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Voice of America Whitewashes Terror Backgrounds of Gazan Journalists
In the early morning hours of March 18, 2024, Israeli forces raided Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza to remove the Hamas presence that had re-emerged months after being routed by the Israeli military in November 2023.
According to the IDF, 40 Hamas terrorists were killed during the gun battle that ensued, and 200 others were detained as suspected terror operatives.
One of those detained was Ismail Al-Ghoul, who identified himself as an Al Jazeera journalist.
Voice of America (VOA) dedicated an entire piece to Al-Ghoul’s arrest and subsequent release, as well as claims about Israeli treatment of Palestinian journalists throughout the war between Israel and Hamas.
However, this piece was a one-sided attack on Israel’s conduct during the war which ignores vital context, disregards emerging information about Al-Ghoul’s connection to Hamas, and misrepresents Israel’s treatment of Palestinian journalists.
IDF: Troops raid Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, battle Hamas members holed up inside https://t.co/kYYwFpD4Ke
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) March 18, 2024
VOA glaringly omits the vital context that the IDF raided Al-Shifa on specific intelligence that Hamas terrorists were once again present there. In fact, the word “Hamas” only appears once in the entire piece, a passing reference to the terror group’s October 7 invasion of southern Israel.
Without the necessary context, the average reader is left with the impression that Israel’s early morning raid on Al-Shifa was just a wanton exhibition of violence inside the Gaza Strip’s largest medical center.
The IDF says troops have so far killed more than 50 Hamas gunmen during its ongoing raid at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital.
The operation, which began early Monday morning, is being carried out by the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit, the 401st Armored Brigade, and the Shin Bet… pic.twitter.com/t0yBv9zbIY
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 19, 2024
Just as VOA ignores Hamas when describing the IDF raid in this report, it also completely disregards the Gaza-based terror organization when discussing Ismail Al-Ghoul.
According to the publicly-funded American media outlet, Al-Ghoul is an “Arabic-language correspondent” for the Qatar-based news network, Al Jazeera.
While it might be technically accurate, this banal description of Al-Ghoul is hardly a complete picture of who he is and what he stands for.
In the hours following his arrest, both Israeli analyst Eitan Fischberger and British investigative journalist David Collier did deep dives into Al-Ghoul’s background, unearthing his ties to Hamas as well as deleted social media accounts full of anti-Israel incitement, praise for terrorism, and glorification of internationally recognized terror groups.
Probably the most sophisticated Al Jazeera “journalist” psy-op yet:
You may have seen the headlines today about Al Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghoul, who was apprehended by the IDF in Shifa Hospital while it was battling terrorists.
Given the multiple instances since… pic.twitter.com/GemeIhzTxB
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) March 18, 2024
From Fischberger’s and Collier’s research, it appears that Ismail Al-Ghoul began working as a correspondent for Al Jazeera after October 7 and the beginning of Israel’s war against Hamas.
Prior to joining the Qatar-based broadcaster, Al-Ghoul worked for a variety of media outlets and “media production companies,” including the Hamas-affiliated outlets Felesteen and Al-Resalah.
It was also discovered that all of Al-Ghoul’s current social media accounts had been opened between November 2023 and February 2024, during his tenure at Al Jazeera.
According to Fischberger, the deletion of Al-Ghoul’s old social media accounts and their replacement with clean new ones is part of a “highly sophisticated, concerted effort” to “manufacture a ‘legitimate journalist’ out of whole cloth.”
In effect, Al-Ghoul appears to have rebranded himself as a respectable journalist instead of the mouthpiece for terrorism and incitement that is apparent in his now-deleted social media accounts.
10/ To clarify: al-Ghoul’s prior TikTok, X, and Instagram accounts were deleted. We know this because the usernames of his new accounts on the platforms all end with the number 2.
It’s no small feat to erase much of someone’s social media presence, create new profiles, and then… pic.twitter.com/LD3esrzwVa
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) March 18, 2024
Both Eitan Fischberger and David Collier have discovered posts from these accounts that glorify Palestinian terrorists, including Yahya Sinwar, the ruthless leader of Hamas in Gaza, who is thought to be primarily responsible for planning the October 7 terror attack, and members of the PFLP and Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades who were killed in gun battles with Israeli security forces.
Along with his praise for Palestinian terrorists, Al-Ghoul also advocated terrorism against Israelis, uploading posts that celebrate rockets fired toward Israeli population centers and lone-wolf terror attacks conducted against Israeli civilian targets.
In addition, Al-Ghoul also incited against the Jewish state, referring to Israel in one post as “the greatest epidemic.”
Following its coverage of Al-Ghoul’s arrest, VOA then sought to add context by referencing reports by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Israel’s treatment of Palestinian journalists during the war.
However, much like its description of Ismail Al-Ghoul, VOA leaves out vital information.
For example, it reports that, according to the CPJ, 90 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed so far during the war.
What’s missing from this statistic is the fact that a substantial number of these media personnel worked for Hamas-affiliated news organizations.
In late February 2024, HonestReporting discovered that, based on information provided by the CPJ and the Meir Amit Intelligence and Information Center, over half the journalists killed in Gaza were members of or affiliated with a proscribed terror organization.
Even though the CPJ mentions the terror affiliations of several journalists in its own report, VOA remains mum on the subject, leaving its readers with the impression that all these journalists were deliberately targeted by Israel for their reporting.
Similarly, VOA reports that, based on a CPJ report, Israel is a “leading jailer of journalists,” having arrested 17 Palestinian journalists since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war.
Once again, this statistic lacks vital context.
As pointed out by the Committee For Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA UK), the CPJ notes that two of these journalists were arrested for “incitement,” a charge that exists in other Western countries.
In addition, CAMERA UK lists several more of these Palestinian journalists who have either publicly endorsed terrorism or worked for outlets that advocate attacks against Israeli civilians.
This context is necessary to dispel the false impression that these journalists were arrested by Israeli authorities simply to stifle their free speech.
Sadly, @pressfreedom knows that the only way to draw attention to 242 journalists listed is to focus on 17 it claims Israel has jailed.
Did CPJ even bother to find out how many of the 17 are affiliated with Palestinian terror orgs or were actively involved in terror activities? https://t.co/fYjxR6XgKm
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) January 18, 2024
When VOA and other media organizations accuse Israel of deliberately killing Palestinian journalists while whitewashing the close connection between Gazan journalists and internationally recognized terror groups, it’s both context-free journalism and a contributor to anti-Israel sentiment.
In the end, this not only harms Israel’s fight against terrorism but also does a disservice to champions of press freedom and integrity in Gaza and around the world.
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.
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Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy

Thomas Barrack at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
i24 News – Lebanon’s daunting social, economic and political issues would not get resolved unless the state persists in the efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy behind so much of the unrest and destruction, special US envoy Tom Barrack told The National.
“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the historical Arabic name for the region sometimes known as “larger Syria.”
The official stressed the need to follow through on promises to disarm the Iranian proxy, which suffered severe blows from Israel in the past year, including the elimination of its entire leadership, and is considered a weakened though still dangerous jihadist outfit.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement, it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it,” he told The National.
Barrack spoke on the heels of a trip to Beirut, where he proposed a diplomatic plan for the region involving the full disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese state.
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Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Fragi, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Scherbak/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian leadership that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, the Axios website reported on Saturday. The Russian strongman also relayed the message to his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, the report said.
Iranian news agency Tasnim issued a denial, citing an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that “Any negotiated solution must respect Iran’s right to enrichment. No agreement without recognizing our right to enrichment. If negotiations occur, the only topic will be the nuclear program. No other issues, especially defense or military matters, will be on the agenda.”
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan

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
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is attending at least one meeting with Israeli officials in Azerbaijan today, despite sources in Damascus claiming he wasn’t attending, a Syrian source close to President Al-Sharaa tells i24NEWS.
The Syrian source stated that this is a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel.
The high-level Israeli delegation includes a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures.
The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, might also be discussed.
The source stated that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the US, is intended to send a message to Iran.
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