![HonestReporting accepts news groups had no prior warning of Oct. 7 Hamas attack](https://i-invdn-com.investing.com/trkd-images/LYNXMPEJA90Q6_L.jpg)
© Reuters. Kids mild candles throughout a candlelight vigil in help of Palestinians in Gaza, amid the continuing battle between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Beirut, Lebanon, November 10, 2023. REUTERS/Esa Alexander/File Picture
(Refiles to take away double adverse in paragraph 1)
By Crispian Balmer
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -The chief director of Israeli media advocacy group HonestReporting stated on Friday he accepted as “adequate” statements by 4 media organisations that they’d no earlier data of the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel, including he was “so relieved”.
Reuters, the Related Press, CNN and The New York Instances issued adamant denials after HonestReporting revealed an article on Thursday that questioned whether or not Palestinian photojournalists had tipped off the 4 retailers, which had used their pictures.
HonestReporting’s Gil Hoffman informed Reuters his organisation had not claimed to know that there had been any prior data by the information teams of the Hamas assault.
“I was so relieved when all four of the media organisations said they didn’t have prior knowledge,” Hoffman stated in an interview by phone in regards to the article.
“We raised questions, we didn’t give answers,” he stated. “I still very much think that the questions were legitimate and the answers were adequate from the media organisations themselves.”
He added that there was nothing “problematic” with the 2 photojournalists from whom Reuters acquired pictures.
Reuters stated it acquired images from two Gaza-based freelance photographers who have been on the border on the morning of Oct. 7 and with whom it didn’t have a previous relationship.
HonestReporting additionally distanced itself from Israeli authorities accusations that have been sparked by its article.
“There are those who took our story and pretended that they knew the answers – the Israeli government, cabinet ministers, various Twitter personalities – we didn’t claim to know,” Hoffman stated.
Reacting to the HonestReporting article posted on X, the Israeli International Ministry had described using the varied pictures by the 4 information teams as “a serious violation of journalistic ethics.”
‘SHOCKED’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace wrote on X: “These journalists were accomplices in crimes against humanity; their actions were contrary to professional ethics.”
Danny Danon, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud celebration and a former Israeli envoy to the United Nations, wrote on X after the discharge of the HonestReporting article that the Palestinian photojournalists ought to be eradicated.
“We will hunt them down together with the terrorists,” he wrote.
Hoffman stated he had been “shocked” to learn Danon’s feedback. He additionally stated: “There are clearly things in the prime minister’s office statement that are not based on fact. We did not say anything firmly.”
Danon and Israel’s authorities didn’t instantly reply to Reuters’ requests for remark in response to Hoffman’s remarks.
“We are deeply concerned about the irresponsibility of HonestReporting in publishing such damaging accusations. Its executive director has accepted that there is no evidence to support the incendiary insinuations in the report,” Reuters stated in an announcement.
“The baseless speculation in HonestReporting’s post, presented as ‘raising ethical questions,’ has posed grave risks to journalists in the region, including those working for Reuters,” the information company added.
The AP, CNN and The New York Instances referred again to their beforehand revealed statements, which included denials that they’d any prior data of the Oct. 7 assault.
‘IDEOLOGICAL PREJUDICE’
Hoffman, who was a veteran reporter with the Jerusalem Put up newspaper earlier than becoming a member of HonestReporting, defended his group’s determination to publish its article with out first looking for remark from any of the information organisations it had named.
He stated that after the article was posted he had requested his workforce why they’d not sought remark earlier than publication.
“They said ‘well we do not claim to be a news organisation’,” he stated. “With media monitoring it’s more effective (to ask for a response) afterwards, in general.”
HonestReporting describes itself on its web site as “a charitable organisation” with a mission “to combat ideological prejudice in journalism and the media, as it impacts Israel.”
Hoffman stated he thought worldwide media protection of the continuing struggle in opposition to Hamas was not giving prominence to the Oct. 7 occasions, when Hamas killed round 1,200 individuals and kidnapped an extra 244, based on an Israeli tally.
Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza since then has killed greater than 11,000 individuals, based on Palestinian figures.
“(Our) article for two days now has returned the international public discourse to Oct. 7. That alone is a very important accomplishment,” he stated.
Regardless of HonestReporting’s strategies that the Palestinian photojournalists had secured their pictures in coordination with Hamas, he stated he was “happy” their footage had been revealed. “Absolutely I want the world to know what happened on Oct. 7,” he stated.
After chatting with Reuters, HonestReporting issued an announcement saying: “We unequivocally condemn calls for violence or death threats aimed at bona fide media workers.”