Maverick Arabic news outlet exposes Hamas’ abuse of Gazans

Its website attracted 577 million views last year, according to the organization, including 100 million in Syria and 20 million in Gaza in the last quarter of the year alone.

By Etgar Lefkovits, JNS

A nongovernmental Arabic media outlet based in the United States with scores of journalists across the Middle East has been exposing Hamas’s abuse against Palestinians, including the rape and sexual assault of women and children, challenging a generation of distortion about Gaza in mainstream Western media.

The unfiltered coverage, which led to the arrest and torture of three local journalists in Gaza by the Islamic terror group last year, comes amid continuing criticism over the international wire services that have journalists and stringers based in Gaza for collusion with Hamas, which has long vetted the reporters it allows to operate in the coastal territory.

Launched two years ago in the midst of the Israeli war against Gaza, Jusoor News, which employs more than 70 local journalists in Gaza (where they operate undercover) as well as in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, has emerged as a prominent voice for Palestinians against the rule of Hamas, which still controls about half of the coastal territory.

“We are reporting about a lot of things that are well-known by local residents but that you typically will not see on the news,” Jusoor News editor-in-chief Hadeel Oweis told JNS.

Rape and sexual abuse

She cited recent reporting by their Gaza journalists of eyewitness video testimony of both rape and sexual abuse of women and children by Hamas and religious officials in both mosques and charity organizations, which they have shared with select members of the Western media, most of whom shy away from such coverage to be allowed to report from the territory.

“Hamas would not allow a journalist a permit to work in Gaza unless they are on the same page as Hamas,” she said.

“Hamas is used to being treated with kid gloves by the media,” said Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a Beirut-born research fellow with the Washington D.C. -based research institute, Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“Almost no one does what Jusoor is doing in Gaza, reporting on the people against Hamas and giving them a voice.”

After two decades of Hamas rule in Gaza, where there was no platform within the Strip to expose the Islamic group’s repression and corruption, the upstart Arabic news outlet has infuriated Hamas, which says it is backed by the United Arab Emirates, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the New York-based Center for Peace Communications.

“Terrorists often spout laundry lists of perceived enemies whom they allege to be colluding with each other against them,” said Joseph Braude, founder and president of the Center for Peace Communications.

“These throwaway lines tend to reflect the terrorists’ own bad dreams.”

Defying Hamas threats, the media outlet continued to expose Hamas’s exploitation of Palestinian women and children and has gained popularity in the Arab world.

Its website attracted 577 million views last year, according to the organization, including 100 million in Syria and 20 million in Gaza in the last quarter of the year alone.

“What you see on Jusoor is what people say within the confines of private WhatsApp groups,” Abdul-Hussain said.

“The fact that they have a need to go after you and try to censor you means you are doing a good job.”

Arrest and torture

Last year, after repeatedly inciting violence against Jusoor staff, including on official Hamas media platforms, three of its journalists were abducted in Gaza and tortured, including one who had his legs broken, the organization’s Washington D.C.-based editor in chief said.

She noted that the person who fingered the three journalists was an employee of the pan-Arab satellite Al Jazeera, Muhammad al-Washah, who was killed by Israel earlier this month for his involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, which triggered the two-year war in Gaza.

His killing sparked widespread condemnation of Israel in the international media.

Syria seeks to silence outlet after Hamas pressure

In March, the outlet briefly lost its license to operate in Syria after a public Hamas pressure campaign against it.

Amid criticism by both the public and Arabic media, their license was reinstated by Syrian authorities last week.

“What we are doing in Gaza has begun to deeply unsettle Hamas and keep them on edge,” said M., a journalist with Jusoor who lost his ability to walk after being abducted and tortured by Hamas last year, in a statement sent to JNS and speaking on condition of anonymity.

“As a result, we are under constant threat. Yet our stories have become an integral part of the broader Arab media landscape covering Gaza.”