The government of Israel is demanding answers after it was revealed that a number of journalists for international media companies were embedded with Hamas during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack that killed more than 1,400 people. There has been some action taken already, with the Associated Press (AP) firing at least one photographer.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking the reason why several journalists were with the terrorist group during the rampage.
The AP said that it did not know about the attack prior to it happening, though after the Hamas militants broke through the Israeli border, the agency’s photographers appeared to follow them.
A photo from the Associated Press during that day shows Palestinian terrorists transporting a hostage on a motorcycle. In the background of the photo, it appears that two journalists are snapping photos of the unfolding scene.
Furthermore, several pictures appear to show one of the photographers taking selfies with a local Hamas leader.
A branch of the prime minister’s office wrote that the current revelations were taken with the “utmost gravity that photojournalists working with international media joined in covering the brutal acts of murder perpetrated by Hamas terrorists on Saturday, October 7th in the communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip.”
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
“These journalists were accomplices in crimes against humanity; their actions were contrary to professional ethics,” the statement read.
The office demanded that “immediate action be taken.”
So far, four photographers who work for the Associated Press, CNN and the New York Times appear to have been embedded with the Hamas terrorists during the event.
Following the revelations, the AP announced 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.”
However, the agency said that it fired freelancer Hassan Eslaiah, who the AP said “had been an occasional freelancer for AP and other international news organizations in Gaza.”
The Israeli Government Press Office also wrote that the four photographers “filmed the murder of civilians, the abuse of bodies and the abduction of men and women.”
The agency wrote that the actions cross “every red line, professional and moral.”
