As Israel awaits the release by Hamas of what might be the remains of two little children and their mother on Thursday (February 20), the media are dancing to the tune of the terror group as they did when the Bibas family was abducted.
The image of the terrified mother, 33-year-old Shiri Bibas with Ariel, now aged 5, and Kfir, now 2, has become a symbol of the October 7 atrocities. But it wasn’t distributed out of the blue — it was captured by a Gaza journalist working side by side with Hamas whose story was featured in respectable media outlets like The New York Times.
HonestReporting exposed this unethical connection a month after the war broke out, and we are republishing highlights of our expose below so that news consumers won’t forget who is responsible for the fate of the Bibas family.
Sadly, this reminder is all the more important as media outlets parrot Hamas propaganda that Israel is to blame for their death.
Abduction Documented, Reporter Glorified
On October 9, 2023, two days after the deadly Hamas attack on Israel and despite plenty of other sources to rely upon, The New York Times published a piece putting front and center a Gaza reporter who broadcast live from the massacre.
The piece described how Muthana Al-Najjar filmed the kidnapping of the Bibas family, painting him as a brave reporter.
The author of the piece, Yousur Al-Hlou, attempted to humanize Al-Najjar by including sentences like: “The person filming, Muthana Al-Najjar, a 39-year-old from Gaza, can be heard asking the gunmen not to harm them.”
Yet Al-Najjar, an independent Gaza-based journalist who operates a Telegram channel with over 200k subscribers, was working side by side with the terrorists.
He entered Israel on October 7 to document the butchering of Israelis by Hamas. His stand-up to camera from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, as gunshots are heard in the background, shocked many Israelis that day. He did not wear a press vest or a helmet to make him identifiable as a member of the press. He clearly did not feel under threat from the Hamas terrorists in his midst. He also shared a picture showing two of the terrorists triumphantly stepping on the body of a murdered Israeli, with a comment translated from Arabic: “Their dead under the feet of the warriors of al-Qassam Brigades.”
Yet The New York Times didn’t see any problem dedicating an empathetic piece to Al-Najjar’s October 7 coverage. He was even interviewed to give a first-hand account:
Mr. Al-Najjar, a freelance reporter who posted the footage to social media, initially entered Israel through a breach in the fence along the perimeter with Gaza. He said it was the first time he had ever left Gaza in his life, because of the blockade imposed by Israel and backed by Egypt that restricts movement in and out of the enclave.
While women were raped, families tortured to death and children burnt alive, The New York Times still made sure to highlight how it was the first time Al-Najjar set foot — like the terrorists — on Israel’s territory. And the terrorists clearly let him do his job uninterrupted.
The piece also includes a video in which he seems to document himself taking a ride on a motorbike into the kibbutz where the abduction took place.
Exactly like the cameramen who filmed the separate abduction of Shiri’s husband, Yarden Bibas, Al-Najjar was operating with and for Hamas. And the media bought it.
Related Reading: Palestinian Cameramen Exposed in New Footage Documenting Oct. 7 Atrocities Side by Side with Terrorists
Parrotting Hamas
Fast forward a year and a half later — and the media seem to still take the word of the terrorists as gospel.
Soon after Hamas’ announcement this week that Shiri, Ariel and Kfir would be returned to Israel, mainstream and social media alike were quick to parrot the blame, relying on a Hamas claim from November 2023 that the three members of the Bibas family had been killed in an Israeli airstrike:
Horrendous. How has @SkyNews gone from an unconfirmed Hamas claim to saying that members of the Bibas family “reportedly died in an airstrike.”
This isn’t journalism. It’s regurgitating the unsubstantiated statements of a terrorist organization. pic.twitter.com/ONu5k3JfCL
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 18, 2025
On social media, influencers even relied on Al-Najjar’s video to blame Israel:
This video shows Palestinians on Oct 7 protecting the Bibas family and others from the Israeli Forces Hannibal directive and using their own bodies as human shields.
lsraeI killed the Bibas family a few weeks later.
Not a coincidence.
pic.twitter.com/6jz1Q3FeaJ— ADAM (@AdameMedia) February 18, 2025
That’s how a full circle is completed: A “journalist” embedded with Hamas captures the horrific moments of the Bibas family abduction. A year and a half later, his footage — which the media platformed as a journalistic achievement — is used in the course of blaming Israel for their fate.
Compromised Journalism
This absurdity of terrorism masked as journalism must end.
Especially because throughout the war, HonestReporting has been uncovering the alliance between foreign media journalists in Gaza and Hamas. Every news outlet relying on their work, let alone featuring it, should know by now that they are all compromised.
And it goes without saying that any claim by the terror group should be reported exactly as such — an unverified claim that cannot be confirmed.
With this reminder, here’s hoping that come Thursday, the foreign media will do their job better.
If not on behalf of journalism, at least for the sake of the Bibas family.
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