A CBS News journalist in Gaza praised terrorists at an official event of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization and had contacts with terrorists as a member of the Gaza City Municipal Council, an HonestReporting investigation revealed.
Marwan al-Ghoul has been working as a CBS News producer in Gaza for more than two decades, and his affiliation with a proscribed terrorist group, as well as his official public role in the Hamas-ruled Strip, raise alarming questions regarding the network’s journalistic standards.
PFLP links
In 2018, al-Ghoul was among the speakers at an official PFLP event commemorating one of the prominent members of the terror group who was also al-Ghoul’s relative.
According to the PFLP website, al-Ghoul spoke on behalf of the family, which “expressed their gratitude to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and their esteemed comrades everywhere in the Palestinian land … for their … commitment to continue the struggle.”
Al-Ghoul praised the group’s terrorists, emphasizing his relative’s dedication to “maintaining the noble national values established by the leading [PFLP] martyrs, such as Al-Hakim [the organization’s founder George Habash], [Secretary-General] Abu Ali Mustafa and [terrorist operations leader] Wadie Haddad, and those who followed their path of struggle and martyrdom.”
The PFLP is a proscribed terrorist group whose members have been involved in deadly attacks against Israelis, including suicide bombings, stabbings and shootings.
The fact that al-Ghoul was invited to address an official event of the group suggests his (and his family’s) affiliation with it is deep. The effect such an affiliation might have on his “journalistic” work cannot be underestimated.
In 2022, a news report showed him smiling next to Gaza City Mayor Yahya Sarraj as they hosted a PFLP delegation to discuss “issues of concern to citizens and ways of cooperating.”
What could possibly be discussed in such a meeting? How to better embed terrorists amid the civilian population?
That would not be far-fetched to assume, considering that back in 2022, the IDF revealed that an Islamic Jihad rocket was fired from a location owned by the Gaza City Municipality. It misfired and killed two Palestinians.
Referring to the mayor, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said at the time that “Sarraj chose to take care of the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad more than the residents of the city he heads, and he abused public space that belongs to the residents of the city for terror. This is how he harmed his citizens directly.”
According to an announcement on his Facebook page, al-Ghoul resigned from his membership in the city council in November 2022. It’s not clear how long he served, why he resigned, whether he got paid to do the job, and if so by whom.
But according to a Fatah official quoted by WAFA, Gaza municipal council members are appointed by Hamas. And according to Reuters, Hamas is the body in charge of paying public sector workers.
The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Local Government may be in charge on paper, but de facto, Hamas runs the show.
In any case, al-Ghoul’s profile photo still appears on the official website of the Gaza Municipality, with a bio that presents him as a “media professional working with several Arab and international channels,” as well as a “member of the Municipal Council.”
What’s clear is that such a public role, in an enclave ruled by terrorists and where terrorists are hosted by the mayor, cannot be without problematic ties. Especially for a journalist who needs to cover political and civilian issues objectively.
Celebrated journalist
None of that seemed to bother CBS News, which either turned a blind eye to al-Ghoul’s activities, or had no idea about them.
The network relied heavily on his work at the beginning of the current Israel-Hamas war and praised his “journalism.”
Unsurprisingly, al-Ghoul’s reports from Gaza are typical—they include destruction and victims, not Hamas terrorists.
And it might also be because, as the head of the Mayadeen Media Group, al-Ghoul had long lasting ties with the Hamas-run Government Media Office. In 2008, he presented a panel discussion in a workshop organized by the office on “the freedom of journalistic work under the Israeli occupation” (although Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005).
Al-Ghoul is not a journalist. Like many other Gaza “reporters” who work for respected Western media outlets, he is a propagandist, at best, or a terrorist collaborator, at worst.
CBS News should not celebrate his work, but be ashamed of it.
Originally published by HonestReporting.
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