What do you call a person who delivered an anti-Israeli message that was quoted in an official Hamas pamphlet, received honors from top Hamas terrorists, shared the “genocide” libel against Israel and mourned terrorists? A mouthpiece, not a journalist.
Yet, the France24 correspondent in Gaza, Maha Abuelkas, can take credit for all of the above, casting doubt on her objectivity and the journalistic standards of her publicly funded network.
The veteran journalist, who has been working for France24 since 2013, was quoted in a 2021 Hamas propaganda pamphlet that promoted the terror movement’s “Day of Loyalty to the Palestinian Journalist.” Her message blamed “the Israeli occupation” for “severe assaults and violations against human rights, land, and sacred sites”:
“On the 31st of December, we, as journalists, media professionals, and official institutions, commemorate the #Day_of_Loyalty_to_the_Palestinian_Journalist in remembrance and appreciation of all colleagues working in the Palestinian territories, which continuously suffer from severe assaults and violations against human rights, land, and sacred sites by the Israeli occupation.”
Maha Abuelkas, FRANCE 24 Arabic Correspondent.
And the event she was promoting was not merely professional. According to the Hamas Media Office Facebook page, where the pamphlet was published, the “Loyalty” event is aimed at supporting “the professional and national significance of the field’s knights and truth-seekers—those masters of words and images who wielded the lens of the camera and the tip of the pen, making them the most powerful tools of resistance against the occupier.”
Abuelkas also received special honors in 2014 from top Hamas figures and was proud to share it on her Instagram page.
Here she is honored by Hamas’ spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum (left) and Taher al-Nunu (middle), the advisor to former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh:
And here she is joined by none other than senior Hamas official Mushir al-Masri (right), who has vowed to “uproot the Zionists with our axes, knives, guns”:
It doesn’t matter whether Abuelkas truly shares Hamas’ agenda or not. Her unethical reciprocal relationship with Gazan rulers — whom she needs to cover objectively — automatically compromises her journalistic credibility.
The same applies to all the other “journalists” who were exposed by HonestReporting for actively participating in Hamas’ events and honorary ceremonies.
Related Reading: EXPOSED: Foreign Media Journalists in Gaza Participated in Hamas’ “Loyalty” Day
But one can glean what Abuelkas’ true opinions are from a Facebook post she shared on July 2024, showing U.S. lawmaker Rashida Tlaib holding up a sign reading “Guilty of Genocide” during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent speech to Congress:
In another post, Abuelkas laments the death of an Al Jazeera “reporter” Ismail Al-Ghoul (left), a Hamas terrorist who participated in the October 7 massacre in southern Israel:
Given the evidence above, how can Abuelkas objectively report from Gaza?
And worse, might France24’s Gaza coverage have been seriously compromised by Abuelka’s connection to Hamas figures?
How can any editor or news consumer trust the news that Abuelkas delivers, if at the end of the day, she is nothing but a Hamas mouthpiece?
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