The Independent’s Senior Reporter in Asia, did the exact opposite — either out of bias or ignorance.
Here are the sources she relied upon to report on casualties of overnight Israeli airstrikes, as well as the current situation in the enclave:
- Shehab News Agency and the Palestinian Information Center — both affiliated with Hamas. The former was blocked by Facebook in 2021 for promoting violence.
- Al Jazeera — The Qatari mouthpiece, which even the Palestinian Authority banned recently over its support for terrorists.
- The Gaza Health Ministry — A Hamas-run body.
- The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics — A Ramallah-based institute that receives its data from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
None of these affiliations are clarified in The Independent’s report. And a short Israeli response about evacuation notices to civilians before the strikes is mentioned only in the sixth paragraph.
So readers are bombarded by what appears to be damning information against Israel from various independent and neutral sources, all associated with Hamas, which isn’t mentioned at all.
Biased Terminology
The omission of Hamas is also amplified by the story’s biased terminology. Twice, readers encounter the term “Israel’s war on Gaza,” as if Israel’s aim is to wipe out innocent Palestinians in the enclave.
In contrast, the term “Palestinians” or “Gazans” is mentioned only in the context of displacement or tragic death.
Israel is even subtly blamed for the suffering of Gazans due to bad weather conditions; the paragraph which describes their plight is juxtaposed to the paragraph about “Israel’s war on Gaza.”
And the final two paragraphs — which should usually be dedicated to providing necessary background such as Hamas’ October 7 attack that ignited the war — parrot unverified statistical claims about population decline in Gaza, which (as mentioned above) give a platform to Hamas’ narrative against Israel.
Why did the paper erase Hamas from the story? Did the reporter or her editors know that their sources are nothing but Hamas fronts? And why was Israel’s response buried, with no mention of its stated goal to eliminate the genocidal terror group?
Whether it’s ignorance or bias — the result is the same: A story about unprovoked Israeli aggression against helpless Gazans.
A masterclass in bad journalism, at best, or deliberate distortion, at worst.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Hamas By Any Other Name: The Media’s Masterclass on Biased Sources first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.