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Exposing the Terror Ties of CBS News Journalist in Gaza
Trucks stand at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt, April 25, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
A CBS News journalist in Gaza praised terrorists at an official event of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and had contacts with terrorists as a member of the Gaza City municipality council, an HonestReporting investigation revealed.
Marwan al-Ghoul has been working as a CBS News producer in Gaza for more than two decades, and his affiliation with a proscribed terror group, as well as his official public role in the Hamas-ruled Strip, raise alarming questions regarding the network’s journalistic standards.
Here are the details of what HonestReporting has discovered, based on Arabic media reports and Al-Ghoul’s Facebook page. It is the latest in a series of reports unmasking Gaza’s biased reporters.
Links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
In 2018, Al-Ghoul was among the speakers at an official PFLP event commemorating one of the prominent members of the terror group who was also Al-Ghoul’s relative.
According to the PFLP website, Al-Ghoul spoke on behalf of the family, which “expressed their gratitude to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and their esteemed comrades everywhere in the Palestinian land … for their … commitment to continue the struggle.”
Al-Ghoul praised the group’s terrorists, emphasizing his relative’s dedication to “maintaining the noble national values established by the leading martyrs, such as Al-Hakim, Abu Ali Mustafa, and Wadie Haddad, and those who followed their path of struggle and martyrdom.”
Screenshot of report on PFLP event addressed by Marwan Al-Ghoul.
Screenshot of Marwan Al-Ghoul addressing PFLP event.
The PFLP is a proscribed terror group whose members were involved in deadly attacks against Israelis, including suicide bombings, stabbings, and shootings.
The fact that Al-Ghoul was invited to address an official event of the group suggests his (and his family’s) affiliation with it is deep. The effect such an affiliation might have on his “journalistic” work cannot be underestimated.
Official Role
Al-Ghoul also cozied up with the terror group’s officials as a member of the Gaza City municipality council.
In 2022, a news report showed him smiling next to Gaza City mayor Yahya Sarraj as they hosted a PFLP delegation to discuss “issues of concern to citizens and ways of cooperating.”
What could possibly be discussed in such a meeting? How to better embed terrorists amid the civilian population?
That would not be far-fetched to assume, considering that back in 2022, the IDF revealed that an Islamic Jihad rocket was launched from a location owned by the Gaza City municipality. It misfired and killed two Palestinians.
Referring to the Gaza City mayor, the IDF spokesperson’s unit said at the time that “Sarraj chose to take care of the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad more than the residents of the city he heads, and he abused public space that belongs to the residents of the city for terror. This is how he harmed his citizens directly.”
According to an announcement on his Facebook page, Al-Ghoul resigned from his membership in the city council in November 2022. It’s not clear how long he served, why he resigned, whether he got paid to do the job, and if so by whom.
But according to a Fatah official quoted by the Palestinian news agency WAFA, Gaza municipal council members are appointed by Hamas. And according to Reuters, Hamas is the body in charge of paying public sector workers. The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Local Government may be in charge on paper, but de-facto, Hamas runs the show.
In any case, AL-Ghoul’s profile photo still appears on the official website of the Gaza city municipality, with a bio that presents him as a “media professional working with several Arab and international channels,” as well as a “member of the Municipal Council.”
What’s clear is that such a public role, in an enclave ruled by terrorists and where terrorists are hosted by the mayor, cannot be done without problematic ties. Especially for a journalist who needs to cover political and civilian issues objectively.
Celebrated Journalist
None of that seemed to bother CBS News, which either turned a blind eye to Al-Ghoul’s activities, or had no idea about them.
The network relied heavily on his work at the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war and praised his “journalism,” as seen in this video and the following piece:
Unsurprisingly, Al-Ghoul’s reports from Gaza are typical — they include destruction and victims, not Hamas terrorists.
Perhaps this is because he prayed for the “victory” of these terrorists in a Facebook post on October 7, as they massacred Israeli women and children:
And it might also be because, as the head of the Mayadeen media Group, Al-Ghoul had long lasting ties with the Hamas-run Government Media Office. In 2008, he delivered a panel in a workshop organized by the office on “the freedom of journalistic work under the Israeli occupation” (although Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.)
Al-Ghoul is not a journalist. Like many other Gaza “reporters” who work for respected Western media outlets, he is a propagandist, at best, or a terror collaborator, at worst.
CBS News should not celebrate his work, but be ashamed of it.
HonestReporting is a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Exposing the Terror Ties of CBS News Journalist in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Belgian Police Raid Mohels’ Homes in Antwerp, Sparking Outrage in Jewish Community
Police pictured at an Anderlecht supporters village at the Atomium, before the final of the ‘Croky Cup’ Belgian soccer cup, between Club Brugge and RSC Anderlecht, May 4, 2025. Photo: BELGA/HATIM KAGHAT via Reuters Connect
Belgian police raided the homes of several mohels in Antwerp, a northern Belgian city, seizing their circumcision tools after a local Jewish rabbi filed a complaint — an incident that has sparked outrage within the local Jewish community.
A mohel is a trained practitioner who performs the ritual circumcision in Jewish tradition known as a bris.
On Wednesday, Belgian authorities raided three locations in the Jewish Quarter, searching for knives and other equipment allegedly used in unauthorized or illegal circumcisions. However, local police confirmed that no arrests were made during the operation.
Among the homes raided by the Belgian police was that of Rabbi Aharon Eckstein, a highly experienced mohel and a prominent leader within the Antwerp Jewish community.
In an interview with the publication JNS, Eckstein said the raid took place around 5 am.
“They didn’t say much. They just looked through the place and took my kit,” the Jewish leader said.
He also expressed his intention to continue performing circumcisions, as he had not received any instruction to stop such practice.
According to a police report, the searches were ordered by a judge following a complaint filed in 2023 by Rabbi Moshe Aryeh Friedman against Eckstein and other mohels within the Jewish community.
Prosecutors have been investigating illegal circumcisions in the country since last fall, amid concerns from local authorities that Jewish circumcisions are being carried out by individuals without proper medical training.
In his complaint, Friedman accused six mohels, whom he identified to the police, of endangering infants by performing the metzitzah b’peh ritual, in which the mohel uses his mouth to suction blood from the circumcision area.
However, Eckstein and other rabbis, along with parents of children circumcised by them, have denied such accusations, insisting that they do not perform this practice.
In Antwerp, Friedman is known for publicly criticizing several customs that are important to ultra-Orthodox Jews, who represent the majority of the city’s 18,000 Jewish residents.
The European Jewish Association (EJA) condemned the government’s handling of the issue, claiming it threatens freedom of religion.
“This constitutes yet another red line crossed in the intimidation of Jewish religious figures in Belgium,” Rabbi Mencahem Margolin, chairman of the EJA, said in a post on the social media platform X.
“Following the ban on shechita [kosher ritual slaughter], the harassment of mohels represents a further red line and a clear warning sign to Belgian Jews and the Belgian government. Freedom of religion must be upheld!” he continued.
The European Jewish Association (EJA) strongly condemns the police raid on the Mohels’ premises in Antwerp this morning.
EJA Chairman, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, say that this constitutes yet another red line crossed in the intimidation of Jewish religious figures in Belgium.…— EJA – EIPA (@EJAssociation) May 14, 2025
Despite several attempts to ban it across Europe, ritual circumcision remains legal in all European countries, though many, including Belgium, limit the practice to licensed surgeons and often perform it in a synagogue.
Last year, the Irish government arrested a London-based rabbi for allegedly performing a circumcision without the required medical credentials, marking the first arrest of a rabbi in Europe in years related to a bris.
The post Belgian Police Raid Mohels’ Homes in Antwerp, Sparking Outrage in Jewish Community first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Putin Has Invitation to Visit Iran, but Dates Have Yet to Be Set, Kremlin Says
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attend a ceremony to sign an agreement of comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Jan. 17, 2025. Photo: Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin has an invitation to visit Iran, but the dates have not yet been agreed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
Iran‘s government spokesman Fatemeh Mohajerani was quoted by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday as saying that Putin‘s visit to Iran “is currently being worked out.”
Moscow and Tehran signed a 20-year strategic partnership agreement in January, the two countries have supplied each other with weapons, and Russia has defended what it says is Tehran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy.
“Indeed, President Putin has an invitation to pay an official or working visit to Iran. The dates have not yet been agreed. As soon as they are agreed, we will inform you,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about a possible visit.
“We highly value our partnership with this country and we highly value the depth of our relationship in a wide variety of areas.”
The last time Putin visited Iran was in 2022, months after he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.
The post Putin Has Invitation to Visit Iran, but Dates Have Yet to Be Set, Kremlin Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Intercepts Missile From Yemen, Houthis Claim Responsibility
People take cover, while sirens sound in Jerusalem, May 13, 2025. Israel’s military reported that a missile was launched from Yemen towards Israel and was intercepted. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen towards its territory.
The launch coincides with US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Gulf. Trump has announced that he reached a ceasefire with Yemen‘s Houthis, an internationally designated terrorist group, that will halt attacks on US vessels.
The Iran-aligned group fired a missile towards Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, according to the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree.
Trump announced early in May that the US would stop bombing the Houthis in Yemen as the group had agreed to stop attacking US ships.
The Houthis said they will continue to fire missiles and drones towards Israel.
The Houthis have attacked numerous vessels in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade, in a campaign that they say is aimed at showing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel has been fighting a war in Gaza since a deadly raid by Palestinian terrorist group Hamas into southern Israel in October 2023.
The post Israel Intercepts Missile From Yemen, Houthis Claim Responsibility first appeared on Algemeiner.com.