In one, published on her Facebook account on Oct 8, as reports began to emerge of the number of Israelis massacred by Hamas gunmen, she posted an image of dozens of red flowers arranged in the shape of the figure 600, understood to represent the total number known to have been killed at that point.
Under the image Ms Harb is alleged to have written a message translated as: “On top of [any] loss amongst them is [like] flowers, just the number is beautiful.” An alternative translation reads: “Although it is a waste of flowers, the number is sweet.”
Camera claims that Ms Harb is suggesting that the shape created by the high number of Israeli dead is pleasing to look at.
The total number of Israeli casualties on Oct 7 grew to more than 1,160 people, mostly civilians.
Post targeted elderly woman hostage
In another post on Oct 8, Ms Harb appears to mock the elderly Israeli hostage Yaffa Adar, who was photographed being driven into Gaza after her kidnap.
In what appears to be her imitation of what Mrs Adar’s captors are telling her, Ms Harb writes: “See this place ma’am? Allah willing, you’ll remain inside with us for a while” or “a little while”.
Mrs Adar, 85, was later released as part of a hostage prisoner swap.
Ms Harb also posted a photograph showing the terrified Bibas family after they were kidnapped by Hamas from the Nir Oz kibbutz on Oct 7.
Above the photograph of Shiri Bibas with her nine-month son Kfir and four-year-old son Ariel, Ms Harb writes: “Enter with your right foot, sister. Instead she [Mrs Bibas] goes ‘I want my children’, ‘I want my children’. Go ahead, [this is] your home [for] you and your children.”
An alternative translation reads: “Enter with your right foot. So that you don’t keep saying ‘I want my children, I want my children’. Here you go with your children. Feel at home . . you and your children”.
The phrase “enter with your right foot” is a traditional expression used when a bride crosses the threshold of her new home for the first time, and could be interpreted here as being used mockingly towards Mrs Bibas.
Hamas later claimed that Mrs Bibas and her children had been killed as a result of an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis.
In another post, Ms Harb writes above a photograph of Hamas gunmen storming an Israeli building: “Now we can truly say good morning.”
Above another photograph of Hamas terrorists entering an Israeli city during the Oct 7 attacks, Ms Harb writes: “Enjoy your view.”
Posts ‘celebrated slaughter’
A Camera Arabic spokesman said: “During the Oct 7 massacre, Ms Harb celebrated the events in a series of social media posts which have since been deleted. Celebrating the largest slaughter of Jewish civilians in many decades befits neither newspapers nor journalists; it damages the Washington Post reputation in particular, and proves that Ms. Harb should not be entitled to any privileges reserved for journalists, in the UK or anywhere else.”
An Arab journalist familiar with the Arab community in the UK: “Hajar Harb operates within a media system that supports and aids her, giving her a platform here in London to criticise Israel, particularly the humanitarian fallout from its military operations in the Gaza Strip.”
Supporters of Ms Harb, who has also worked for the Al-Arabi TV channel and the Al Quds Al Arabi newspaper since moving to Britain, say her only concern is to shine a light on Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied territories.
They claim her social media posts have been misinterpreted when translated into English from their original Arabic.
Ms Harb failed to respond when approached by this newspaper for comment.
In March 2019 she was acquitted following an appeal against a prison sentence of six months and a fine of 1,000 shekels (£210), imposed on her in 2017 after she was found guilty of defamation and “publishing false information”.
Ms Harb had claimed in an investigation that doctors in Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry were writing false medical reports to allow healthy people to leave the enclave for treatment in exchange for payment.
In August 2022 she told her social media followers that Facebook had deleted her longstanding account “because of what I wrote in defence of a Palestinian”, forcing her to open another account. Ms Harb added at the time: “This is part of the deliberate policy of fighting the Palestinian content.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “It is long-standing government policy that we do not routinely comment on individual cases.
“We are clear that extremism has no place in our society.”
