Foreign Press Gala Honors Hamas Terrorists Posing as Journalists

Only in today’s morally bankrupt media ecosystem could a black-tie gala in Washington, D.C., simultaneously honor a mainstream journalist and whitewash known Hamas terrorists as “fallen reporters.”

That’s exactly what happened at the Association and Club of Foreign Press Correspondents USA’s recent gala, where NBC’s Andrea Mitchell received an award even as the event veered into full-blown propaganda by honoring members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as supposed “journalists.” Co-sponsored by Al Jazeera, the Qatari state-run network with long-standing ties to Islamist extremism, the event laid bare just how corrupted the press establishment has become.

In what can only be described as a grotesque appropriation of suffering, the gala held a moment of silence for 10 so-called “journalists” killed in Gaza their photos laid out in a display eerily echoing the Israeli hostage tributes from the October 7 massacre. But these weren’t innocent reporters. They were embedded terrorists who used media credentials as cover for jihad.

Here’s who they really honored:

• Anas Al-Sharif: A Hamas rocket cell commander who openly praised the October 7 slaughter and was photographed with senior Hamas leaders.

• Ismail Al-Ghoul: A Hamas Nukhba operative who trained terrorists to film attacks for propaganda.

• Hossam Shabat: A Hamas sniper involved in targeting civilians, who also peddled false gang-rape claims at Shifa Hospital via Al Jazeera.

• Hamza Al Dahdouh: A senior member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, killed while operating a drone against Israeli forces.

• Mustafa Thuria: A deputy Hamas squad commander who died in the same mission as Al Dahdouh.

• Mohammed Salama: A terrorist who infiltrated Israel on October 7, filming the massacre while chanting "Allahu Akbar."

These aren’t journalists. They’re killers with cameras.

Yet the Foreign Press Correspondents Association, with help from Al Jazeera, not only memorialized these terrorists, but even handed the Qatari network a “press freedom grant” proving once again that “press freedom” in their hands means nothing more than covering for terrorists under the guise of journalism.

Fox News’ Trey Yingst, accepting his own award, used his speech to applaud “fearless Palestinian journalists” while blasting Israel’s media restrictions. What he failed to mention conveniently is that Hamas censors, threatens, and murders any journalist who doesn’t parrot its propaganda. There’s no “free press” in Gaza. There’s only Hamas-approved messaging. And far too many so-called reporters are active participants in that machine.

Let’s be clear: this wasn’t solidarity with the press. It was a moral collapse, where elite media figures pretended that cameras absolve terrorists. The same press corps that shrugs off 1,200 Israelis slaughtered in their homes now lionizes the men who filmed it with pride.

Meanwhile, the Western journalists who risk their lives to tell the truth often at odds with Hamas’ narrative are either ignored or smeared. The entire event was a chilling reminder of how deeply compromised international media organizations have become, especially those cozying up to anti-Western, anti-Israel regimes under the banner of “freedom.”

The gala didn’t honor journalism. It celebrated deception, terror, and the death of integrity.

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