Seized Gaza Documents Detail Hamas-Al Jazeera Collaboration

Jerusalem, 24 October, 2024 (TPS) -- Hamas documents seized in Gaza and released by the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday show how Al Jazeera collaborated with the terror group, including directions for covering specific incidents and even the establishment of a special hotline.

The release of the documents comes one day after the IDF identified six of the Qatari state-owned TV network’s active journalists on the payroll of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The documents “indicate close cooperation between Hamas and the network—ranging from prohibiting the channel from criticizing the organization, to concealing incidents of failed rocket launches, and even establishing a secure communication line between Hamas and Al Jazeera,” the IDF said.

One document from 2022 described how Hamas provided Al Jazeera with clear instructions on covering a failed Islamic Jihad rocket launch in Jabaliya, which resulted in the deaths of four 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 panel members did not criticize Hamas.

Another document from the same year reveals the instructions Hamas gave to journalist Tamer Almisshall regarding his coverage of the Islamic Jihad during three days of fighting between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in 2022 for 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. Moreover, Al Jazeera also agreed not to allow guests on the show to criticize Hamas for staying out of that fight, but rather emphasize the “unity of the resistance.”

A 2023 document shows that Hamas 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.

On Wednesday, the army identified four active Al Jazeera journalists as members of Hamas and two more as members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The army said that Anas al-Sharif headed a rocket launching squad and was a member of a Nukhba Force company in Hamas’s Nuseirat Battalion; Hossam Shabat was a sniper in Hamas’s Beit Hanoun Battalion; Ismail Abu Omar, who was injured in an airstrike, was a training company commander in Hamas’s East Khan Yunis Battalion; Talal al-Arrouqi was a team commander in Hamas’s Nuseirat Battalion.

The other two were members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Alaa Salameh was deputy head of the Shaboura Battalion’s propaganda unit while Ahsraf al-Sarraj was a member of the Bureij Battalion.

Their names were found in captured personnel tables, lists of terrorist training courses, phone books and salary documents.

Shutting Down Al Jazeera

Israel moved to shut down Al-Jazeera’s operations in May, revoking the network’s press credentials, confiscating transmitters and blocking its websites. The shutdown is not permanent but is subject to renewal every 45 days. The Knesset is currently advancing legislation that would extend the ban to renewable 90-day intervals.

Efforts to ban Al Jazeera gained momentum in February after reporter Mohamed Washah was exposed as a Hamas commander. Soldiers recovered his laptop in northern Gaza and discovered that he played a prominent role in the terror group’s anti-armor missile systems.

Files seized and released by the IDF in August also confirmed that Al Jazeera reporter Ismail al-Ghoul was a member of Hamas. The file, dated 2021 and containing information about thousands of other Hamas terrorists, identified him as an engineer in Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade.

According to the IDF, Al-Ghoul went on to become a member of the terror group’s elite Nukhba force and participated in the October 7 attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border. He also instructed terrorists how to film and share video footage of attacks on Israeli soldiers. Al-Ghoul was killed in an airstrike along with Al Jazeera cameraman Ramy El-Rify in Gaza City in August.

In October, Al Jazeera was accused of endangering Israeli soldiers by exposing details of where forces were assembling, prompting the Cabinet to approve emergency regulations to temporarily shut down Al Jazeera operations in Israel.

The Tel Aviv District Court in July accepted the state’s request to ban the Qatari network, saying its broadcasts were “a real violation of state security.”

At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.