For the last time, Israel is not attacking journalists.

It is time we stopped conflating propaganda operatives with journalists. If we are going to call out Israel for “attacking the press,” let’s make sure it is actually the press we are talking about.

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It is time that we call a spade a spade: There’s a breed of “journalist” out there that has little to do with the truth-telling, story-breaking, muckraking, or intrepid investigative work we cherish in Western journalism.

(I would know; I have a bachelor’s degree in journalism.)

Instead, these are actors whose goal is the strategic spreading of propaganda under the guise of “reporting.” And yet, headlines blare:

• “Israel Keeps Attacking Journalists. When Will the U.S. Intervene?” (The New York Times)

• “Israel Cannot Remain a Democracy Without Protecting Press Freedom” (Freedom House)

• “Israel Is Still Targeting Palestinian Journalists. Silence Is Not an Option.” (The Nation)

• “Israel’s War on Gaza Is the Deadliest Conflict on Record for Journalists” (The Intercept)

• “Israel-Gaza war brings 2023 journalist killings to devastating high” (Committee to Protect Journalists)

• “Where is the outrage over Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza?” (Washington Post)

• “Israel keeps killing journalists — and its own credibility” (MSNBC News)

Whereas these headlines certainly drive droves of revenue-inducing clicks and shares, while depicting Israel as the worst kind of evil one can imagine, these “reports” are packed with little (if not zero) scrutiny for who exactly these “journalists” are, or what agendas they might be pursuing.

Let’s start with this notion: Journalism, by definition, is about integrity. It is about presenting facts with clarity, fairness, and respect for the truth, however uncomfortable it may be. The intrepid journalist seeks to bring light to complex situations, to hold power to account, and to amplify the voices of those impacted by conflict.

But when it comes to some individuals embedded within Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, all of that flies out the window. They are not impartial storytellers or seekers of truth. They are ideologues, often under the direct payroll or influence of these terrorist groups. Yet, the international media and their consumers absorb it all without checking for red flags or parsing for biases.

This is not a controversial stance — it is an essential observation about media integrity. Hamas, by the admission of its own leadership and various intelligence agencies worldwide, views Western audiences as one more front in its long-standing conflict with Israel. Media appearances, “news reports,” and highly orchestrated, emotionally charged stories are tools in its arsenal, woven with one clear aim: to drive a wedge between Israel and the West and to paint Israel as the utmost aggressor.

In this reality, self-identified “journalists” on the Hamas payroll are hardly journalists. They are propagandists cloaked in the sacrosanct title of “reporter,” playing for international sympathy by flipping the narrative in the most dangerous and divisive way possible.

If a man with a gun in one hand and a camera in the other spends his time setting up gruesome photo ops that conveniently exclude context — say, Hamas deliberately launching attacks from a heavily populated civilian area — do we dare call him a journalist? Is his goal to reveal the horror of human conflict or to strategically omit key elements to mold a story that fits Hamas’ preferred antisemitic narrative?

There’s a saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” but as any good reporter will tell you, context is everything. Without it, even a picture becomes propaganda.

Plus, here’s the real kicker: These Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad “media liaisons” put their own civilians in harm’s way as they pursue their distorted stories.

They set up shop in residential areas, hospitals, schools, and mosques — places off-limits for attack under international law, knowing that any conflict around them will potentially look horrific on camera.

They capture footage of retaliatory strikes, cropping out the rockets from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or the orders for civilians to clear the area, painting Israel as the infinitely wicked and sinful in one dark frame after another.

And yet, when Israel responds, this footage is broadcast as “proof” that Israel is targeting the press, silencing free speech, or attacking civilians. But when a so-called “reporter” is a de facto operative for a terrorist organization, helping to craft a message that serves Hamas’ strategy, it is not a press attack to disarm or prevent them from operating. It is an act of self-defense.

What’s more, Hamas commingles all deaths and merges them into one massively inflated number to make it appear as though Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. As the joke goes: Why does it seem like all Palestinian terrorists magically turn into child-aged female journalists immediately upon their death?

The most absurd part of all is that genuine journalists who do operate in places like Israel — those who abide by professional ethics and maintain objectivity — are, ironically, free to work without issue. Israeli courts, even in wartime, allow a remarkable degree of transparency, even with coverage critical of the government and the military.

Why?

Because Israel, like any open society, understands that journalism is part of a healthy democracy, a self-checking mechanism essential to its survival.

So let’s set the record straight for the final time: Israel does not attack journalists. It contends with a propaganda machine hiding behind press badges, infiltrating the media’s sacred domain, and weaponizing the principles we in the West uphold.

The real tragedy here is that genuine journalism suffers. Every time the world mistakes propaganda for news, the space for real, courageous reporting shrinks, and the credibility of those who work tirelessly to report honestly is eroded.

It is time we stopped conflating propaganda operatives with real journalists. If we are going to call out Israel for “attacking the press,” let’s make sure it is actually the press we are talking about.

For truly innocent and uninvolved journalists, their deaths are indeed regretful. Sorrow is not a sign of weakness, nor of losing one’s way, nor of harming the righteousness of this way.

Even in wartime, there is plenty of space for humanity. The Israeli soldiers who came to a little Palestinian girl who had lost her way, with an injured leg, and they treated her and bandaged her to stop the bleeding, and the soldiers who give truly uninvolved Palestinians food and water because Hamas loots virtually all incoming aid to the Strip — they are no less honorable soldiers. Indeed, they are great soldiers.

And when, as part of the war against terrorist organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, innocents are also harmed — we know, and the world must know, that this is not about maliciously harming innocents on the Palestinian side, but about protecting innocents on the Israeli side. Yes, war is a cruel zero-sum game more often than not. Hence why it is unwise to start one, no less to support the side that started this one.

There is no need to rely on the fabricated data published by Hamas to know that innocent people are being killed. After all, digging into civilian homes, schools, mosques, and hospitals is the method that Hamas has developed and perfected more than any terrorist organization in the world. But killing innocent people is not proof of a war crime.

International law, it should be noted, does not prohibit harming terrorists just because they are hiding among civilian populations, and vice versa. International law states that “the existence of a protected person shall not be used as a reason to inoculate certain points or areas from military operations.”¹ Therefore, harming innocents is the fault of Hamas. And only Hamas.

But don’t tell that to many media outlets around the world, which take the numbers and images of Palestinian deaths — including deaths of so-called “journalists” — at face value and deliver them via virtue-signaling talking heads mostly enjoying the confines of far-away cozy and comfortable studios. They regret the deaths, fake empathy, and think out-loud in empty banalities like: “Why can’t we all get along?” and “I thought there were no more wars.”

The reality is that we do not have credible information about most of the dead, journalists notwithstanding (as is the case with virtually all in-action wars). In general, many thousands are surely Hamas members, their family members, operatives, servants, and co-conspirators. Yet only a few make it to the headlines.

One of those few is Hamza Dahdouh, the son of veteran Al Jazeera correspondent Wael Dahdouh. Hamza, who is also classified as a “journalist,” and Mustafa Turia, a videographer working for the global news agency AFP, were killed during an Israeli strike on a vehicle that they were both in.

But what really happened to Hamza and Turia? Why did the IDF launch a missile that killed the vehicle’s two occupants, and injured a third?

Well, in the minutes before the incident, the IDF located a drone that was operating in the area. The drone was identified as a hostile aircraft, which had already been operated in the past by Hamas for the purpose of tracking the movements of IDF soldiers.²

In this incident, the IDF was also able to identify the control device of that drone, which was in the exact same vehicle Hamza was in. And who was operating this drone? Mustafa Turia, a familiar figure to the IDF. Although a videographer, he was also a scout in the service of Hamas.

David Collier, an investigative journalist, researched 100 of the “journalists” in Gaza. “Almost all of them are tied up with Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” wrote Collier. “Almost all of them celebrate the murder of Jews.”³

Ahmed Shahab is another good example. He was killed at his father’s home and is listed as a journalist. Had anyone accessed his social media, they would know that his father was a key Palestinian Islamic Jihad figure. Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa, a freelancer who has been working for Reuters, was photographed with Yahya Sinwar, the assassinated Hamas leader in Gaza and mastermind of the terror group’s October 7th massacres and kidnappings, passionately kissing Mostafa on the cheek.

But it is a bit more challenging to hold accountable Al Jazeera, a quasi-media outlet designed to conceal its real purpose: to be a Qatar-based propaganda tool for the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic Jihad, and, among other entities, Hamas. Here and there on Al Jazeera is a semblance of “freedom of expression” — because Israelis are also interviewed on the platform — but it was and remains a channel that promotes Hamas and hides the truth from hundreds of millions of viewers.

When a resident of Gaza was interviewed live and complained: “Why are Hamas members hiding in the Deir al-Balah hospital? Let them go hide in hell.” — he was interrupted and the microphone was taken from him. This is not how a media outlet works, or at least is supposed to. But it is how a propaganda machine operates.

The U.S. has asked Qatar, an American ally, to “tone down” the profuse anti-Israel rhetoric on Al Jazeera during the Israel-Hamas-Hezbollah-Iran war. The Americans have also preached an overwhelming dose of morality to Israel, not because American standards are higher, but because Israel is itself — a Jewish state that must adhere to guidelines no other country would even think about entertaining given the circumstances.

Every army dealing with terrorist operatives, such as for the Taliban, ISIS, or Hamas, has rules regarding the harming of innocents as part of a wanted elimination. In the past, Mark Garalsko, who was appointed on behalf of the Pentagon for the elimination of wanted persons, admitted that it is permissible to harm 29 innocent people in order to eliminate a senior wanted person. Israel approves of harming a much lower number of innocents.

Even if the Americans and other countries do not ask, they should be presented with the true story about the journalists in the service of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The IDF has plenty of proof, and the world should know.

Journalists reporting from the front lines of wars are supposed to be our eyes and ears for the truth in the midst of bloodshed, and they must be protected, like civilians, under the laws of war. So too are hospitals supposed to be for the sick and recovering, mosques for prayer, schools for education, and hotels for leisure.

But in Hamas-run Gaza, journalists, hospitals, mosques, schools, and hotels are not used for their intended and innocent purposes. They exist solely to be in the service of Hamas’ genocidal, Islamist ideology.

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1. Article 28, Fourth Geneva Convention, 1949

2. “IDF pushes back on claims it killed journalists.” The Jerusalem Post.

3. David Collier on X