Al-Jazeera Journalists By Day, Hamas Commanders By Night

Since the October 7 attack, Hamas's leaders have been managing the war from Doha, Qatar, and conveying their messages mostly via the Qatar-owned Al-Jazeera TV channel. The network has been operating as a propaganda outlet in the service of Hamas 24/7, with hardly any coverage of other topics. It expresses unreserved support for Hamas, justifying the deadly attack, showing footage from it obtained from the terrorists' bodycams, and celebrating it as a victory that has brought pride and honor to the Islamic nation.[1]

It therefore comes as no surprise that it was in the home of Al-Jazeera journalist Abdullah Al-Jamal, in Nuseirat in the Gaza Strip, that three Israeli hostages were held captive. 

Some Al-Jazeera journalists have recently been "outed" as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters. A Palestinian journalist working for Al-Jazeera, Muhammad Wishah, appears to have also been a commander in the military wing of Hamas, according to documents on a laptop found by the Israeli army in a Hamas base in northern Gaza. Wishah, from Al-Buriej in the central Gaza Strip, has featured in Al-Jazeera broadcasts in recent months, with the station identifying him as one of their journalists. According to Israeli military sources, however, Wishah is a prominent commander in Hamas's anti-tank missile unit, who in late 2022 began working in R&D for the terror group's air unit. A photo that emerged of Wishah together with Yahya Sinwar suggests warm relations between the two.

Muhammad Wishah with Yahya Sinwar

Another Al-Jazeera correspondent, Ismail Abu Omar, who participated in the October 7 attack and who documented it from within the Gaza Envelope, was airlifted to Doha for medical treatment on February 19 after being wounded in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah a week earlier. He has been identified as a Hamas platoon deputy commander.

Mustafa Thuraya, an independent journalist who worked with Al-Jazeera TV and Agence France-Press, was, according to documents found by the Israeli army in Gaza, an operative in the Al-Qassam Brigades' Gaza City Brigade, and he specialized in developing drones. Hamza Al-Dahdouh, another Al-Jazeera journalist and photojournalist, was a member of the electronic engineering unit of the PIJ's Northern Gaza Brigade.

A document seized by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip reveals that Hamza Al-Dahdouh was a PIJ military operative and a member of its electronic engineering unit.

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Since the recent Israel-Hamas war began, Al-Jazeera has been providing the following services to Hamas:

• Broadcasting threats by Hamas leaders and leaders of other terror organizations

• Celebrating and praising the terror attack and missile attacks on Israel

• Airing videos of hostages to pressure the Israeli government

• Broadcasting near-daily military announcements

• Airing footage on military encounters and killings of IDF soldiers

• Broadcasting near IDF troops and airing analysis by military experts in order to advise Hamas fighters on recommended tactics and maneuvers

• Pinpointing potential quality Israeli targets

• Fabricating anti-Israel propaganda

• Fabricating information designed to thwart Israel's instructions to the Gaza population

• Silencing any criticism of Hamas, and constantly rebroadcasting Hamas propaganda focusing on: IDF soldiers killed in the fighting; Hamas statements in Hebrew inciting the Israeli public against its government, including with scenes from the current hostage families' demonstrations in Israel; and Hamas propaganda referring to every city, town, and community in Israel as a "settlement"

• Describing the hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 as "convicted prisoners" – equating them with the convicted Hamas terrorists in Israeli prisons – and referring to Palestinian young adults in Israeli custody as "children"

• Propagating the lie that IDF soldiers raped Palestinian women during the attack on Hamas terrorists at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza – see MEMRI Daily Brief No. 587, Al-Jazeera's Gaza Script Sabotaged By Its Ally Hamas, April 1, 2024.