The Media Must Correct the Record on Terrorist-Journalists

By Shay Khatiri

Tuesday, October 06, 2026

 

The Israel Defense Forces this month released evidence tying 170 individuals often described as “journalists” to the armed wing of Palestinian terrorist groups. The evidence is difficult to dispute, including photographic evidence, military ID numbers, and unit names for the terrorist-journalists, who were all killed by Israel.

 

Now, the media have a moral duty to undo the damage they have inflicted on the Jewish state.

 

In January 2024, the Washington Post reported that an Israeli strike had killed Mustafa Thuraya and Hamza al-Dahdouh, identifying both as journalists. Thuraya was a contributor for Agence France-Presse (AFP), and al-Dahdouh worked for Al Jazeera, where his father used to be a bureau chief. The Post’s report on al-Dahdouh’s death is designed to pull at the heartstrings: “As veteran Palestinian reporter Wael al-Dahdouh lost his wife, several children, and his closest colleague to Israeli airstrikes and shelling, each blow was watched by an audience of millions — in Gaza today, there is little privacy to mourn the dead.” Then–Secretary of State Antony Blinken seemed to back the Post’s narrative, telling Al Jazeera, “I am deeply, deeply sorry for the almost unimaginable loss suffered by your colleague, Wael Dahdouh. I am a parent myself, I can’t begin to imagine the horror that he has experienced, not once, but now twice.”

 

But perhaps journalism does not pay enough to make a living anymore, because both Thuraya and Dahdouh had side hustles as military operatives for designated terrorist organizations.

 

Or take Ahmed Abu Mutair, who contributed to the German ZDF through the German company’s contact with Palestinian Media Production, as well as Hamas’s Production Headquarters. ZDF suspended its contract with the Palestinian media company last year after it became clear that the latter employed militants.

 

The examples are plenty — 170, to be precise. And the media’s failure to report on these terrorist-journalists has inflicted a twofold damage to Israel’s reputation.

 

First, by being contributors to prominent and smaller outlets, they helped shape — or manipulate — global opinion against Israel even before October 7, 2023. They further turned their audiences against Israel while “reporting” — if you can call it that — on the Gaza war. One must wonder how many such “journalists” still remain under contract by media outlets around the world to this day.

 

Second, the false accusation that Israel targets and kills journalists — who act solely in the capacity of a journalist — persists. The headline of the Committee to Protect Journalists’ annual report from February 2026 reads, “Record 129 press members killed in 2025; Israel responsible for 2/3 of deaths.” Mainstream media rely on these numbers, leading everyday citizens to think that, at best, Israel is careless about press freedom and, at worst, an enemy of it. The Guardian covered the report with a nearly word-for-word headline.

 

Bogus as these slanders are, people believe them and judge Israel based on them.

 

Digital technology encourages immediate reporting. In war, the first reports are often wrong, and so mistakes are inevitable. But correcting them is an ethical imperative for journalists. The Radio Television Digital News Association’s (RTNDA) code of ethics acknowledges this problem. “Facts change over time,” it pronounces. “Responsible reporting includes updating stories and amending archival versions to make them more accurate and to avoid misinforming those who, through search, stumble upon outdated material.” It adds that ethical journalists should own their errors, “correcting them promptly and giving corrections as much prominence as the error itself had.” Simply put, as political journalism at its best is about holding people accountable for misconduct, that should begin with the journalists themselves.

 

Media outlets that falsely reported that Israel had killed journalists should both report on the new revelation and update their past reporting. More broadly, media outlets in the free world should cautiously reconsider their reliance on local entities. RTNDA declares, “Deception in newsgathering . . . conflicts with journalism’s commitment to truth,” and it is evident that terrorist groups in Gaza successfully deceived foreign audiences through masquerading as journalists. It is necessary that media outlets take new measures to avoid repeating this mistake.

 

Those journalists and media outlets that erred by identifying terrorists as journalists should demonstrate professionalism by correcting their archives, explaining the editorial process that led to these mistakes, and adopting new measures to avoid doing the same in the future.