The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed a journalist for Qatar-backed Al Jazeera in Gaza on Sunday, causing a global uproar — but the Israeli military maintains that he was also a Hamas terrorist and a legitimate target.
Al Jazeera reported that the IDF had killed Anas al-Sharif and his team, leaving out Israel’s accusations, suggesting instead that Israel had “claimed responsibility,” language typically used to describe terrorism:
- Al Jazeera condemns Israel’s assassination of five of its staff, calling it a “desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza”.
- Israel’s military claimed responsibility for the targeted attack, which killed correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa, and their assistant Mohammed Noufal.
However, the IDF described events differently in statements accusing al-Sharif of being a terrorist:
A short while ago, in Gaza City, the IDF struck the terrorist Anas Al-Sharif, who posed as a journalist for the Al Jazeera network.
Anas Al-Sharif served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organization and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops.
The IDF had previously disclosed intelligence information and many documents found in the Gaza Strip, confirming his military affiliation to Hamas. The documents once again confirm his involvement in terrorist activities, from which the Al Jazeera network has attempted to disassociate itself.
The documents include personnel rosters, lists of terrorist training courses, phone directories, and salary documents for the terrorist, and provide unequivocal proof that he serves as a military terrorist in Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The documents also provide proof of the integration of the Hamas terrorist within the Qatari Al Jazeera network.
Prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munition, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence.
The IDF will continue to operate against the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.
The IDF also included documentation of al-Sharif’s terrorist membership, including his listing in a Hamas telephone directory and a document that tracked battlefield injuries suffered by Hamas terrorists.
Sunday’s killing is not the first time that Israel has killed Al Jazeera journalists or stringers who also turned out to be terrorists for Hamas or Islamic Jihad — accusations that the network has denied, despite Israel’s evidence.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
Read the full article here