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Photographer Who Infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7 Honored in Reuters’ Pulitzer Win
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. NOTE: This photo was not taken by the photographer in question. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
On Monday, Reuters’ photography staff won the Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Photography for “raw and urgent photographs documenting the October 7th deadly attack in Israel by Hamas and the first weeks of Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza.”
Appallingly, one of the photos in the agency’s winning 15-image compilation was taken inside Gaza by Yasser Qudih, a photojournalist who had infiltrated Israel on October 7, as HonestReporting exposed last November.
It’s noteworthy, however, that none of his images taken from inside Israel on that horrific day were included in Reuters’ winning portfolio.
It’s appalling that one of the Gazan photojournalists who infiltrated Israel on October 7 is now a @PulitzerPrizes recipient. It’s noteworthy, however, that none of his images taken from inside Israel on that horrific day were included in @Reuters‘ winning portfolio.
We hope… https://t.co/PxG5X4aSb5
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 7, 2024
While Qudih’s winning image shows a typical war scene of Palestinians fleeing a bomb site in Gaza, his border photos from October 7 are quite different.
Qudih was at the scene early enough that morning to capture an image of a still-smoldering Israeli tank after he had illegally crossed into the Jewish State.
Another of Qudih’s photos from that day shows a Palestinian gunman on the Israeli side of the border.
Reuters said Qudih had no prior knowledge of the attack, and that the agency didn’t embed photographers with Hamas.
But the fact Qudih could freely capture gunmen without being threatened suggests that, at a minimum, he had their tacit approval to document and disseminate their actions.
As revealed two months ago by Israel’s Channel 12 news magazine Uvda, the documentation and distribution of the October 7 atrocities was part of Hamas’ vicious plan.
Did Reuters have no qualms about including in its Pulitzer nomination, someone whose professional and ethical conduct had been called into question?
And didn’t the Pulitzer Board conduct background checks on the recipients of a top journalism prize?
Probably not, considering the board also granted a special citation to “the courageous work” of journalists covering the war under fire in Gaza, ignoring the fact that some of them had been moonlighting for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
It is telling, however, that Reuters’ winning portfolio didn’t include any of Qudih’s problematic border images, nor any taken by his colleague, Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa.
The latter’s photo of a lynched Israeli soldier being dragged out of the tank had previously been featured by Reuters in its photo galleries throughout the war.
Therefore, while we deplore the inclusion of Qudih in the winning Pulitzer portfolio, the absence of tainted border images would indicate some sort of self-reflection by Reuters. If images that were previously deemed by Reuters to be among its top photos of the year are no longer considered to be worthy of submission for awards, this represents a positive development.
It can only be hoped that Reuters recognizes that the photos it published by Gazan photojournalists who accompanied Hamas across the border are ethically flawed and should not be rewarded with a Pulitzer or any other industry honor.
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 Photographer Who Infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7 Honored in Reuters’ Pulitzer Win first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday
US President Donald Trump attends the Saudi-US Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
US President Donald Trump’s order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States goes into effect at 12:01 am ET (0401 GMT) on Monday, a move the president promulgated to protect the country from “foreign terrorists.”
The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The entry of people from seven other countries – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela – will be partially restricted.
Trump, a Republican, said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security, have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, as well as inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.
He cited last Sunday’s incident in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new curbs are needed. But Egypt is not part of the travel ban.
The travel ban forms part of Trump’s policy to restrict immigration into the United States and is reminiscent of a similar move in his first term when he barred travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Officials and residents in countries whose citizens will soon be banned expressed dismay and disbelief.
Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to US citizens in response to Trump’s action.
“Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and its pride,” he said in a Facebook post, referring to countries such as Qatar, which gifted the U.S. a luxury airplane for Trump’s use and promised to invest billions of dollars in the U.S.
Afghans who worked for the US or US-funded projects and were hoping to resettle in the US expressed fear that the travel ban would force them to return to their country, where they could face reprisal from the Taliban.
Democratic US lawmakers also voiced concern about the policies.
“Trump’s travel ban on citizens from over 12 countries is draconian and unconstitutional,” said US Representative Ro Khanna on social media late on Thursday. “People have a right to seek asylum.”
The post Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a member of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in southern Syria’s Mazraat Beit Jin, days after Israel carried out its first airstrikes in the country in nearly a month.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the strike.
Israel said on Tuesday it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles towards Israel for the first time under the country’s new leadership. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz held Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa accountable.
Damascus in response said reports of the shelling were unverified, reiterating that Syria does not pose a threat to any regional party.
A little known group named “Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades,” an apparent reference to Hamas’ military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024, reportedly claimed responsibility for the shelling. Reuters, however, could not independently verify the claim.
The post Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg
FILE PHOTO: Activist Greta Thunberg sits aboard the aid ship Madleen, which left the Italian port of Catania on June 1 to travel to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, in this picture released on June 2, 2025 on social media. Photo: Freedom Flotilla Coalition/via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told the military on Sunday to stop a charity boat carrying activists including Sweden’s Greta Thunberg who are planning to defy an Israeli blockade and reach Gaza.
Operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the British-flagged Madleen yacht set sail from Sicily on June 6 and is currently off the Egyptian coast, heading slowly towards the Gaza Strip, which is besieged by Israel.
“I instructed the IDF to act so that the Madleen .. does not reach Gaza,” Katz said in a statement.
“To the antisemitic Greta and her Hamas-propaganda-spouting friends, I say clearly: You’d better turn back, because you will not reach Gaza.”
Climate activist Thunberg said she joined the Madleen crew to “challenge Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes” in Gaza and highlight the urgent need for humanitarian aid. She has rejected previous Israeli accusations of antisemitism.
Israel went to war with Hamas in October 2023 after the Islamist terrorists launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing more 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to the enclave.
Katz said the blockade was essential to Israel’s national security as it seeks to eliminate Hamas.
“The State of Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade on Gaza, whose primary purpose is to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas,” he said.
The Madleen is carrying a symbolic quantity of aid, including rice and baby formula, the FFC has said.
FFC press officer Hay Sha Wiya said on Sunday the boat was currently some 160 nautical miles (296 km) from Gaza. “We are preparing for the possibility of interception,” she said.
Besides Thunberg, there are 11 other crew members aboard, including Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.
Israeli media have reported that the military plans to intercept the yacht before it reaches Gaza and escort it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The crew would then be deported.
In 2010, Israeli commandos killed 10 people when they boarded a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, that was leading a small flotilla towards Gaza.
The post Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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