A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is demanding Reuters fess up about whether or not its journalists had superior data of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist raid on Israel.
In a letter, 13 lawmakers pressed Reuters President Paul Pascobert about allegations a Reuters journalist, who appeared embedded with the terrorists, knew concerning the deliberate assault however “said nothing.”
They stated that Hamas‘ attack was “well-documented on that day, including by journalists associated with Reuters News.”
“We write today to raise concerns about the implications of this content, particularly whether there was any prior knowledge of the attack by Reuters journalists and any connection to Hamas by your company,” said the letter which was spearheaded by Rep. Mike Lawler, New York Republican.
Reuters did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Times. The news agency previously denied having prior knowledge of the Oct. 7 attack.
The letter posed a series of questions about how the journalist knew to be awake during the early morning assault and whether they had contact with Hamas before or during the raid.
“If the answer is yes to any of these questions, when did you become aware of this and what actions have you taken in light of these facts,” it said.
Media watchdog HonestReporting also questioned why several freelance photojournalists working for CNN, The New York Times, Reuters, The Associated Press and other media outlets were on the ground for the attack so early, and whether the news organizations had greenlit their presence at the scene of the brutal attack that killed 1,400 people in Israel.
HonestReporting highlighted photojournalist Hassan Eslaiah, who had his work published by the AP and CNN. The report included a photo of Mr. Eslaiah being kissed on the cheek by Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar. Both outlets cut ties with Mr. Eslaiah.
Though the journalists were unnamed in the letter, Reuters published photos of the Oct. 7 attack from two photographers — Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa and Yasser Qudih — who Honest Reporting said “also happened to be at the border just in time for Hamas’ infiltration.”
HonestReporting later clarified that it “did not accuse Reuters of the collusion [but had] rightly raised some serious ethical issues regarding news outlets’ association with these freelancers.”
