© Yousef Masoud/APA photograph by Yousef Masoud taken at the Gaza Strip fence east of Khan Younis on 7 October. The New York Times said Masoud ‘was doing what photojournalists always do during major news events, documenting the tragedy as it unfolded’.
The suggestion appeared in an article by HonestReporting, which describes itself as an organisation devoted to fighting media disinformation about Israel and Zionism.
It was taken up by two senior Israeli politicians, who said any journalists with prior knowledge of the assault should be treated as terrorists.The Associated Press, Reuters, the
New York Times and CNN issued robust statements in response to questions about
Palestinian photographers in Gaza who documented Hamas's cross-border raid in which at least 1,400 people were killed.
Gil Hoffman, HonestReporting's executive director, has since admitted
there was no evidence to back up the article's suggestions, but said "they were legitimate questions to be asked".
Benny Gantz, a former defence minister who sits in Israel's war cabinet, said on X, formerly Twitter: "Journalists found to have known about the massacre, and [who] still chose to stand as idle bystanders while children were slaughtered, are no different than terrorists and should be treated as such."
Danny Danon, a former Israeli ambassador to the UN, said Israel had a list of people it would "eliminate" for participating in the raid, and that journalists who recorded the assault would be "added to that list". He added:
"We will hunt them down together with the terrorists."The Israeli prime minister's office said: "These journalists were accomplices in crimes against humanity; their actions were contrary to professional ethics."
Comment: See also: