Journalism in Gaza: Why some reporters are lauded and others oppressed by Hamas - opinion

Bisan Owda and Ihab Fasfos are Gazan journalists you have probably never heard of – or at least you hadn’t until recently.

Both have been reporting from inside Gaza. And both have been telling stories about what has been happening to ordinary Gazans since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

But their fate could not be more different.

Owda has been nominated for an Emmy Award. Fasfos has reportedly been kidnapped – and is presumed dead.

So why is Owda on cloud nine, while Fasfos may be buried in the ground?

How Hamas ruins all media objectivity in Gaza

Because Hamas controls Gazan media, suppressing freedom of the press and freedom of expression. And as long as Hamas remains in power in Gaza, objectivity will continue to be a crime, and telling the truth there will continue to make a journalist a target, not a hero.

Fasfos was reportedly kidnapped by Hamas for criticizing the terror organization on Facebook. He filmed an anti-Hamas demonstration and took pictures of Hamas terrorists’ violence against Gazans waiting in line at a bakery.

Hamas broke and confiscated his camera and cellphone. When he received death threats, he went into hiding. In a recent post on the social network, he begged Hamas to show him mercy if they would find him – by killing him without torture.

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By contrast, Owda’s eight-minute report “It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive” is nominated for an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Hard News Feature. It was produced by social media publisher AJ+, which, like Hamas, is funded by Qatar.

The report she made in Gaza City in October 2023 and published in early November tells what happened when she sheltered in Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital complex and blames Israel, not Hamas, for everything.

Researcher and analyst Eitan Fischberger revealed in July that Owda was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and played a role in four ceremonies of the terrorist organization between 2014 and 2018, two of which honored slain terrorists.

THE CREATIVE Community for Peace called on the Emmys to rescind Owda’s nomination in a letter that drew more than 150 signatures from figures in the entertainment industry and was featured in top news outlets.

After National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Emmys) CEO Adam Sharp told activists who complained about her nomination that evidence of Bisan’s PFLP ties could not be corroborated, she openly admitted in a Facebook post that she hosted an annual meeting of the PFLP and still supports what she called “political activities against Israel’s occupation.”

The news and documentary Emmys will be awarded on September 25, and Owda may very well emerge victorious. That win, like the nomination, would be illegitimate because her report was sanctioned by terrorist organizations. How do we know? Because Fasfos showed us what happens when you try to report without Hamas’s approval.

But it would not be the first award won by journalists who have cooperated with terrorist groups, which have learned to manipulate the media successfully as part of their strategy of impacting global public opinion and shaping the international narrative about Gaza.

An HonestReporting review of Palestinian media revealed this week that since 2015, Hamas has hosted annual ceremonies to honor Gazan journalists, including photographers from Reuters.

In 2017, the terrorist group held a commendation event for international award-winning journalists in Gaza, where it honored Reuters photographer Suhaib Jadallah Salem, who is currently the agency’s head of visuals for Gaza.

One of the photos from the event shows Suhaib’s brother Mohammed Jadallah Salem, a Reuters photographer who recently won the Pulitzer Prize and the World Press Photo award, receiving Suhaib’s commendation plaque on his behalf.

Two senior Hamas officials bestowed the plaque: Khalil al-Hayya and Mushir al-Masri. Al-Hayya has publicly called for a fight against Israel as “the head of the serpent.” Al-Masri has vowed to “uproot the Zionists with our axes, knives, guns.”

Receiving commendation from such terrorists is a mark of Cain that would normally get a journalist disciplined by any respectable media outlet. Yet Reuters journalists seemed to not fear that there would be any consequences.

Another photo from the event showed other Reuters journalists around a table not too far from al-Hayya: Reuters senior Gaza correspondent Nidal al-Mughrabi sat near Suhaib’s brother Mohammed and photographer Ashraf Amra, who was also honored at the event and was later exposed by HonestReporting for his endorsement of infiltrating Israel on Oct. 7.

The ties between terrorists and journalists in Gaza can be illustrated by a photo from 2013 found on Suhaib’s Facebook page that shows scarves with terror groups’ insignias decorating the Reuters office in Gaza.

Reuters top editors, who periodically visit the Gaza office, either ignored it or didn’t recognize it for what it was — which would only prove their ignorance.

They probably know it’s impossible to be a journalist in Gaza without links to Hamas, which controls the information flow. In other words, professional journalism in Gaza is impossible, and news outlets should admit it to their audience.

But being hosted by Hamas, receiving its commendations, and displaying terror groups’ insignias isn’t just a case of unprofessional journalism – perhaps it is beneficial to the journalists and maybe to Hamas as well.

A Hamas statement from one of the commendation events said it best: “The media office of Hamas organizes this annual event to honor creative journalists for the fourth year in a row, in appreciation of their efforts in serving the Palestinian cause.”

The awards bestowed by Hamas terrorists to journalists who do their bidding bear witness to what educated news consumers should have learned by now. Unlike news reported from Israel, where there is freedom of the press, reports and data coming from Gaza cannot be trusted.

Even when a Gazan “journalist” writes for top mainstream American outlets, you must remember that you’re getting what Hamas deems fit to print. 

Gil Hoffman is the executive director of the pro-Israel media watchdog HonestReporting and the former chief political correspondent and analyst of The Jerusalem Post.