The Growing List of Al Jazeera Terrorists

Excerpt

The Israel Defense Force (IDF) arrested Al Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghoul on Monday during a firefight with terrorists at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital. The Qatari television channel immediately decried his arrest, insisting that he is a legitimate journalist. More than a week later, the Israelis released him. Not surprisingly, Al Jazeera has used this moment to proclaim its innocence. But the Qatari network has a lot more to explain.

In February, Al Jazeera denounced the IDF after one of its correspondents was injured in an IDF UAV attack. The IDF Arabic spokesman fired back, tweeting that Ismail Abu Omar “held the position of Deputy Company Commander in the Hamas’ Eastern Battalion of Khan Yunis. Abu Omar even filmed himself participating in the bloody massacre in Nir Oz on October 7 and posted it on social media.” Soon after, analysts online began to share video that Abu Omar took during the 10/7 attack. In a bizarre twist, Abu Omar actually signed his name to a Telegram photo of a murdered IDF soldier whose body was taken by Hamas into Gaza. Al Jazeera denied any wrongdoing, stating that its “employment policies and regulations stipulate that the employee should stay away from political affiliations that may affect his performance.”

Jonathan Schanzer is senior vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. Follow him on X @JSchanzer.