The Reuters news agency continues to distribute the work of a Palestinian photojournalist who was fired by the Associated Press and the CNN TV network following an international uproar over his ties to the Hamas terrorist organization, a media watchdog group said on Sunday.
HonestReporting noted that Hassan Eslaiah’s material is still being offered through the international British news agency, even though he was exposed for his connection to Hamas in the wake of the massacre of 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023. A picture of him being kissed by Yahya Sinwar, the assassinated Hamas terror chief and mastermind of the attack, went viral the next month.
Stock photo agency Getty Images, which also distributed his material, has removed a video from another Gaza cameraman who cheered on the attack in the wake of the watchdog’s latest exposure last week.
“Reuters has chosen financial gain over ethics,” HonestReporting executive director Gil Hoffman told JNS Sunday. “The [U.S.] attorney-general who is cracking down on terror should probe Reuters.”
The media watchdog revealed that the wire service is distributing the “tainted content” of Eslaiah and other “compromised photojournalists” in Gaza in collaboration with the state-run Turkish news agency Anadolu for profit without liability.
The Gaza-based photographer documented the scene of the massacre at Kibbutz Kfar Aza in the early hours of the morning on Oct. 7. He was later given a ride back to Gaza on a motorcycle together with a terrorist with a grenade in hand.
Reuters did not immediately respond on Sunday to a request for comment.
