Report raises outrageous suspicion: Several photographers are said to have known about the Hamas attack in advance.
A report from the “Honestreporting” portal raises outrageous suspicions. Several photographers are said to have known about the Hamas attack in advance and used it to take photos. Several broadcasters and news agencies denied it, but nevertheless drew initial conclusions.
It’s an outrageous suspicion: photographers knew in advance about the Hamas attack on October 7th. The portal “HonestReporting” has expressed suspicion that freelance photographers from the US broadcaster CNN, the “New York Times” and the news agencies AP and Reuters were directly present at the massacres on October 7th. More than 1,400 people were killed , 239 kidnapped as hostages in the Gaza Strip.
“What were they doing there so early on a normally quiet Saturday morning? Was this agreed upon with Hamas? “Did the reputable news outlets that published her photos condone her presence in enemy territory along with the terrorist infiltrators?” asks “ HonestReporting ” in his report.
The portal is run by a former top journalist at the Jerusalem Post and has set itself the task of “exposing and countering inaccuracies or distortions” when it comes to reporting on Israel.
A picture shows Hamas leaders kissing photographers on the cheek
Four names appear in the AP photo credits who reported from the Israel-Gaza border area on October 7: Hassan Eslaiah, Yousef Masoud, Ali Mahmud and Hatem Ali.
According to the report, Eslaiah crossed the border into Israel and took photos of a burning tank and terrorists entering Kibbutz Kfar Azza. He works freelance for CNN, among others. “HonestReporting” further writes that they have screenshots of now-deleted posts by Eslaiah on X, formerly Twitter, in which he stands in front of the tank without a helmet or press vest. The post was signed “Live from the settlements in the Gaza Strip.”
Another photo by the photographer is at least irritating. It shows him with Hamas leader and suspected mastermind of the October 7 attack, Yahya Sinwar. The terrorist kisses the smiling photographer on the cheek. In addition, according to “ South German newspaper “ documented with a video he filmed how he rides from Gaza into Israel on the back seat of a motorcycle. He is holding a hand grenade in his hand.
Photographer is said to have photographed pickup truck with Shani Louk’s body
Masoud, who worked for the New York Times, among others, was also on site very quickly and took pictures of tanks on Israeli territory. Hatem Ali and Ali Mahmud provided images of gruesome kidnappings of Israelis in the Gaza Strip. The latter photographed the pickup truck with the body of the killed German-Israeli Shani Louk, while Ali took several photos of abductees who were taken to the Gaza Strip.
According to HonestReporting, the AP agency has now removed the names of the photographers, who had appeared in other sources, from some of the images in the database.
The AP news agency wrote about the allegations: “AP uses images from freelancers around the world, including in Gaza. The Associated Press had no knowledge of the October 7 attack before it happened.” According to the Israeli news site “ ynet “Both AP and CNN have now ended their collaboration with Eslaiah.
Reuters published images of controversial photojournalists – and defends itself against allegations
Reuters published images of two photojournalists who were also at the border very close to the time Hamas invaded: Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa and Yasser Qudih. Both took pictures of a burning Israeli tank. Abu Mustafa went even further: He took photos of a lynch mob brutally beating the body of an Israeli soldier being pulled from the tank.
The Reuters news agency said: “We are aware of the HonestReporting report and the allegations against two freelance photographers who contributed to Reuters reporting on October 7th. Reuters categorically denies having known about the attack in advance or having accompanied Hamas on October 7th.”
The New York Times rejected the accusation of having known about the terrorist attack in advance as “untrue and outrageous”. “Making such allegations is reckless and puts our journalists in Israel and Gaza at risk,” it said in a message . The newspaper explained to a freelance photographer named “HonestReporting” that he was not working for the “NYT” on October 7th. “He has done important work for us since then.”
“Accomplices in crimes against humanity”: Netanyahu calls for clarification
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also made the accusation on the X platform, formerly Twitter. Netanyahu’s office wrote on Thursday: “These journalists were accomplices in crimes against humanity, their actions violated professional ethics.” The media had been asked in writing to clarify this and take immediate action.
Some photos from AP were broadcast on dpa Bildfunk. A dpa spokesman in Hamburg said dpa had asked its partner agency AP to clarify how these images came about and whether these freelance photographers had been informed in advance about Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel.
