In response to a Wednesday report indicating that several journalists were embedded with Hamas terrorists in the early stages of their attack on Israel, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a sharp condemnation.
“These journalists were accomplices in crimes against humanity; their actions were contrary to professional ethics,” the Prime Minister’s office wrote in a post on X.
The National Public Diplomacy Directorate in the PMO views with utmost gravity that photojournalists working with international media joined in covering the brutal acts of murder perpetrated by Hamas terrorists on October 7th in the communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) November 9, 2023
“Overnight the GPO (Government Press Office) issued an urgent letter to the bureau chiefs of the media organizations that employed these photographers and sought clarifications on the matter,” the post reads. “The National Public Diplomacy Directorate demands that immediate action be taken.”
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid is also demanding answers from U.S. media outlets.
“The same way the international media is always asking for a response from us- we are now demanding a response from them,” Lapid wrote in a post on X early Thursday.
“Who are these journalists? Were they involved in the attack? Did they know in advance? And are you going to fire them?,” Lapid asked in an accompanying video message.
The same way the international media is always asking for a response from us- we are now demanding a response from them.
Who are those journalists?
Were they involved in the attack?
Did they know in advance?
And are you going to fire them? pic.twitter.com/ecBZ9JFdlF— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) November 9, 2023
A Wednesday report produced by the pro-Israel watchdog group Honest Reporting identified multiple photojournalists in Gaza who have contributed to outlets such as the Associated Press, CNN, and the New York Times.
Hassan Eslaiah, an AP stringer who has also contributed to CNN, joined the terrorists as they infiltrated southern Israel. As the video he posted of himself standing in front of a burning Israeli tank shows, Eslaiah was not wearing protective gear or anything indicating that he was a member of the press.
After Honest Reporting followed up its initial article with a photo of Eslaiah posing for a photo with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, CNN cut ties with him.
“We had no prior knowledge of the October 7th attacks. Hassan Eslaiah, who was a freelance journalist working for us and many other outlets, was not working for the network on October 7th. As of today, we have severed all ties with him,” a CNN spokesperson told National Review.
Other AP-affiliated photographers — Yousef Masoud, Ali Mahmud, and Hatem Ali — were in southern Israel at the outset of the incursion. They took photos showing Hamas terrorists destroying the border wall between Israel and Gaza, burning homes on kibbutzim, and Israeli hostages being dragged back to Gaza. Two Reuters photographers, Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa and Yasser Qudi, were also on the scene just in time to catch Hamas’s atrocities.
The AP issued a statement saying it “had no knowledge of the Oct. 7 attacks before they happened” and that “the role of the AP is to gather information on breaking news events around the world, wherever they happen, even when those events are horrific and cause mass casualties. AP uses images taken by freelancers around the world, including in Gaza.” The organization did not say whether it would end its relationship with the photographers accused of being embedded with Hamas, but added that “no AP staff were at the border at the time of the attacks, nor did any AP staffer cross the border at any time.”
Reuters said it “categorically denies that it had prior knowledge of the attack or that we embedded journalists with Hamas on Oct. 7.”