In the wake of the Israel Defense Forces’ successful operation to rescue four hostages from captivity in Gaza we’re learning more about the conditions in which the hostages lived and who housed them, and once again we’re seeing that the native “journalists” covering the conflict are anything but neutral observers.
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As we noted in numerous stories about Israel’s rescue mission, the four hostages rescued were not held in tunnels or prisons; they were held in the homes of alleged civilians in residential areas in Nuseirat. I say “alleged civilians” because if these people were holding Israeli hostages for eight months they’re absolutely part of Hamas and are combatants, not civilians.
One of those alleged civilians, it’s now confirmed, was Abdullah Al Jamal, who bills himself as a journalist and who most recently wrote for a United States-based 501(c)(3) NGO, The Palestine Chronicle. He also wrote at least one piece for Al Jazeera. The Israeli government confirmed Sunday that Al Jamal, who was neutralized by IDF rescuers, held three hostages captive in his family home:
Update: following an IDF and ISA investigation, we can now confirm that Abdullah Al Jamal held the hostages Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv captive in his family home in Nuseirat.
We first learned Al Jamal’s identity as one of those killed in the rescue on Saturday in a tweet from Gazan Ramy Abdul, EuroMed Human Rights Monitor Chair.
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In an initial testimony documenting the killings committed by the Israeli army in the Nuseirat camp today, the @EuroMedHR reported that the Israeli army used a ladder to enter the home of Dr. Ahmed Al-Jamal. The army immediately executed 36-year-old Fatima Al-Jamal upon encountering her on the staircase. The forces then stormed the house and executed her husband, journalist Abdullah Al-Jamal, 36, and his father, Dr. Ahmed, 74, in front of his grandchildren. The army also shot their daughter, Zainab, 27, who sustained serious injuries.
Hamas sympathizers then pounced on Abdul’s tweet to perpetuate the narrative that Israeli forces indiscriminately kill civilians who are supposed to be protected while doing their jobs in a war zone, like journalists, doctors, and aid workers. That narrative doesn’t work well among normal people at this point, since we’ve learned that UNRWA workers and some journalists worked with Hamas to carry out the October 7 massacres.
READ MORE: United Nations Directly Implicated in October 7th Attacks, U.S. State Dept Freezes Funding
Unfortunately for Abdul, his tweet prompted Israeli journalist Eitan Fischberger to start looking into who Al Jamal was, and who he worked for.
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According to Fischberger’s research, Al Jamal was also the spokesman for the Hamas Ministry of Labor.
Later in the thread Fischberger clarifies that Al Jamal didn’t work for Al Jazeera, but co-authored one piece in 2016.
The Palestine Chronicle confirmed that Al Jamal was one of their freelance writers in a propaganda-filled piece condemning the hostage rescue operation:
The Palestine Chronicle is saddened to learn that Abdallah Aljamal, one of its contributors in the Gaza Strip, has been killed in the latest Israeli massacre in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Fischberger also found The Palestine Chronicle’s IRS information:
Abdul and his allies quickly changed the narrative once the Israeli government announced that Al Jamal was holding hostages in the family home. At first it was announced that Noa Argamani was held at the Al Jamal home, but a clarification issued later stated that the three male hostages who were rescued had been held at the Al Jamal home.
RELATED: How They Did It—Inside the Israelis’ Daring Raid to Rescue Hamas Hostages
Now Abdul and his fellow propagandists/Hamas supporters are changing their messaging to claim that Israel is making up stories to cover up murders.
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There’s a couple of problems for Abdul and his EuroMed Human Rights Monitor group. First, it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that footage of the rescues exists; if it does, Israel will probably release it. And, since these hostages were rescued alive, they can tell the world with whom they were held. Of course, since Hamas supporters don’t believe any of the footage released by Israel in the aftermath of the October 7 massacres, nobody expects them to believe this footage or hostage testimonies either. But rational people watching quietly from the sidelines will.