The Qatar-based news outlet Al Jazeera coordinates with the terror group Hamas to silence, and often torture, critics and independent media voices in the Gaza Strip.
The Free Press and the Center for Peace Communications released the results of an investigation into reporting from Gaza on Tuesday. The investigation includes interviews with journalists in Gaza, as well as expert analysis of reporting out of Gaza by the center’s COO, Michael Nahum.
“You have to be affiliated with Hamas to work at Al-Jazeera. Especially in Gaza, because most jobs go through Hamas. Hamas is the primary authority deciding who gets hired and who doesn’t. So, the majority of Al-Jazeera staff are an inseparable part of Hamas,” one independent reporter said in an interview. The reporter’s face has been blurred out in a video accompanying the report to protect his anonymity.
Independent reporters in Gaza say that Al Jazeera reporters work with Hamas in Gaza to help identify Palestinian critics and journalists who have reported information critical of the terror group. During the two years that Israel has waged war against Hamas in Gaza, Al Jazeera reporters have served as the terror group’s reconnaissance and surveillance because they can move more freely around the strip that Hamas militants.
The report mentions several Al Jazeera reporters who are alleged to work closely, or even for, Hamas while outwardly presenting themselves as journalists for Al Jazeera.
“Mohamed Washah is a journalist with Al-Jazeera and the head of Al Jazeera’s operations in the Gaza Strip. … If you look at his Instagram account, you’d see photos with all the Hamas leaders, just like Anas Al-Sharif,” one anonymous Gazan journalist said, referring to two Al Jazeera reporters.
“Mohamed Washah in Gaza is a member of the Al-Qassam Brigades and works in Hamas’ internal security centers. He conducts investigations, incites, and directs Hamas’ executive security to break people’s limbs, arrest journalists, terrorize them, and slander their reputation,” a Gazan reporter said.
“Mohamed Washah is a journalist with Al-Jazeera and the head of Al Jazeera’s operations in the Gaza Strip. … [But] if you look at his Instagram account, you’d see photos with all the Hamas leaders, just like Anas Al-Sharif.”
“When the [anti-Hamas] protests were going on, Al Jazeera, through it’s journalists under Mohamed Washah’s direction, and with Anas Al-Sharif present, tried to buy the loyalty of people and leading families in the northern Gaza Strip so that these young people or these residents would not protest against Hamas,” a reporter said.
Al Jazeera reporters will lure targets – including those critical of Hamas or reporters that are not directly affiliated with the terror group – to places where Hamas terrorists stay, such as in hospitals. Once the targets are lured into the proper locations, they may be beaten and tortured. One unnamed reporter featured in the video had his legs broken by Hamas.
The Israel Defense Forces have identified reporters with Hamas affiliations. Hamas documents uncovered through the course of the war identified six Al Jazeera reporters who worked with the terror group, according to the Israeli military.
“The IDF has disclosed intelligence information and numerous documents found in Gaza confirming the military affiliation of six Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations. They are: Anas Jamal Mahmoud Al-Sharif, Alaa Abdul Aziz Muhammad Salama, Hossam Basel Abdul Karim Shabat, Ashraf Sami Ashour Saraj, Ismail Farid Muhammad Abu Omar, and Talal Mahmoud Abdul Rahman Aruki,” the IDF said in a news release.
In another instance showing how closely Al Jazeera journalists work with the terror group, one Al Jazeera writer was found to have held hostages stolen on October 7 in his own home.