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Media Ignore Evidence Showing Slain Gaza ‘Journalists’ Were Terrorists
On January 7, media outlets widely reported that Israel had killed two Palestinian “journalists” in Gaza.
The stories about the deaths of Al Jazeera’s freelancers Hamza Al-Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya, who had also been an AFP contributor, were almost identical. They all highlighted the fact that the former was the son of Wael Al-Dahdouh, the Qatar-based TV station’s renowned chief correspondent in Gaza.
The stories focused on the personal tragedy of the father, who had lost his immediate family in the war, but continued reporting from the field under dangerous conditions.
Media outlets also quoted Al Jazeera’s condemnation of the deliberate Israeli “targeting” of journalists, and mentioned the number of journalists killed so far in the war, according to the flawed data of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
No media outlet, however, bothered to update or correct their report when on January 10, the Israeli army released evidence proving Al-Dahdouh and Thuraya had been terror operatives.
The IDF says two Al Jazeera journalists targeted in an airstrike on Sunday in southern Gaza’s Rafah, were members of terror organizations in the Gaza Strip.
The strike was carried out after the IDF said it spotted a terror operative piloting a drone, and subsequently hit a car… pic.twitter.com/EytbJc6ivV
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 10, 2024
Reuters and AP, for example, which are responsible for providing news updates to thousands of media outlets worldwide, kept their original headlines and stories unchanged:
The AP’s report also included an emotional-collegial touch:
Palestinian journalists have played an essential role in reporting on the conflict for local and international media outlets, even as many have lost loved ones and been forced to flee their own homes because of the fighting.
Another wire service, AFP, had no choice but to issue a story about its former freelancer-turned-terrorist after the army’s announcement. But on social media platform X, the agency’s only post on the story still echoes Al-Jazeera:
#BREAKING Blinken says death of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza ‘unimaginable tragedy’ pic.twitter.com/e89faT9j4H
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) January 7, 2024
Other media outlets followed suit.
The New York Times and Washington Post emphasized Al-Dahdouh’s family tragedy.
Both stories still say that the Israeli army did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
And The Washington Post went as far as lamenting the death of someone who had looked up to his father as a journalistic role model.
But it was the news Sunday that his son Hamza al-Dahdouh, the one who had followed in his footsteps and become a journalist, had been killed alongside another colleague, Mustafa Thuraya, that cut the deepest.
Indeed, after the IDF announced that the son had been a Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist, the writers could have discovered that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, albeit in a different sense: Before he became a journalist, the father had been imprisoned in Israel for terrorist activity. According to an Israeli security source, he was affiliated with Islamic Jihad.
But the Washington Post story, and that of The New York Times, were not updated.
The same applies to CNN, ABC News, BBC, and many others. They echoed the tragic human angle or Al Jazeera’s claims, but failed to update their stories or publish new ones when the new information came to light.
While some outlets did include the immediate army response, saying it had targeted terrorists, it cannot replace a statement issued three days later after a thorough investigation. Especially because these media had also buried it amid articles that led with Al-Dahdouh’s plight.
When the IDF eventually exposed evidence showing Hamza Al-Dahdouh’s name on an Islamic Jihad document, along with specific data identifying the other “journalist” as a Hamas commander, media outlets should have been quick to update their initial reports. They should have at least published a new, separate story leading with the new information.
But they didn’t.
Why were the media so quick to take as gospel the unsupported claims of a Qatari-owned propaganda channel, and ignore evidence pointing at their fallacy?
Is it because the evidence serves the “wrong” side in this conflict?
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 Media Ignore Evidence Showing Slain Gaza ‘Journalists’ Were Terrorists first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Beersheba Resident Arrested on Suspicion of Espionage for Iran
Doron Bokobza, who was indicted after Iran recruited him to collect intelligence Photo: i24/ Social media / 27A
i24 News – An indictment was filed against a resident of Beersheba, Doron Bokobza, who contacted Iranian intelligence and offered to sell them information including secrets to the nuclear research facility in Dimona.
In February, Bokobza was arrested on suspicion of committing security offenses, involving contact with Iranian police intelligence agents and carrying out tasks for them in exchange for money. He claimed to have access and knowledge of the nuclear facility.
According to the indictment filed against him, last December, Bokobza approached an Iranian recruiter via the Telegram app, writing: “I am Israeli, I want to cross over to you.” When asked by the recruiter why he was interested in doing so, the defendant replied that it was due to the government and his difficult financial situation.
Bokobza allegedly photographed military installations and transferred information to the Iranian handlers several days later.
The post Beersheba Resident Arrested on Suspicion of Espionage for Iran first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Captive IDF Soldier Nimrod Cohen Identified from Horn Video Hamas Released
Nimrod Cohen, an IDF soldier who was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, by Gazan terrorists and has been held for more than 500 days. Photo: Hostages and Missing Families Forum
i24 News – The family of the Israeli soldier Nimrod Cohen, held captive in the Gaza Strip, said on Saturday that they had identified their son in the video published the day before by Hamas.
In this recording, Eitan and Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel-Chen, and other hostages whose faces have been blurred can be seen. The Cohen family says they recognized Nimrod, who appears wearing a t-shirt and bearing a characteristic tattoo.
In the video broadcast with the agreement of the Horn family, brothers Eitan and Iair are seen embracing. Iair Horn, freed on the 498th day of the war, declares: “They are making me leave my little brother here, to die,” while his brother Eitan, still in captivity, adds: “It is illogical to separate families in this way.”
“Get everyone out and don’t separate families, don’t destroy our lives,” Eitan said in the video. “Tell mom and dad to continue the protests and for this government to sign phase two to bring us all home.” He addressed the Prime Minister directly: “[Benjamin] Netanyahu, if you have a bit of heart, sign, sign today.”
Father Yehuda Cohen said during a demonstration of hostage families that his “son Nimrod is a soldier who was kidnapped from a burning tank. He is alive and he, like all the hostages, begs us from this hell to save them now. All of them, and all at once.”
“We are addressing President Trump – there are still 59 hostages in Gaza who are living a Holocaust,” he added. “Netanyahu is trying to sabotage your agreement, Mr. President. He is the one creating the current crisis in the negotiations. Don’t let him fail the agreement.”
About two weeks ago, Cohen revealed in an interview with Channel 12 that the family had received a message from Nimrod. “We got news from him last week, from two hostages who spent eight months with him in the tunnels,” the father explained. “I’m doing fine, don’t worry about me. I love you,” Nimrod conveyed to his parents through the former captives.
The post Captive IDF Soldier Nimrod Cohen Identified from Horn Video Hamas Released first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel’s Right-Wing Camp Hails Order to Block Goods from Entering Gaza
Jewish Power party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir speaks following the announcement of exit polls in Israel’s general election, at his party headquarters in Jerusalem November 2, 2022. REUTERS/Corinna Kern
i24 News – Israel’s right wing hailed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision on Sunday to halt goods and supplies from being brought to the Gaza Strip, demanding that hostages continue being released.
“I welcome the decision to halt the humanitarian aid, if it is implemented,” said former national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir. “The decision has finally been made – better late than never. This should be the policy until the last of the hostages is returned. Now is the time to open the gates of hell, to shut off the electricity and water, to return to war, and most importantly, not to settle for just half of the hostages, but to return to President Trump’s ultimatum all the hostages immediately or hell will break loose on Gaza.”
Ben Gvir referred to US President Donald Trump’s warning that “all hell” would break out if all the hostages are not returned, while saying that it was ultimately Israel’s decision.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, another right-wing firebrand, said that “the decision we made tonight to completely halt the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza until Hamas is destroyed or completely surrenders and all our hostages are returned is an important step in the right direction.”
He called for Israel to continue until “complete victory.”
Meanwhile, the far-right Order 9 movement, which opposed the entry of goods including humanitarian assistance into Gaza, said that its activists “reached the Kerem Shalom crossing area and it is indeed closed. We will stand guard that it will indeed remain so until the last of the kidnapped are returned”
“The transfer of aid that has strengthened the murderous terrorist organization Hamas for the past year and a half will stop until all the kidnapped are returned,” the movement said. “For many months, we have fought tooth and nail against the terrible failure to transfer aid to the enemy, which has now become clear that it will strengthen it for many months to come. We are now on the ground and will continue to stand guard well, and to ensure that this severe harm to the kidnapped will stop.”
The post Israel’s Right-Wing Camp Hails Order to Block Goods from Entering Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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