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International news outlets deny photographers colluded with Hamas after report suggests they knew attack plans

(JTA) — International news outlets denied that photographers they hired had advance knowledge of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, after a report suggested without hard evidence that the journalists may have coordinated with the terror group ahead of the invasion.

But the Associated Press and CNN have said they will no longer work with one of the photographers named in the report, Hassan Eslaiah. The other publications named in the report are Reuters and The New York Times. 

The report, by pro-Israel media watchdog Honest Reporting, said freelance photographers working with the four publications were at the scene in the early hours of the Hamas attack, saying their presence raised “ethical questions.”

It comes as dozens of journalists have been killed in the war, mostly in Gaza, and as reporters and photographers in the territory face scrutiny for their approach to the conflict. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 39 journalists have been killed since the start of the war, including 34 Palestinians, four Israelis and one Lebanese journalist. (Some have died in their homes and not while engaging in journalism.)

On Thursday, Sherif Mansour, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, said in a statement that “journalists are civilians doing important work during times of crisis and must not be targeted by warring parties.”

But citing the Honest Reporting document, the Israeli Government Press Office said it “demands explanations” of the international outlets, adding that the “involvement of their photographers” in the attack “crosses every red line, professional and moral.” Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi wrote a letter to the news outlets, demanding they investigate possible collusion between the photographers and Hamas. 

The report  released on Wednesday, did not include concrete evidence of collusion. But it suggested the photographers knew ahead of time about the assault or “coordinated” with the attackers, since Hamas breached Israel’s border early on a Saturday morning when the journalists would likely not be working. 

“Is it conceivable to assume that ‘journalists’ just happened to appear early in the morning at the border without prior coordination with the terrorists? Or were they part of the plan?” the report said, placing quotation marks around the word “journalists.”

“Even if they didn’t know the exact details of what was going to happen, once it unfolded did they not realize they were breaching a border?” the report added. “And if so, did they notify the news agencies?”

The four publications all denied that they coordinated with Hamas. Reuters said in a statement that it “categorically denies that it had prior knowledge of the attack or that we embedded journalists with Hamas.” AP said it “had no knowledge of the Oct. 7 attacks before they happened.” The New York Times called the allegations “untrue and outrageous.” 

CNN told the Israeli publication Ynet it has not “found reason to doubt the journalistic accuracy of the work [Eslaiah] has done for us,” even as it cut ties with him.

The four photographers named in the report took pictures of a burning Israeli tank from which soldiers were killed or kidnapped, as well as attacks on Israeli homes and terrorists taking hostages and bodies back into Gaza. 

HonestReporting, citing screenshots of deleted tweets, said Eslaiah posted footage of himself in front of a burning tank and photographed attacks on Kfar Aza, the scene of one of the worst massacres of the day. Eslaiah was not wearing a press vest or helmet to identify him as a member or the media, the report said. 

Eslaiah, who works with CNN and AP, was also seen in an undated photograph with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar that Honest Reporting shared after the report was released. Sinwar is kissing Eslaiah’s cheek in the image, suggesting that he was friendly with the terror group official in a way that crosses clear ethical lines in journalism.

And here is footage of Eslaiah after he crossed into Israel and took photos of a burning Israeli tank. He then captured infiltrators entering Kibbutz Kfar Azza.

Note that he is not identifiable as a member of the press. But AP & CNN deemed it acceptable to use his services. pic.twitter.com/fA0VI2df2i

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 8, 2023

Amit Segal, a prominent Israeli reporter, said Eslaiah appeared to hold a grenade while riding a motorcycle on the day of the attack in a video posted to Eslaiah’s Facebook page. His face is not clearly visible in the video.

Yo, @AP, @Reuters, @cnn – what your freelancer in Gaza Hassan Eslaiah is doing on a motorbike with a grenade, on his way to the massacre of women and babies? Is a grenade part of the equipment you provide? pic.twitter.com/jU85KEo7Ec

— עמית סגל Amit Segal (@amit_segal) November 9, 2023

The publications say they haven’t breached any journalistic ethics. Reuters said it had no prior relationship with the photographers before Oct. 7, though it did not elaborate on that, and said that their images were taken two hours after Hamas launched a rocket barrage against Israel. The terrorists breached the border shortly after the salvo.

AP said the first pictures it used had been taken more than an hour after the attack started. 

The New York Times, which has worked with a different photographer named in the report, said, “It is reckless to make such allegations, putting our journalists on the ground in Israel and Gaza at risk.” 

The Times drew fire from Israel supporters last month for rehiring a Gaza freelancer after finding out he made statements in support of Adolf Hitler. It also received criticism for initially reporting claims by Hamas that Israel bombed a hospital. Later assessments by Israel, the United States and a range of other governments and press outlets have found that a misfired Palestinian rocket was very likely the cause of the explosion. 

The Times later said its early coverage of the incident “relied too heavily on claims by Hamas, and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified,” said an Oct. 23 editor’s note. “The report left readers with an incorrect impression about what was known and how credible the account was.”

Pro-Palestinian activists have also criticized the Times, filling its lobby in a protest on Thursday that called for a ceasefire. According to a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, protesters held mock copies of the paper with the headline, “Ceasefire Now! Honoring Gaza’s dead — and fighting for the living.”

Israel has drawn criticism for not adequately protecting the lives of reporters covering the region’s violence. But on Thursday, Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s emergency war cabinet, wrote on social media that Israel would not make allowances for journalists who coordinated with Hamas.

“Journalists found to have known about the massacre, and still chose to stand as idle bystanders while children were slaughtered — are no different than terrorists and should be treated as such,” he wrote.


The post International news outlets deny photographers colluded with Hamas after report suggests they knew attack plans appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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Treasure Trove explores the connection between errant arrows on Lag ba-Omer and comments that hit the mark

Are these kids the worst archers you have ever seen? Based on where their hands are, it is not obvious how the arrows will fly (which is probably a good thing, since most of them are facing each other). This 1910 postcard printed by the Hebrew Publishing Company of New York depicts the holiday of […]

The post Treasure Trove explores the connection between errant arrows on Lag ba-Omer and comments that hit the mark appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.

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Israel’s Gantz Demands Gaza Day-After Plan By June 8, Threatens to Quit Cabinet

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz speaks at Reichman University on Nov. 23, 2021. Photo: Ariel Hermoni / IMoD

Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz demanded on Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commit to an agreed vision for the Gaza conflict that would include stipulating who might rule the territory after the war with Hamas.

Gantz told a press conference he wanted the war cabinet to form a six-point plan by June 8. If his expectations are not met, he said, he will withdraw his centrist party from the conservative premier’s broadened emergency coalition.

Gantz, a retired top Israeli general who opinion polls show is Netanyahu’s most formidable political rival, gave no date for the prospective walkout but his challenge could increase strains on an increasingly unwieldy wartime government.

Netanyahu appears outflanked in his own inner war cabinet, where he, Gantz and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant alone have votes. On Wednesday, Gallant demanded clarity on post-war plans and for Netanyahu to forswear any military reoccupation of Gaza.

If the prime minister were to do that, he would risk angering ultra-nationalist coalition parties that have called for Gaza to be annexed and settled. Losing them could topple Netanyahu, who before the war failed to enlist more centrist partners, given his trial on corruption charges he denies.

“Personal and political considerations have begun to penetrate the Holy of Holies of Israel‘s national security,” Gantz said. “A small minority has seized the bridge of the Israeli ship and is piloting it toward the rocky shoal.”

Gantz said his proposed six-point plan would include bringing a temporary U.S.-European-Arab-Palestinian system of civil administration for Gaza while Israel retains security control.

It would also institute equitable national service for all Israelis, including ultra-Orthodox Jews, who are now exempted from the military draft and have two parties in Netanyahu’s coalition determined to preserve the waiver.

The post Israel’s Gantz Demands Gaza Day-After Plan By June 8, Threatens to Quit Cabinet first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Israel Pushes Into New Parts of Northern Gaza, Recovers Another Slain Hostage

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia refugee camp northern Gaza Strip, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo

Israeli troops and tanks pushed on Saturday into parts of a congested northern Gaza Strip district that they had previously skirted in the more than seven-month-old war.

Israel’s forces also took over some ground in Rafah, a southern city next to the Egyptian border that is packed with displaced people and where the launch this month of a long-threatened incursion to crush hold-outs of Palestinian Islamist terror group Hamas has alarmed Cairo and Washington.

In what Israeli media said was the result of intelligence gleaned during the latest incursions, the military announced the recovery of the body of a man who was among more than 250 hostages seized by Hamas in a cross-border rampage on Oct. 7 that triggered the war.

Ron Binyamin’s remains were located along with those of three other slain hostages whose repatriation was announced on Friday, the military said without providing further details.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

Israel has conducted renewed military sweeps this month of parts of northern Gaza where it had declared the end of major operations in January. At the time, it also predicted its forces would return to prevent a regrouping by the Palestinian Islamist group that rules Gaza.

One site has been Jabalia, the largest of Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps. On Saturday, troops and tanks edged into streets so far spared the ground offensive, residents said.

“Today is the most difficult in terms of the occupation bombardment, air strikes and tank shelling have going on almost non-stop,” said one resident in Jabalia, Ibrahim Khaled, via a chat app.

“We know of dozens of people, martyrs (killed) and wounded, but no ambulance vehicle can get into the area,” he told Reuters.

The Israeli military said its forces have continued to operate in areas across the Gaza Strip including Jabalia and Rafah, carrying out what it called “precise operations against terrorists and infrastructure.”

“The IAF (air force) continues to operate in the Gaza Strip, and struck over 70 terror targets during the past day, including weapons storage facilities, military infrastructure sites, terrorists who posed a threat to IDF troops, and military compounds,” the military said in a statement.

RISING DEATH TOLL

Armed wings of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and Fatah said fighters attacked Israeli forces in Jabalia and Rafah with anti-tank rockets, mortar bombs, and explosive devices already planted in some of the roads, killing and wounding many soldiers.

Israel’s military said 281 soldiers have been killed in fighting since the first ground incursions in Gaza on Oct 20.

In the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 1,200 people were killed. About 125 people are still being held in Gaza.

In Rafah, where Israeli tanks thrust into some of the eastern suburbs and clashed with Palestinian fighters there, residents said Israeli bombing from the air and ground persisted all night.

Israel says it must capture Rafah to destroy Hamas and ensure the country’s security.

The post Israel Pushes Into New Parts of Northern Gaza, Recovers Another Slain Hostage first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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