Embedding with the Enemy
The world should see the atrocities committed by Hamas, not punish the photojournalists who document them.
Beyond the unimaginable toll of losing their homes, their families, and each other, Palestinian photojournalists are now targets themselves.
“While Hamas savages murdered, raped, tortured and brutally abused our people, the vile photographers did not stop, turn away or leave the scene,” former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon wrote. “Instead they filmed and participated in the crimes. We will hunt them down together with the terrorists.”
“These journalists were accomplices in crimes against humanity,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office charged.
Let that sink in.
The reactions were triggered by an article published by HonestReporting, a pro-Israel media watchdog group, that insinuated several Palestinian freelance photographers were complicit in the October 7 attacks in Israel.
One of the photographers named in the article was Ali Mahmud, whose photo of Hamas militants parading the body of Shani Louk (above), was picked up by the Associated Press and widely published.
Another photographer mentioned, Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa, documented the moment Hamas militants broke through the border fence.
Mostafa’s photo, distributed by Reuters, landed on the front page of The New York Times.
The New York Times and Reuters issued statements strongly denying the accusations. So did the Associated Press, who severed ties with freelance photographer Hassan Eslaiah after photos surfaced of him posing with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
In an interview with The New York Times, Eslaiah insisted he was unaffiliated with Hamas and had no advance knowledge of the attack. “I am very worried and scared,” Eslaiah said.
Eslaiah also suggested there was a double standard in coverage, pointing out that Israeli photojournalists were accompanying Israel Defense Forces (IDF) into Gaza to document their ground operation.
“Why are we not allowed, and they are allowed?” Eslaiah said.
On that point — Ohad Zwigenberg shot this compelling photo of an Israeli soldier in a destroyed apartment in Gaza last week. Given the color of the room and the dolls, this must be a girl’s bedroom. The shattered mirror is another unsettling detail.
Zwigenberg, a staff photographer with the Associated Press, was embedded with Israeli troops — which means an IDF censor reviewed and approved the photo. The New York Times published it, but omitted this critical detail in the caption.
The doll in Zwigenberg’s photo harkens back to Philip Jones Griffiths’ 1968 image of a U.S. soldier in Vietnam. The similarities are striking, disturbing.
While Israel’s threat towards Palestinian photojournalists is extraordinary, criticism of photographers embedding with the “enemy” is nothing new. In 2004, Joao Silva documented Iraqi militiamen fighting U.S. troops in Najaf for The New York Times. Controversy ensued.
“People wanted to put me up for treason because I was hanging out with the militias,” Silva recalled. “I’m a photojournalist. I try to show the reality of the conflict that I’m currently in; if I can do that from both sides of the conflict I will.”1
In 2017, Emanuele Satolli captured a remarkably similar scene in Iraq. Though this time, Satolli was embedded with the Iraqis, who were fighting a much different adversary: ISIS.
Enemies are fluid.
In 1996, James Nachtwey photographed a Chechen rebel firing towards Russian positions in Grozny.
The intensity in the soldier’s face and the overall mood are mirrored in Manu Brabo’s 2011 photograph from Libya.
Brabo’s series from Libya is incredibly intense — definitely not approved by military censors. But neither was this magnificent photo, also by Ohad Zwigenberg, taken in Kfar Azza three days after Hamas’ brutal attack.
Zwigenberg’s is a modern version of this Larry Burrows’ unexpected, tender photo from 1968. Another echo of the past.
The executive director of HonestReporting, admitted to the Associated Press they had no evidence to back their initial claims and released a statement: “We unequivocally condemn calls for violence or death threats aimed at bona fide media workers.”
The watchdog needs watching.
Michael Kamber, Photojournalists on War: The Untold Stories from Iraq (University of Texas Press, 2013), 241.