Pro-Israel watchdog group HonestReporting.com released a report on Wednesday suggesting a handful of photojournalists may have been embedded with Hamas terrorists during the horrific attacks on innocent Israeli citizens on October 7th.
The report was titled “Photographers Without Borders: AP & Reuters Pictures of Hamas Atrocities Raise Ethical Questions.”
From Honest Reporting:
On October 7, 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.
Honest Reporting states that at least two photographers were able to breach the Israeli-Gaza border alongside the terrorist group Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the photojournalists, claiming they were “accomplices in crimes against humanity.”
In a statement posted to X, the Israeli Prime Minister’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate said it “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.”
These journalists were accomplices in crimes against humanity; their actions were contrary to professional ethics.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) November 9, 2023
One photojournalist, Gaza-based Hassan Eslaiah, works with news syndicator the Associated Press. A photo of Eslaiah circulated online apparently showing him getting kissed by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
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
In addition to the damning picture with a Hamas higher-up, Israeli reporter Amit Segal shared a video that allegedly shows Eslaiah on a motorcycle with a grenade “on his way to the massacre of women and babies.”
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
CNN told Israeli outlet Ynet that it has severed ties with 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 wrote in a statement, per Ynet.
“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 network added.
This story is developing…