Al Jazeera Network reported Tuesday that one of its correspondents was injured during a raid launched by the IDF in the southern Gaza Strip.
طبيب مراسل #الجزيرة إسماعيل أبو عمر: وضع إسماعيل حرج وهناك صعوبات تواجهنا في تقديم العلاج له#حرب_غزة #الأخبار pic.twitter.com/z0bQnMTsgC
— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) February 15, 2024
“Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail Abu Omar: Ismail’s condition is critical, and there are difficulties facing us in providing treatment for him,” the Qatar-based Arabic news network lamented.
In a separate post, Al Jazeera accused Israel of deliberately targeting Abu Omar and his cameraman.
استهداف إسماعيل أبو عمر وزميله مصور قناة #الجزيرة.. إصابات خطيرة والجزيرة تدين استهدافهم#شبكات #حرب_غزة pic.twitter.com/JINoNYA9Rz
— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) February 14, 2024
“Ismail Abu Omar and his colleague, an Al Jazeera cameraman, were targeted. They were seriously injured, and Al Jazeera condemns their targeting,” the news network wrote in its post on the X social media platform. The “journalist” lost his right leg in the attack, and according to Arab media sources his condition is currently deteriorating after being taken to the European Hospital in Gaza. This is the second injury the terrorist has sustained since October 7.
“The journalists who cover the conflicts enjoy protection under international law,” Al Jazeera reported from the British Foreign Office after Abu Omar was injured. “Israel needs to guarantee that they will be able to carry out their work safely.”
That is absolutely true, for bona fide journalists.
But Ismail Abu Omar holds two roles. although Al Jazeera claims he is one of their field reporters, he has been irrefutably exposed by the IDF as a senior member of the Hamas terrorist organization — a deputy commander in the terror group’s military wing. He is a combatant operating under cover as a “journalist,” like others from the network similarly exposed.
“How do we know this? Abu Omar is a deputy company commander in Hamas’ Eastern Battalion of Khan Yunis who filmed himself in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 massacre,” Adraee wrote in a post on the X social media platform.
#عاجل ردًّا على مزاعم قناة الجزيرة @AJArabic
أفادت شبكة الجزيرة أمس أن أحد مراسليها قد أصيب بجروح خلال غارة شنها جيش الدفاع على جنوب قطاع غزة.
المدعو إسماعيل أبو عمر، الذي زعمت شبكة الجزيرة أنه صحفي يعمل لديها، شغل وظيفة نائب قائد سرية تابعة لكتيبة خان يونس الشرقية لدى منظمة… pic.twitter.com/oCHFESSyPY
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) February 14, 2024
“The so-called Ismail Abu Omar, who Al Jazeera claimed was a journalist working for it, held the position of deputy commander of a company belonging to the eastern Khan Yunis battalion with the Hamas terrorist organization,” IDF Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote in another post on X.
“Abu Omar even filmed himself participating in the bloody massacre in Nir Oz on 7/10 and posted it on social media,” Adraee explained.
Abu Omar’s posts were uploaded to the Telegram social media platform by the Abu Ali Express news outlet.
“There is a battle underway at zero distance from the area of Nir Oz between jihad fighters and the resistance and the occupation soldiers,” he reported on October 7. “God willing the guys are making progress,” he declared.
“At 7:10 am, Al Jazeera journalist Ismail Abu Omar cried with excitement when he entered the Nir Oz area on a motorcycle. He stopped to kiss the ground and congratulate the killers of the military wing of Hamas for the massacres they were carrying out,” Abu Ali Express reported.
“He is fully complicit in the massacre. He was there, photographed and cheered and maybe even more. Now he is in the European Hospital in Khan Yunis after a UAV attacked the motorcycle he was riding.”
In a separate post that can be see only on Telegram due to its graphic nature, Abu Ali Express reveals a video published by Abu Omar, for whom the British Foreign Office is demanding protection.
“The video was published about 40 minutes after the start of the terrorist attack by Hamas and Ismail Abu Omar wrote in a caption, ‘Listen to the words of the brave.’ The conversation in the video is conducted using a communication device of the type that the operatives of the military wing of Hamas have,” Abu Ali Express reports. “At the end of the video, after describing the events, the journalist himself praises Allah. At a later stage, Ismail Abu Omar arrived in the territories of Nir Oz.”
Here is the English translation of what was said by a terrorist on the communication device during the October 7 massacre: “Praise God, our brothers in the al-Qassam Brigades, we entered the homes of the settlers and beheaded them! We beheaded them with a dagger! And by shooting them in the head! Pray and say: ‘Allahu Akhbar! Praise God!'” And in response, Ismail Abu Omar is heard replying, “Allahu Akhbar! Praise God!”
And Abu Omar is not the first to be caught “in the act,” as it were.
During an activity by IDF forces several weeks ago inside one of the Hamas camps in the northern Gaza Strip, a mobile computer belonging to a person named Muhammad Samir Muhammad Wishah, born in 1986 from Bureij, was seized.
“It is clear from the documents that Muhammad Wishah is a prominent commander in the anti-armor missile system in the Hamas military wing. At the end of 2022, he moved to work in the field of research and development in the Hamas Air Force,” Adraee wrote in an earlier post on X.
“The intelligence investigation conducted on the computer reveals images linking the person called Muhammad Wishah to activities within Hamas. Who knows how many details we will reveal about the presence of other terrorists in journalistic garb in the near future!!” Adraee added.
Gaza journalist Matez al-Afri a so-called “journalist” — albeit not with Al Jazeera — is another Hamas operative who actively participated in the October 7 massacre of Israelis, according to Israel’s KAN 11 News public broadcaster. On February 14, this terrorist journalist was killed with his wife and son in an IDF attack on a vehicle near Gaza City’s Al-Ahli Hospital.
Early today, the #IDF attacked a Ford vehicle near Al-Ahli Hospital in #Gaza City.
The attack killed Matez al-Afri, his wife and son.
The Palestinians claim that this is a journalist… (1/2) pic.twitter.com/qHYNRkhQ3P— AbuAliEnglish (@AbuAliEnglishB1) February 14, 2024
Gaza journalist Ahmed A-Najjar is another such terrorist journalist, also not with Al Jazeera, who was so proud of his activities on October 7 that he made sure to watermark the videos he filmed, including at least in which the severe abuse of IDF soldiers’ bodies is clearly seen. Some of his relatives were later killed in an IDF attack in Khan Younis.
Voici le journaliste #Gazaoui Ahmed A-Najjar, il fait parti des ces journalistes qui ont participé en filmant les exactions du #Hamas le 07 Octobre (en prenant soin de mettre un filigrane avec son nom pour que tout le monde sache qu'il s'agit de ses photos)
Le 07 Octobre il a… pic.twitter.com/r2066Nig9t
— Rebeccah Glazer (@Beccah2Fois) November 10, 2023
This past Monday, the Israeli government finally approved the closure of the Al Jazeera channel in Israel, a move than began in October 2023, but as before the decision is still on hold, pending approval of Israel’s War Cabinet.
This means Al Jazeera will continue its activities in Israel, including the possible collection of intelligence on the Jewish State, its security apparatus and its military forces, until Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other members of the War Cabinet finally decide that angering Qatar is not nearly as dangerous as continuing to allow this terrorist-linked entity to operate with impunity.