Cooperation ranged from prohibiting the channel from criticizing Hamas to concealing incidents involving failed rocket launches, according to the IDF.
A 2022 Hamas document with clear instructions to Al Jazeera regarding the coverage of a failed rocket launch incident. Credit: IDF.
After exposing the involvement of six Al Jazeera journalists in terrorism, the Israel Defense Forces on Oct. 24 revealed additional documents exposing close collaboration between the Gaza-based terror group Hamas and the Qatari news organization.
“The documents reveal how Hamas directs Al Jazeera‘s media coverage to serve its own interests, preventing the public in Gaza and around the world from discovering the truth about its crimes against Gazan civilians,” according to an IDF statement.
Cooperation ranged from prohibiting the channel from criticizing Hamas to concealing incidents involving failed rocket launches.
A 2023 document revealed that Hamas had decided to establish an “Al Jazeera phone”—a secure line that would allow the organization to communicate with the channel in a classified manner and during emergencies.
In a 2022 document, Hamas described clear instructions it had given Al Jazeera on covering a failed Islamic Jihad rocket launch in Jabaliya which resulted in the deaths of several civilians.
The instructions included avoiding the use of the word “massacre” to describe the event, reducing the display of images from the incident, and ensuring that news panel members did not criticize Hamas.
Another 2022 document revealed instructions Hamas gave to journalist Tamer Almisshall regarding his coverage of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) during that year’s IDF “Operation Breaking Dawn” on his program “More Hidden than Revealed.” The instructions were to support the “resistance” in Gaza and to prevent any criticism of the Islamic Jihad’s rocket capabilities in light of the high number of failed launches.
On Oct. 25, the IDF disclosed documents exposing six Al Jazeera journalists as Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.
The journalists are Anas Jamal Mahmoud Al-Sharif, Alaa Abdul Aziz Muhammad Salama, Hossam Basel Abdul Karim Shabat, Ashraf Sami Ashour Saraj, Ismail Farid Muhammad Abu Omar and Talal Mahmoud Abdul Rahman Aruki.
Abu Omar was wounded a few months ago in Gaza. Al Jazeera has attempted to disassociate itself from his terror activities.
The documents include personnel tables, lists of terrorist training courses, phone directories and salary documents. They provide “unequivocal proof” that the journalists served as terrorist operatives in the Gaza Strip, the IDF said.
Most of the journalists that the IDF has exposed as terror operatives spearheaded Hamas propaganda efforts at Al Jazeera, especially in the northern Gaza Strip.
On Sept. 12, Israel announced it would revoke the press passes of Al Jazeera reporters working in the Jewish state, some four months after Israel’s Cabinet voted unanimously to close down the operations of the broadcaster, which Jerusalem has accused of aiding Hamas.
“The Government Press Office is revoking the GPO cards of Al Jazeera journalists working in Israel, following the unanimous government decision in May to shut down the channel in Israel and prohibit its broadcasts,” the government body announced in a statement.
The action “will be subject to a hearing and will include Al Jazeera journalists and broadcasters in Hebrew and Arabic, but will not include the channel’s producers and photographers,” according to the GPO.
Reporters for the channel will be barred from reapplying for press passes as long as the Knesset ban on Al Jazeera remains in force, the GPO said.
Qatar’s Al Jazeera “is a media outlet that disseminates false content, which includes incitement against Israelis and Jews and constitutes a threat to IDF soldiers,” said GPO Director Nitzan Chen.
“The use of GPO cards in the course of the journalists’ work could in itself jeopardize state security at this time of military emergency,” Chen added.
The GPO press pass, much like those in other countries, facilitates journalists’ entry to press conferences, courts and other official institutions.
In April, the Knesset voted 71-10 for a law that gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the authority to shut down the Qatari broadcaster.
The legislation states that the communications minister may act against a foreign channel that harms the state’s security, with the consent of the prime minister and approval of the Cabinet.
The measures enable authorities to order television providers to stop broadcasting the outlet, close its offices in Israel, seize its equipment, shut down its website, and revoke press credentials for staff.
