Fired? Legacy media throw photographers under bus after Hamas connection revealed
Legacy media outlets including the AP, CNN and Reuters have thrown under the bus the photographers who provided them images of the terrorism Hamas inflicted on Israeli citizens Oct. 7, in the attack that left 1,400 dead and thousands injured.
WND reported that the photographers apparently were "embedded" with Hamas terrorists, a procedure used by journalists to get information from a source about a news event that is going to happen, and then to accompany those making the news.
It was at Honest Reporting the details were spelled out.
"Hamas terrorists were not the only ones who documented the war crimes they had committed during their deadly rampage across southern Israel. Some of their atrocities were captured by Gaza-based photojournalists working for the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies whose early morning presence at the breached border area raises serious ethical questions," it explained.
"What were they doing there so early on what would ordinarily have been a quiet Saturday morning? Was it coordinated with Hamas? Did the respectable wire services, which published their photos, approve of their presence inside enemy territory, together with the terrorist infiltrators? Did the photojournalists who freelance for other media, like CNN and The New York Times, notify these outlets? Judging from the pictures of lynching, kidnapping and storming of an Israeli kibbutz, it seems like the border has been breached not only physically, but also journalistically."
The reporting reveals that four names appeared on AP's photo credits at the time, including Hassan Eslaiah, Yousef Masoud, Ali Mahmud, and Hatem Ali.
The Daily Wire subsequently reported those "mainstream news outlets" were "scrambling" to distance themselves from the photographers.
"The Associated Press, Reuters, and CNN all insisted … that they had no advance knowledge of the Hamas terrorist attack, while indicating that they could not make the same guarantees for the photographers they work with."
CNN announced it formally had cut ties to Eslaiah.
"We are aware of the article and photo concerning Hassan Eslaiah, a freelance photojournalist who has worked with a number of international and Israeli outlets," CNN press officer Train Kumar told The Daily Wire. "While we have not at this time found reason to doubt the journalistic accuracy of the work he has done for us, we have decided to suspend all ties with him."
The AP claimed it had no advance knowledge of the attacks, "but notably failed to make the same guarantees for photographers it works with," the report said.
Reuters, which also published pictures from reporters who appear to have been embedded with the terrorists as they kidnapped and murdered Israelis, also [said] it 'categorically denies,'" any prior knowledge, the report said.
The Daily Wire explained, "The exposé into the photographers came after much scrutiny into anti-Israel bias in the media. Among the high-profile incidents of bias since war broke out in Gaza was the media blaming Israel for a hospital explosion that was actually caused by the terrorists. The false reporting led to mass protests against the Jewish state and Jewish people across the globe."
And further questions were arising, with one statement addressed to AP, Reuters and CNN about whether one of the photographers was on video, carrying a grenade.
Yo, @AP, @Reuters, @cnn - what your freelancer in Gaza Hassan Eslaiah is doing on a motorbike with a grenade, on his way to the massacre of women and babies? Is a grenade part of the equipment you provide? pic.twitter.com/jU85KEo7Ec
— עמית סגל Amit Segal (@amit_segal) November 9, 2023
Further, Israel's Public Diplomacy Directorate at the prime minister’s office issued a statement saying it viewed with "severity" the phenomenon of journalists covering Hamas’ atrocities, labeling them as "accomplices to crimes against humanity."
It said it was demanding "immediate action" from the involved media corporations.
And the Jerusalem Journalists Association called on the relevant international media outlets to launch a thorough inquiry into questions arising from this exposure.
The original concerns:
I guess I wasn’t the only one wondering why the @AP had photographers embedded with the terrorists on 10/7? https://t.co/0yxTlYLTeh pic.twitter.com/gygpyHpznw
— Dovi Safier (@safier) November 8, 2023
#DontLookAway but this is @AP photographer Hassan Eslaiah, getting a kiss and a hug from head of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, who ordered the massacre of Oct 7, in which over 1,400 people were slaughtered, raped, burnt, mutilated, shot and decapitated. @APMiddleEast https://t.co/4VwdsAthM7
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) November 8, 2023
A report from Pam Geller, commentator and activist, said, "We need war tribunals to prosecute these war criminal news orgs. The names of the photographers, which appear on other sources, have been removed from some of the photos on AP’s database. Perhaps someone at the agency realized it posed serious questions regarding their journalistic ethics."
More from Honest Reporting:
In the hours following our expose, new material is still coming to light concerning Gazan freelance journalist Hassan Eslaiah whom both AP & CNN used on Oct. 7.
Here he is pictured with Hamas leader and mastermind of the Oct. 7 massacre, Yahya Sinwar. https://t.co/S9pXeIGaFq pic.twitter.com/RmEZU5RsM8
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 8, 2023
The Daily Mail warned, "There are grave concerns over what each of the photojournalists knew and when. "
IMPORTANT NOTE TO WND READERS: Shortly after Hamas terrorists fired over 5,000 rockets from Gaza into Israel on Oct. 7 and then proceeded to attack the Jewish state by land, sea and air – torturing, burning, beheading and murdering well over a thousand people, including women, children and infants, and wounding and abducting hundreds more – world reaction was, in its own way, almost equally shocking.
For after the biggest one-day mass slaughter of Jews since the Nazi Holocaust, what followed was an outpouring of celebratory demonstrations, unbridled Jew-hatred, deliriously gleeful support for Hamas and bitter condemnation of the nation of Israel. Not just in the Arab-Muslim world, but throughout the Western world as well, including all across America.
Why? What is behind the explosion of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, pro-terror sentiment in the United States, where Israel has long been one of America's closest friends and allies? Why are hordes of young "woke" LGBT demonstrators marching in support of Hamas – when Hamas wouldn't think twice about binding and blindfolding them and throwing them off the roof of a tall building – as they routinely do in the Muslim world?
It turns out there's one area of agreement that is so powerful, deep-seated and all-consuming that the vast differences between the deranged left and the murderous jihadists melt away into Kumbaya harmony.
All of this and much more is completely exposed in November's issue of WND's critically acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine, titled ISRAEL VS. GLOBAL JIHAD: How Jew-hatred, radical Islam and Leftism are pushing us toward World War III. Beyond a deeply insightful dive into why leftists are surging toward radical Islam – which hates and dreams of raping and butchering them – this Whistleblower issue includes fantastic articles by everyone from top Israeli analyst (and former Israel Defense Forces officer) Caroline Glick to Harvest Christian Fellowship's Pastor Greg Laurie on the current war in Israel and biblical prophecies regarding the End Times … which he says are now upon us.
WHISTLEBLOWER is available in both the popular print edition and a state-of-the-art digital version, either single issues or discounted annual subscriptions.
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