Does independent journalism exist in Gaza?

[Twiglets1]

Opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post today arguing that there is no independent journalism in Gaza - "only Hamas operatives posing as reporters".

The article talks about the incident last Monday in which five journalists were killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in Khan Yunis. Outlets such as Reuters, and Al Jazeera claimed to have lost reporters, yet as the article argues:

Hamas doesn’t tolerate independent reporting. Everyone knows it. The only question is why Western outlets keep pretending otherwise. The Committee to Protect Journalists – far from a Zionist mouthpiece – has published testimony from Gaza reporters who spoke of intimidation, threats, and beatings.

One veteran, Tawfiq Abu Jarad, got a phone call warning him not to cover an anti-Hamas protest. He obeyed because Hamas had already assaulted him once. Another crew was attacked by Hamas police while filming, and the matter was quietly “resolved” through clan mediation.

Most of Gaza’s “journalists” aren’t journalists at all. Independent investigators – most recently analyst Eitan Fischberger – have exposed the truth about those killed in Monday’s strike. They weren’t neutral reporters. They were part of Hamas’s machine.

Mohammed Salama of Al Jazeera was a terrorist who personally participated in the invasion of Israel on October 7.

Mariam Abu Daqqa of the Associated Press taught “journalism” courses for the Hamas “Information Ministry.”

Ahmed Abu Aziz celebrated the October 7 massacre on social media, calling it “the greatest day of our generation” while mourning his fellow Hamas fighters. Terrorists, operatives, regime mouthpieces – call them what you will, but don’t call them journalists.

This is not new. Open-source researchers like @MiddleEastBuka have documented dozens of cases where “journalists” killed in Gaza were praised in obituaries as “mujahideen” (jihadists).

Mohammad Abu Daqqa, labeled a journalist, was celebrated as a “heroic mujahid,” a jihadist warrior, with photos showing him holding a Kalashnikov.

Anas Abu Shamala, a member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba unit that led the atrocities of October 7, was still counted as a “freelance journalist.”

Then there is Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif. Abroad, he was lionized as a fearless correspondent. In Gaza, he posted a smiling selfie with Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of October 7. The list goes on and on. Hamas dresses up its operatives in press vests. Western media report them as martyrs of free expression.

www.jpost.com/opinion/article-865662

Hamas are Iranian backed terrorists, what more can we say.
IDF whatever the press says are a western army.

What do you think about the ambulance/aid workers. That was not a mistake and if the video evidence and not been discovered the lie would have continued.

Not evidence we are privy too but that doesn’t mean no evidence exists.

It’s true we can’t verify Hamas links at the moment for every journalist mentioned. But based on what I did read about them from that source & others, none of them seemed like they would be neutral in their reporting of events in Gaza as they had a strong anti Israel bias (maybe understandable but still).

Well, the IDF have said that Hamas often infiltrated humanitarian convoys, using ambulances and paramedic uniforms to move fighters and weapons. This seems like a pretty obvious tactic for them to use. But I don't expect you to believe them! 😊

How was it a lie? They admitted it.

Look we will agree to disagree there. As you can see from the post I linked earlier Israel are actively painting journalists as Hamas to justify their killing. I agree we don't have all the evidence and perhaps there is some just some of the info in the article was definitely based on social media

I know being a journalist means there should be more neutral opinions when reporting but Living in a warzone I cannot expect anyone to not have a strong bias. I cannot imagine reporters in London during the Blitz having a favourable opinion of the Germans. I imagine the same could be said for any Israeli who has been the victim of Hamas violence.

However we do agree that reporting is influenced by Hamas whether through fear or an allied belief system.

After they were caught..

What would have happened if no evidence came to light.

Given the IDF informed the UN of the burial site, that is a moot point.

That's fantastic but completely irrelevant to the lies.

You said:

After they were caught..
**
What would have happened if no evidence came to light.

I was responding to your post where you stated the above so relevant to your response.

Obviously the IDF told the UN where they were so evidence would have come to light.

The Israeli Government and the IDF have been dismissed as liars, over and above Hamas, or any other government, on this forum from the very start of this war so I am interested to know where this comes from considering the centuries long history of blood libels directed at the Jewish people which it might be construed it originates from.

The lies are why they shot the ambulance not where they were. So the whole "the lights were off"/acting suspiciously etc thing was only admitted after the video surfaced. They changed the story after the video was released.

Not sure what point you are making in your second paragraph. Of course Hamas lie, so does Israel. It's not a big conspiracy.

And yet that accusation of "Israeli lies" about the "40 beheaded babies" still gets trotted out constantly as though it proves their sly cunning...? This suggest more than just wilful ignorance.

I never mentioned beheaded babies. I just mentioned a factual event where it is accepted that Israel did lie. That's not sly cunning or wilful ignorance just a fact.

I didn't mean you, sorry it was a remark made earlier 😊

I didnt see any previous threads about the beheaded babies on mumsnet.

On October 11th a spokesperson for Netanyahu told CNN that On Oct. 11, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN that babies and toddlers were found in Kfar Aza with their "heads decapitated."

Netanyahus x account showed graphic photos reportedly of infants killed,that he shared with Blinken and I believe that Biden only said that it was confirmed because he was clearly hearing that from Israeli officials.

Traumatised individuals from reservist soldiers to Zaka may have believed what they saw to be beheaded babies. However these reports of beheaded babies and toddlers were issued to the international media came from IDF spokesperson, IDf head of search and rescue and IDF Chief Rabbi.

I would have expected them not to confirm these claims without sufficient evidence and substantiation - it damaged their credibility.

Are you saying that they won’t let journalists in because they are worried about their safety? Or worried that they will show Israel in a bad light?

https://www.politifact.com/article/2023/nov/21/israel-hamas-war-what-we-know-about-beheaded-babie/

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-12-04/ty-article-magazine/.premium/hamas-committed-documented-atrocities-but-a-few-false-stories-feed-the-deniers/0000018c-34f3-da74-afce-b5fbe24f0000

Reports came from army commanders, Colonels, IDF spokesperson and even spokesperson to Netanyahu confirmed babies and toddlers were beheaded.

In related world central kitchen - 3 vehicles in a convoy were hit with 3 seperate missiles.
The WCK had to communicate with IDF on its movement and get permission to move.

Israeli gov said they werent targeted deliberately- said that claim was absurd!

how do you hit a convoy of 3 cars with 3 seperate hits and it not be deliberate? How is that not a lie?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/International/world-central-kitchen-attack-on-aid-workers-gaza/story%3fid=108814150

A senior adviser for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called claims that an Israeli strike on World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza was intentional "absurd," after the organization's founder said the deadly attack was targeted.

In relation to UNWRA constant allegations aren't evidence.

UNWRA had 13,000 staff in Gaza before Oct 7th. They delivered essential services such as health and education - critical for functioning of Gaza.

In Jan 2024 Israel made allegations about 12 unwra staff that they were involved in Oct 7th without providing any evidence. Unwra dismissed them immediately.

UN office of internal oversight - highest investigative body in UN launched investigation into allegations. They investigated 19 staff - the initial 12 plus 7 more who Israel also alleged in March and April 24.

In one case, no evidence was obtained to support the allegations, while in nine other cases, the evidence was insufficient to support claims of involvement. In the remaining nine cases, the evidence obtained by OIOS - if authenticated and corroborated - might indicate that the staff members may have been involved, and their employment was terminated in the interest of UNRWA.

So of 19 alleged - only 9 may have been involved based on evidence.

Even if it was all 19 - that's less than .1% of staff.

Despite the fact that it was so few staff,israel provided no evidence to substantiate its allegations and unwra immediately dismissed them anyway Israel asked other countries to stop funding Unwra.

So yeah to me, it seems very clearly to be a lie that UNWRA was infiltrated by Hamas and I believe it to be morally reprehensible that Israel has effectively 'killed' unwra on the basis of unsubstantiated lies.

On October 13, a civilian convoy fleeing Gaza City as ordered by the Israeli military on a road identified as a “safe route” by Israel, was hit by an Israeli airstrike, killing 70 people and wounding at least 200. The Israeli military denied attacking the convoy. However, Amnesty International verified videos of the attack and concluded it was the result of an airstrike.

In highlighting both lies and lack of Press freedom the shooting of Shireen Abu Akleh feels very pertinent.

On May 11, 2022, renowned Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot in the neck and killed by an Israeli sniper while reporting on an Israeli army invasion of the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, even though she was nowhere near any fighting at the time and was wearing a vest clearly marked “Press.” Then-Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and the Israeli military blamed Abu Akleh’s death on Palestinians, distributing unrelated video of Palestinian gunfire during the invasion as supposed proof. However, multiple independent investigations, including by The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Associated Press, and CNN, as well as by human rights groups like Amnesty International, and the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, all concluded that Abu Akleh was killed by an Israeli soldier. The Israeli military itself later backtracked, stating that Abu Akleh may have been killed by one of their soldiers
Source: The Times of Israel

https://share.google/T1rfHJGzHPDZ2WJMv

Can you provide links to those reports direct from the IDF and Israeli government as I addressed this in my previous post?

I can’t see the Haaretz article as it’s behind a paywall. Can you copy and paste it for those of us who are not subscribers?

How was that a lie?

What would the be the intention behind Israel deliberately targeting them with the whole world soon finding out and condemning them.

Israel obviously had suspicions about some of their employees though.

www.timesofisrael.com/world-central-kitchen-fires-62-gazan-workers-accused-by-israel-of-terror-ties/amp/

This is pretty damning.

https://unwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/UNW-129-%E2%80%94-The-Unholy-Alliance-%E2%80%94-2025-01-09-%E2%80%94-Web-%E2%80%94-Singles.pdf

Whatever you think of the source, can you refute what’s in the report?

This incident?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67114281.amp

I believe Hamas was and still is preventing civilians from evacuating to safe zones, so they can be used as collateral for propaganda purposes as they have a long history of doing so, more than I believe the IDF deliberately targets civilians so they can bring global condemnation and outrage upon themselves which would be a not very clever thing to do.