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Broken Borders? Media Showcase Oct. 7 Pictures by Gaza Photojournalists as ‘Images of the Year’
The bodies of people, some of them elderly, lie on a street after they were killed during a mass-infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Sderot, southern Israel, Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Every December, media outlets select their best photos of the year to be included in collections showcasing what they deem to be their finest examples of photojournalism.
This year, however, The New York Times, Reuters, and the Associated Press chose to include in their prestigious photo galleries images taken by Gaza-based photojournalists whose early morning presence at the breached Gaza-Israel border on October 7 — and their capturing of Hamas atrocities — have raised serious ethical questions detailed in an HonestReporting expose. The article asked whether not only physical borders have been breached, but also professional and moral ones.
The publication of the article on November 8 created a public uproar, leading the AP and CNN to cut ties with one of the photojournalists whose close relations with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar were highlighted.
Additionally, a group of 14 US state attorney generals warned the chiefs of CNN, The New York Times, Reuters, and AP, to better vet their freelancers lest they fall foul of laws against providing material support to terrorist organizations like Hamas.
But all of this hasn’t prevented America’s leading newspaper and the world’s largest news agencies from republishing some of the controversial photos taken by those freelancers — and celebrating their professional value.
“Brave photographers”
The New York Times’ photo gallery is titled: “A weary world,” and presents images from Ukraine to Hawaii. It makes the following statement:
Every year, our photo editors try to capture the best photojournalism in one intense presentation. The Year in Pictures is a way to commemorate the big news events from January to December: the ones that traumatized us — and there are many of those — mixed in with some moments of bliss.
Then it adds:
The images gathered here, a tribute to the brave photographers who scrambled into harm’s way to capture them, remind us that there were so many tears in 2023.
With this in mind, readers come across the following photo of the Gaza border fence being breached:
Despite ethical questions we raised about publishing photos by Gazan photojournalists who broke through the Israeli border on Oct. 7, @nytimes has no problem including this as one of its photos of the year – taken by Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa as the border fence is breached.… pic.twitter.com/wIvnBrPuys
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 24, 2023
Was the “brave photographer,” Reuters’ Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa, threatened by the infiltrators who had stormed the border to murder and rape Jews? Or did they let him capture his images uninterrupted? And is this a professional achievement to be celebrated?
Reuters selected a different image by the same photographer to be included in its gallery, titled “A selection of some of our top news photography from around the world in 2023”:
Note: The Algemeiner has censored the face of the dead Israeli soldier out of respect for his family.
The photographer was clearly able to operate unimpeded by the lynch mob and certainly contributed to the visual message Hamas wished to deliver that day by virtue of their own documenting of the massacre.
And what about the lack of respect shown by Reuters publishing a photo that displays a murdered Israeli soldier’s identifiable face and mutilated body to the world? Did anyone at Reuters seek the permission of the victim’s family? And again, is this the sort of journalism a respectable media outlet should be proud of?
“With ethics and compassion”
The AP followed suit. These words preface its 2023 photo gallery:
The mission of photojournalism is to capture moments that represent — and, at their best, truly reveal — the endless spectrum of the human experience.
Associated Press photographers across the world have spent 2023 doing exactly that — sometimes at great risk or personal exertion, always with ethics and compassion and quality, and with an eye forever trained toward the memorable.
When those photographers encounter the world, though — from Israel and Gaza to Brazil, from Mongolia to the American heartland and beyond — often they have no idea what they’ll find until it is upon them.
Included in AP’s gallery is the following photo by Ali Mahmud:
Did Mahmud realize what was upon him when he “encountered this world” of Hamas terrorists parading the body of German-Israeli Shani Louk? Was he surprised? Did he show any “ethics and compassion” by taking photos of her naked, mutilated body?
But why would any photographer make such considerations, when a picture like this successfully makes it into 2023’s photos of the year?
As stated in HonestReporting’s November 8 article, serious questions emerge from the mere fact that these photographers were positioned at the right place at the right time to capture the infiltrations and abductions.
The public still deserves answers. How did these freelancers know where and when to arrive, what did they communicate to their news editors, and what else might be stored on their camera cards?
It speaks volumes that CNN evidently decided not to include any of their photos in the network’s 2023 gallery.
Meanwhile, media hope to promote their brand and profit from publishing these photos, especially when marked with the quality stamp of “photos of the year.” Not to mention the burnished reputation and respect that the photojournalists themselves, who were paid for the job, again.
So what’s the editorial message of these photo galleries? Access is everything? There are no boundaries?
Based on this logic, can the footage taken by Hamas terrorists of their murderous spree in southern Israel also be considered a brave documentation of reality?
The post Broken Borders? Media Showcase Oct. 7 Pictures by Gaza Photojournalists as ‘Images of the Year’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
The post Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran
Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
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Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
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