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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.
The post Why Does the Media Celebrate Images by Photographers With Unethical Ties to Hamas? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.