Terrorist Media

The extent to which terrorist groups, in particular Hamas, have infiltrated and influenced media in the West.

The first signs of this in the current Gaza war were with accounts of Israel’s actions at Al-Shifa hospital. Israel showed on camera to the world the terror tunnels running under the hospital, a basement room which had been used for Hamas command activities, and numerous clips on hospital security cams of armed Hamas terrorists coming in and out of the hospital.

However, when interviewed by the BBC, Dr Nick Maynard, a British consultant regularly visiting Al-Shifa, stated that he saw no tunnels nor witnessed any Hamas militants in the hospital, and refuted claims of a basement room being used by them. He spoke as if it was all an Israeli invention. In contrast, a French medical intern stated that he regularly saw Hamas militants in and out of the hospital, and was warned about keeping clear of a basement room used for ‘military and security purposes’. When he asked what would happen if he went in that room, he was warned that he risked being shot.

So, why such stark differences between these two accounts? It turns out that Dr Maynard is a regularly visiting consultant to Gaza (he’s in fact adopted a young Palestinian girl), and if he said the wrong thing and didn’t toe the ‘Hamas information’ line, he wouldn’t be allowed to return. Whereas the French intern was on a one-off visit with no intention of returning. He was therefore free to tell the truth.

Yet, despite Dr Maynard obviously being discredited in this initial interview, the BBC had him return for his opinion on other Gaza topics. Young Gazan teens being found with head and neck wounds was the first topic, as if Israel was deliberately shooting young Palestinians for no reason – but with no mention of Hamas’s use of child soldiers, which is the real underlying reason (a young masked combatant in a sniper situation, his head or neck would be the most vulnerable to return fire). He later voiced an obviously tainted opinion on the Gaza famine – another Hamas media-fed invention – unequivocally proven as false from testimony by GHF (Gaza Humanitarian Fund) workers.

It is well-known in journalistic circles that Hamas holds the passports of foreign journalists entering Gaza, and if anything untoward is reported against them, that passport is stamped with a banning order on future entry, not only of the journalist concerned, but their entire news network. Through this – which follows the lines the Palestinian Authority took with the Italian RAI network over broadcasting the Ramallah lynching – Hamas take complete control of all news in and out of Gaza.

Main guidelines for the media are: never question statistics produced by the Gaza Ministries, however unrealistic it might be that ‘mainly women and children’ have been killed; never disclose or admit that Hamas often dress in civilian clothes and shield among the general population; never disclose or admit that Hamas operate in hospitals, schools or UN Centres; never disclose or admit that Hamas often pose as medics and journalists. Indeed, of the 15 medics killed a few months ago, 9 were found to be Hamas terrorists, and 80% of the journalists killed have been either Hamas members or affiliated with them.

Of course, this factor of either shielding as civilians, medics or journalists should be obvious to any journalist worth their salt. Hamas are never seen in combat fatigues outside of the carefully photo-op managed hostage handovers. If they did appear openly in combat gear, they’d immediately be picked off by IDF snipers. So, the only options are to appear as civilians, medics or journalists – the latter two giving them more latitude near hospitals or combat zones.

But individual cases provide a damning insight: Hassuna Salim, listed as a freelance photojournalist, but was photographed during October 7 calling for the death of Israelis and Jews; Mohammed Washah, listed as a cameraman, yet the IDF presented his military ID and documents showing him as a Hamas anti-tank unit commander; Duaa Sharaf, listed as a reporter – yet her sole contribution has been publishing antisemitic posts and texts calling for violence against Jews.

Of the 192 journalist fatalities initially cited in the CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) list, only 26 were found to been the subject of direct targeting – even though Al-Jazeera and other media had inflated the stats to 260 – the rest simply collateral damage in a tragic and messy war. Researcher David Collier uncovered that 79% had ties to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad through social media or had publicly expressed support for the October 7 attacks or terrorism generally.

With the highly publicized fatalities of six Al-Jazeera journalists – Anas al-Sharif, Alaa Salama, Hossam Shabat, Ashraf Saraj, Ismail Abu Omar and Talal Aruki – all six, a staggering 100%, were in fact Hamas members or affiliates, with Hamas military records provided for all of them. A number of these journalists had also posted ‘selfies’ of them taking part in October 7^th.

The more recent conflict at Nasser Hospital followed a similar pattern. Six months ago, the IDF arrested 100 terrorists inside Nasser Hospital, including combatants who had posed as doctors and nurses or were directly involved in the 7^th October massacre. A released Israeli hostage reported that up to 35 Israeli hostages were at one point held in the Nasser hospital complex. No wonder that the IDF fired at two cameras mounted outside the hospital used to monitor their troop movements, with six Hamas terrorists confirmed among the fatalities.

Aside from Al-Jazeera – which is little more than a propaganda news network for the Muslim Brotherhood, closely allied to Hamas – the other permanent news networks within Gaza are all Hamas controlled: Al-Aqsa TV, Al-Quds Today and Shehab News Agency, with a number of smaller websites and channels also strictly controlled by Hamas. Anyone who steps outside of an approved narrative not only risks losing their job, but also their lives.

Most international crews – apart from a select number of IDF escorted crews – are based in Jerusalem or Tel-Aviv and reliant on ‘news stringers’ from within Gaza. As a result, 96% of Gaza journalists and these ‘stringers’ are local Palestinians, with the remaining Al-Jazeera journalists from neighbouring Arab nations sympathetic to the ‘Palestinian Cause’. So, hardly objective or unbiased journalistic coverage.

But even a superficial examination of this situation by responsible news organizations would reveal a system heavily biased against Israel. If nothing else, they should surely recognize a propensity towards bias. But regarding Hamas statistics or claims, we never hear from the BBC or CNN, ‘Unfortunately, we are not able to independently verify that claim.’ Yet numerous times we will hear that statement made after a claim or statistic from Israel.

Which stands in total contrast to the alliance UK’s security services have with Israel. Over the past three decades, Israel’s Mossad and Security services have passed on numerous counter-terrorist warnings to MI5 and MI6 that have resulted in foiling terrorist plots, saving hundreds of lives. If MI6 had adopted the same policy as the BBC of doubting information from Israel, those lives would have been lost. Something of a contradictory folly that security information regarding UK terrorist threats is trusted, but is doubted when it involves terrorists on Israel’s own doorstep.

Indeed, while Kier Starmer is threatening to recognize a Palestinian State next month – something which would decidedly put Israel’s security at risk – in contrast, the UK is involved in a major defence partnership with Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, as well as recently proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist group. Quite a bold move and further demonstrating the gulf between the government and its main broadcasting service, when the BBC can’t even bring itself to recognize Hamas as a terrorist group, always using the roundabout term, ‘Proscribed by the UK Government as a terrorist organization.’

The other regular proclamation from the BBC is that Israel won’t allow foreign journalists into Gaza, almost as if trying to excuse their own one-way reporting. ‘We have little choice but to repeat the accounts provided us by our Palestinian stringers, because you won’t allow us to see any different.’

That isn’t entirely true. The IDF have escorted a limited number of foreign journalists into Gaza, about 35 in total in different groups, but doesn’t make it an open, regular policy otherwise it would spend half its time tour-guiding/escorting journalists around Gaza. Unescorted, it views the region as too dangerous. Countless unexploded munitions, plus every other building is booby-trapped – something to consider when viewing the building devastation in Gaza. When the IDF bomb a building, it often also sets off the booby-trapped buildings within thirty yards each side. In addition, any Western journalists viewed as sympathetic to Israel might be targets of further kidnapping/hostage-holding. The likes of Andrew Fox, Douglas Murray or anyone from Fox News would no doubt be seen as a grand prize for Hamas to kidnap and hold to ransom.

But the bottom line is that today there’s hardly any difference between a news story from the BBC, CNN or New York Times and an announcement direct from Hamas. To give some clarity to this ludicrous situation, how would it be if after the Ariana Grande bombing, 7/7 or 9/11, news services in Israel sympathized with or made excuses for the terrorists and their supporters rather than the UK or USA governments and their people?

One of the strongest statements regarding this slough of false news reporting came from US Ambassador Mike Huckabee over the claims of Gazans being shot while collecting aid: ‘‘Without verification of any source other than Hamas and its collaborators, the New York Times, CNN, and Associated Press have reported that a number of people seeking to receive humanitarian food boxes from the Gaza Humanitarian Fund were shot or killed by the Israeli Defense Forces. These reports were FALSE. Drone video and first-hand accounts clearly showed that there were no injuries, no fatalities, no shooting, no chaos.’

But rather than retract and desist from similar future stories, mainstream media orgs then doubled down by featuring various frail infants with underlying medical conditions in their mother’s arms to further support the false narrative of famine in Gaza. No thought given to the fact that all the mothers were perfectly healthy and well-fed – as were the surrounding hospital staff and reporters – with in a couple of cases the mothers appearing decidedly rotund and fat.

Of course, if presented with this dichotomy of accepting Israeli anti-terrorist reports when they might save British or American lives, yet ignoring them when it might involve purely Israel-Gaza concerns, journalists might argue that their Gaza reports don’t impact on the security of British or American citizens. Except that they do: in the last 22 months, threats and attacks against Jews and Israelis in the UK, USA and Europe have increased a staggering 280%. Unless we’ve returned full circle to David Baddiel’s claim, ‘Jews Don’t Count.’

But the main impact of simply parroting news stories originating from Hamas might be to the news organizations themselves. Numerous times since October 7^th I have seen readers proclaim that they have lost all faith in the mainstream media and the accuracy and veracity of their reporting. At a time of declining subscriptions and viewing figures, probably the last thing the mainstream media can afford.

******

John Matthews - Notes from the Edge. If you like my articles and wish to receive them regularly - 2-3 a week on Israel, Middle East and World Affairs, plus now a comedy spoof and two thrillers in serial form - then I look forward to getting your subscription.

*** SPECIAL OFFER***

I will be continue offering a FREE book to all new subscribers: Past Imperfect, an intense groundbreaking crime thriller set between England, France and the USA, exploring the link between two young boys thirty years apart. This will be in Word for Windows form, which you can either read on your computer or transfer to your Kindle. For all those who have already subscribed to me, I make the same offer of this free book if you add Notes from the Edge to your ‘Recommend’ list.

But for those choosing a paid option to compensate me for my regular weekly articles, I will be offering THREE extra FREE books: ‘Letters from a Murderer’, a classic murder mystery exploring whether Jack the Ripper has found fresh killing ground in 1890s New York; ‘The Crescent Wars’, focusing on the Lebanese Civil War and a British journalist investigating a large scale banking plot behind the war; and ‘The Vienna Writers Circle’, following two Jewish cousins, part of Sigmund Freud’s circle of writers and intellectuals, as they strive in 1938 Vienna to save themselves and their families from Nazi death camps.

******

John Matthews is an experienced writer and journalist. The author of 24 books, including two centred around WW2 and the holocaust in the name of J.C. Maetis (his father’s original Jewish name) his first experience of writing about the Middle East came as a war correspondent covering the last years of the Lebanese Civil War, which led to his second book, ‘The Crescents of the Moon’. He has since written on the subject for a number of journals, including The Times, Sunday Times, Newsweek, The Independent and The Spectator. He was also in the run-up to the millennium editor of European Brief, the main magazine for the European Parliament, editing the likes of Tony Blair, Al Gore and Henry Kissinger on subjects ranging from the fall of the Berlin Wall and European unity, climate change and nuclear fusion to, once again, the Middle East. He lives in London with his wife and family.

******