Abdallah Aljamal, a member of Hamas, was a correspondent for the Palestine Chronicle. He reported often on Israel’s ‘relentless bombing’ of the Gaza Strip.
Abdallah Aljamal, a Gaza-based journalist, held captive in his home three Israeli hostages before the Israel Defense Forces rescued them this weekend. The IDF killed Aljamal, a member of Hamas, upon discovering former hostages Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, in his home.
Aljamal was a Gaza correspondent for the Palestine Chronicle. He reported often on Israel’s “relentless bombing” of the Gaza Strip and published many stories about the toll the war had on Palestinian families.
In April, he lamented that “many Palestinian families were divided and cannot be reunited under these horrific circumstances.” For that story he spoke with three Palestinians who had been separated from their families during the war whose only hopes were to be “reunited with their beloved ones soon,” Aljamal wrote.
Western journalists reported fairly on Israel’s hostage rescue for all of about two hours before shifting the narrative to focus on the harm Israel’s “raid” caused in central Gaza. Hundreds of civilians reportedly were killed in Israel’s rescue op, and, of course, Hamas’s health ministry says that most of these civilians are women and children. But Israel’s rescue last weekend is the perfect example of how the word “civilian” has different meanings for different parties.
Civilian means to Hamas any person in Gaza. Hamas does not factor into its death toll how many of the slain Gazans are terrorists, or terrorist sympathizers, though Israel last month said it has eliminated 14,000 terrorists. Hamas says Israel has killed around 35,000 civilians (the 14,000 terrorists are, of course, included in this number, but not mentioned to be jihadists). Civilian means to the rest of us an innocent bystander.
Although the State Department, pro-Israel media, and security analysts have warned for months about Hamas’s takeover of civilian operations on the ground in Gaza, the United Nations and legacy media continuously report on the numerous “journalists” and “civilians” killed in Gaza.
As with the rest of the war, the media focus seldom on why Israel might target such people and instead on the fact that Israel does — saying nothing of the journalists and civilians who play active roles in aiding Hamas’s operations.
The Israeli hostages who were rescued on Saturday endured abuse “almost every day,” Itai Pessach, the doctor who treated the hostages, said: “It was a harsh, harsh experience, with a lot of abuse, almost every day. Every hour, both physical, mental and other types, and that is something that is beyond comprehension.”
The Washington Free Beacon reported this week on the Palestine Chronicle‘s ties to Iran and the outlet’s influence in the U.S. The Beacon found that “the Palestine Chronicle, based and registered as a nonprofit group in Olympia, Washington, received its tax-exempt status in 2012.” Republican Senators are now petitioning the IRS to strip the nonprofit’s parent company, People Media Project, of its tax-exempt status.
How much of the on-the-ground reporting in Gaza, used and aggregated by other news outlets to prove Israel’s supposed cruelty, is written by terrorists? How are journalists so conveniently able to access the places Hamas says are most ravaged by Israel’s counter-attack? And why — after droves of evidence prove Hamas’s propaganda scheme to turn the world against Israel — do Western media still peddle Hamas talking points?
“Civilians in Gaza have overwhelmingly borne the brunt of Israel’s assault,” The Nation reported two weeks ago. “We are profoundly shocked at the impact on civilians of the Israeli forces’ operation in An Nuseirat at the weekend to secure the release of four hostages,” the United Nations wrote. “Inside the Nuseirat massacre: This is the carnage I saw during Israel’s hostage raid,” the Intercept published. The AP reported:
For Israel, it was the most successful operation of the eight-month war, bringing nationwide elation and removing some of the stain from the army’s unprecedented collapse on Oct. 7. For Palestinians, it was a day of horror that sent hundreds of dead and wounded flooding into already beleaguered hospitals.
The “massacre” to which these outlets refer happened after Israel had already extracted the hostages from civilian homes. As Israel Defense Forces evacuated the hostages, Hamas with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades opened fire, shooting at the hostages whom terrorists had already abused for eight months. Israel retaliated.
It was apparently during this interaction that the most civilian deaths occurred — civilian deaths that Hamas later called “necessary sacrifices.”