Pro-Hamas CNN journalist fired

Abdel Qader Sabbah was exposed by media watchdog Honest Reporting.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

CNN announced Wednesday that it would no longer employ a Gazan reporter after a media watchdog outed him as an open supporter of the Hamas terror organization.

An investigation by Honest Reporting revealed that freelancer Abdel Qader Sabbah had a long history of praising Hamas terrorists for murdering Israelis, sharing the group’s propaganda clips, and smearing the Jewish state on social media, mainly Facebook.

A CNN spokesman told the group that the media outlet had “carefully reviewed” the journalistic material that Sabbah had sent them over the last nine months, and were “comfortable that it meets our standards. However, we were not aware of this individual’s historical social posts and recognize that they are highly offensive. In light of this, we will no longer be using his material going forward.”

Honest Reporting said that the statement indicated that the media conglomerate had not done its required due diligence to check for bias among its staff, even though it was easily available online.

Already a decade ago Sabbah was posting pictures of himself with Hamas leaders.

In 2021, during the 11-day Operation Guardian of the Walls in which Hamas fired over 4,000 rockets at Israel from Gaza, he actively backed the group by sharing its orders not to film “the sites of the Mujahideen, and the places where rockets and mortar shells are launched.”

Mujahideen is an Arabic term for those engaged in jihad, or holy war.

He also passed on Hamas’ instruction to “avoid transferring information from the Israeli enemy pages and adhere to resistance sources,” and urged people to inform on anyone acting suspiciously around “Mujahideen locations.”

More recently, he worked for a Hamas-run body called the General Training Directorate, whose academy trains members of Hamas’ security organs, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

In March 2023, Sabbah bragged on social media that he had made a promotional video for the group, and he has also put pictures of himself online wearing the Directorate’s uniform.

In April, just six months before Hamas’ brutal invasion of Israel in which its men and other terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people and took 252 hostage, he posted a video by the group’s Al-Qassam Brigades entitled “Ready.”

To make clear his approval, he used heart emojis that were black and green, Hamas’ colors.

AP has also used Sabbah’s services during the war, publishing his photos of hospitalized Gazans and destroyed buildings. Honest Reporting said it sent the global media agency the same questions it asked CNN regarding Sabbah’s inherent bias, but has yet to receive a reply.

The anti-media-bias group called Sabbah the 11th journalist reassigned, suspended or fired since August 2022 due to its investigations.