Hamas Movement has condemned the most recent measures taken by a number of US media outlets against some reporters for allegedly siding with the Palestinian cause as a “stark violation of the freedom of expression and the right of every journalist to express their political and humanitarian views.”
By arbitrarily dismissing those journalists the media outlets have bowed to Zionist lobby groups who undermine every position that contradicts their fake narrative and endorses Palestinian rights said member of Hamas Political Bureau Abroad Hisham Qasem in a statement issued Monday.
Qasem called on human rights groups and media organizations to confront such an arbitrary policy taken against those reporters.
Last week the Palestinian photojournalist Hosam Salem revealed that he has been fired by the New York Times for expressing support for resistance against Israeli occupation.
The Gaza-based journalist has been working as a freelancer for the American paper since 2018 but was dismissed after a dossier compiled by a pro-Israel group accusing Salem of anti-Semitism was presented to the Times.
“After years of covering the Gaza Strip as a freelance photojournalist for the New York Times I was informed via an abrupt phone call from the US outlet that they will no longer work with me in the future” he said in a series of tweets.
“I began working with the newspaper in 2018 covering critical events in Gaza such as the weekly protests at the border fence with Israel the investigation into the Israeli killing of field nurse Razan al-Najjar and more recently the May 2021 Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip”
“As I understood later the decision was made based on a report prepared by a Dutch editor – who obtained Israeli citizenship two years ago – for a website called Honest Reporting.”
“The article which the New York Times had based its decision for dismissing me gives examples of posts I wrote on my social media accounts namely Facebook where I had expressed support for the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation.”
