The Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP) put employees of a Hamas-sponsored news outlet on its list of journalists who have been killed during Israel’s war against the terror group.
CJP’s list of confirmed journalist casualties in Gaza includes individuals who worked for Al-Aqsa TV, a television station in Gaza financed and controlled by Hamas, the Washington Free Beacon first reported. The CJP list discloses Hamas’ affiliation with Al-Aqsa TV, which was designated a terrorist organization by the Treasury Department in 2010 for being financed and run by Hamas. (RELATED: Government-Funded News Outlet Orders Staff Not To Call Hamas ‘Terrorists’)
“The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) included members of a U.S.-designated Palestinian terrorist group on its list of journalists killed or injured in Gaza” via @alanagoodman @FreeBeacon – https://t.co/cazA0Ledch
— Eliana Johnson (@elianayjohnson) October 24, 2023
“Al-Aqsa is a primary Hamas media outlet and airs programs and music videos designed to recruit children to become Hamas armed fighters and suicide bombers upon reaching adulthood,” the Treasury Department said in a March 2010 press release.
At least three Al-Aqsa employees have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in the disputed Gaza Strip territory since Israel began its counteroffensive following Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel. At least 23 journalists have been killed in the conflict with eight reported injured and three reported missing or detained, according to the CJP.
In addition, the CJP listed employees from Sowt Al-Asra and Palestine Today, two media outlets controlled by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a separate terrorist organization linked to Hamas, according to the Free Beacon. The Islamic Jihad was determined by intelligence assessments to be responsible for firing the rocket that hit a hospital in Gaza, an attack falsely blamed on Israel by Hamas authorities.
While we continue to collect information, our current assessment, based on analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information, is that Israel is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday.
— Adrienne Watson (@NSC_Spox) October 18, 2023
“CPJ’s research and documentation covers journalists, that is individuals involved in journalism—in news gathering activity. This includes people working for a broad range of news organizations, publicly and privately funded throughout the world as well as freelancers and ones portraying perspectives on opposite poles,” CJP told the Daily Caller in a statement. “CPJ does not support journalists engaged in breaking the law. In the cases we have documented, multiple sources have—so far—found no evidence that these journalists were engaged in militant activity.”
Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel killed more than 1,000 civilians and at least 30 American citizens. The terrorist group continues to hold hostages as Israel weighs a ground invasion of Gaza.