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Why Does the Media Celebrate Images by Photographers With Unethical Ties to Hamas?
The New York Times building in New York City. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Hamas couldn’t have asked for better coverage. The terror group’s yearslong investment in relations with Gaza journalists who work for the foreign media has paid off once again.
The annual end-of-year photo galleries of Reuters, the Associated Press, CNN, TIME Magazine, and The New York Times, featured heart-wrenching images by photographers who were previously exposed by HonestReporting for having unethical ties to Hamas.
Reuters’ Mohammed Salem, AP’s Fatima Shbair, and The New York Times’ Samar Abu Elouf, all had been honored by Hamas or taken an active part in its “Loyalty Day” events. But that didn’t stop their outlets from presenting their tainted work as a pinnacle of journalistic achievement.
Reuters’ Questionable Standards
Reuters news agency praised a photo by Mohammed Jadallah Salem, showing a surreal Gaza scene: Wedding dresses “for sale” displayed on mannequins amid debris, as displaced Palestinians walk by.
So surreal, in fact, that one wonders whether the picture was deliberately staged. But that’s beside the point: Any junior photo editor in the once-respected news agency should have spiked photos taken by Salem, by virtue of HonestReporting’s exposé of his cozy relationship with Hamas.
The same applies to CNN, which also included photos by Salem in its 2024 gallery
In 2017, Salem — who recently won the Pulitzer prize and the World Press Photo award — received an award from Hamas on behalf of his brother Suhaib, the head of Reuters visuals in Gaza. Two senior Hamas officials granted the commendation: Khalil al-Hayya and Mushir al-Masri.
Al-Hayya has publicly called for a fight against Israel as “the head of the serpent,” and al-Masri has vowed to “uproot the Zionists with our axes, knives, guns.”
The Associated Press Ignores Reality
The Associated Press also ignored the facts. Their 2024 end-of-year gallery includes photos of Gaza’s damaged houses and displaced people by Fatima Shbair, who was exposed by HonestReporting for participating in a Hamas promotional video.
In the video, which featured award-winning journalists honored by Hamas in a 2021 “Loyalty Day” event, Shbair thanked the Hamas Media Office in a gushing display of emotion, calling its efforts “incredible:”
As long as the battle continues, we must continue conveying the truth, and getting this picture out to the world. What the Government Press Office does every year to honor Palestinian journalists and their efforts on the ground is incredible. It encourages all of the journalists to carry on with the mission.
As our exposé stated, when journalists from the world’s leading news agencies appear in a propaganda video for Hamas, their journalistic integrity is as good as gone. They practically voice support and allegiance to the terror group’s agenda.
But the AP had no qualms about platforming Shbair, in her own voice, describing her “journalistic” work. Nor did CNN or TIME Magazine, which included her images of Gaza destruction in their top photos of 2024.
The New York Times Hides the Truth
Finally, The New York Times — despite knowing about the problematic relations between its photographer Samar Abu Elouf and Hamas — included one of her photos in its 2024 selection.
Elouf “delivered some of the most indelible images of the year: a series of portraits of Gazans horribly injured in the war, including children who had lost arms, legs or eyes,” the paper declared.
What it didn’t reveal to its readers was that Abu Elouf was also honored in 2021 as a Hamas media office “work partner.”
Indeed, the images she captured, horrific as they may be, are the bread and butter of the Hamas media office’s war effort.
The sad truth is that media want access, which is difficult in Gaza unless you’re in bed with Hamas.
In the past year, HonestReporting has successfully exposed this hypocrisy — leading to the dismissal of journalists like Abdel Qader Sabbah and Hassan Eslaiah, who were linked to Hamas and worked for CNN and AP.
And last month, we launched the “Call Out Complicity” campaign to expose outlets that continue to use biased journalists in their coverage of Israel-related issues.
As 2024 comes to an end, those efforts on the media battlefield continue. Here’s hoping that next year’s top photo selections won’t be as tainted.
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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CAIR Sues US State Department Over ‘Failing To Evacuate American Citizens’ From Gaza
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a media conference after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at the Czernin Palace, in Prague, Czech Republic, May 31, 2024. Photo: Peter David Josek/Pool via REUTERS
The Council for America-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group that purports to advocate for Muslim Americans, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department for “failing to evacuate American citizens, American legal residents, and the family members of Americans trapped under Israeli bombardment in Gaza.”
According to CAIR, the plaintiffs in the case have “ tried, for months, to exhaust non-legal means to escape Gaza.”
“Each plaintiff in the lawsuit is eligible to be evacuated but has been summarily ignored by the State Department and other Biden administration officials,” CAIR wrote in a statement.
The organization claims that the State Department has been sluggish in extracting American citizens caught in the crossfires of the Israel-Hamas war. In contrast, CAIR contends that the agency has responded with more urgency to evacuate American citizens caught in previous conflicts.
CAIR claims that the State Department has run afoul of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, which “guarantees equal protection for citizens and legal residents abroad under federal law.”
“The law requires the U.S. government to protect Americans wherever they may be. With every passing day, the danger of our clients dying from Israeli bombardment or the starvation and disease now rampant in Gaza only goes up,” CAIR attorney Maria Kari said. “The State Department must do the right thing and save these people from certain death.”
The State Department has cited the closure of the Rafah Crossing as the reason for the slowed evacuations of Americans from Gaza. However, the plaintiffs have called for evacuations to be conducted from the Kerem Shalom crossing, arguing that evacuations have been carried out from this site in previous conflicts between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group.
CAIR’s lawsuit against Israel was not its first time stepping into controversy.
The organization’s co-founder and executive director, Nihad Awad, said in November that he was “happy” to witness Hamas’ rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, when the Palestinian terrorist group invaded the Jewish state from neighboring Gaza, murdered 1,200 people, and kidnapped over 250 others as hostages. The massacre launched the ongoing war in Gaza, where Israel has been waging a military campaign aimed at dismantling Hamas and freeing the hostages.
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7,” CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad said in a speech during the American Muslims for Palestine convention in Chicago last November. “And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in.”
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas.” CAIR has disputed the accuracy of the ADL’s claim and asserted that it “unequivocally condemn[s] all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa’ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the US Department of State as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization.’”
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Floyd Mayweather Donates $1 Million to United Hatzalah at Miami Gala
Floyd Mayweather speaks to the media during the press conference after the 12-round Undisputed Super Middleweight World Title main-event bout at Premier Boxing Champions, Canelo vs Charlo. at T-Mobile Arena on Sept. 30, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Alejandro Salazar/PxImages/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Undefeated boxing champion Floyd Mayweather made a hefty donation to United Hatzalah of Israel, an emergency medical service, at the organization’s gala in Miami, Florida, on Thursday night.
Wearing a massive diamond necklace that featured a Star of David, the retired boxer joined Eli Beer, the president and founder of United Hatzalah, on stage at the gala and announced that he would donate $1 million to the organization to help reach its goal of raising $12 million that night. Moments after, Neil Book, chairman and CEO of the Jet Support Services, joined the former boxer and Beer on stage and said he would match Mayweather’s $1 million donation. United Hatzalah of Israel reportedly raised a total of $13,000,000 at the event on Thursday night, which was held at the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa.
At the gala, Mayweather also gifted philanthropist Miriam Adelson, a longtime United Hatzalah of Israel partner and donor, with a diamond necklace that featured the organization’s emblem, which is a combination of the Star of Life and the Star of David.
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Eurovision Song Contest Warns Israel About Participation in Future Competitions If Controversial Bill Passes Knesset
Eden Golan performing “Hurricane” for Israel at the Grand Final at Malmö Arena. Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett/EBU
The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) reiterated to The Algemeiner on Thursday that if Israeli lawmakers pass a controversial bill to privatize the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC], which operates the Kan television and radio network, it would affect Israel’s chances from participating in the international singing competition in the future.
“While they are member of the EBU [European Broadcasting Union], Kan remains eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest,” the communications team from the Eurovision Song Contest told The Algemeiner. “The privatization of Kan would almost certainly lead to their exclusion from the EBU and therefore they would no longer be able to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest.”
The European Broadcasting Union, which represents public media organizations across Europe and North Africa, organizes the Eurovision Song Contest. The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation has been a member of the EBU since 1957, which gives it access to news, sports and music content from its network of public service broadcasters.
Earlier this week, the EBU sent a letter to the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee expressing concern over proposed legislation in Israel that seeks to privatize the IPBC by ending its public funding and looking for a private buyer. The bill, sponsored by Likud MK Tally Gotliv, so far passed a preliminary reading 49-46 in the Knesset on Nov. 27. It states that if a buyer for IPBC cannot be found in two years, the broadcaster will be shut down completely.
The bill has been criticized by the Foreign Press Association, the Union of Journalists in Israel, the Attorney General’s Office in Israel, and the Kan network itself for its potential to hinder freedom of expression and press freedom for journalists. The EBU has previously released statements criticizing the proposed bill and related efforts in Israel to have Kan’s budget be controlled by the Israeli government.
“Public service broadcasting in Israel is under sustained political attack, facing threats that not only jeopardize its independence but its very existence in the future,” EBU Director General Noel Curran said in mid-November. “We share the concern of the Attorney General`s office that this is a political reaction to KAN`s content, from a Government that wants to either get more control over it or shut down the broadcaster altogether.”
In its letter to the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee this week, the EBU warned that if the IPBC goes private, “it will not be a member of the EBU and as a result – will not participate in Eurovision,” as cited by Israel Hayom. They asked the committee to “carefully consider” how the bill would affect IPBC’s ability to operate “in a sustained and independent manner.”
“The privatization of the IPBC would render this relationship unstable and would almost certainly lead to its removal from our union, diminishing the state’s role in major events and limiting Israeli citizens’ access to such content,“ the EBU added. “The potential loss of Kan would weaken the diversity of news, free sports broadcasting, local programming including quality children’s programming, and much more that is available to Israeli citizens, and there will be inevitable implications for international perceptions of Israel. We are ready to provide any essential support to preserve the future of public broadcasting in Israel.”
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