New York Times journalist accused of participating in October 7 attacks wins award

The New York Times is known as “the newspaper of record,” and it is one of the oldest and most respected newspapers in the United States. When the New York Times prints a story, it is generally representative of the mainstream media at large, and of course the mainstream media still drives public opinion. We see this in the case of Israel’s war on Gaza: the prevailing public mindset reflects what is being pumped out daily by the media. Once upon a time in journalism, journalists understood that they had to set aside their own agendas. The dawn of activist media has caused a shift in society, and the media is now nothing more than an arm of political entities. It thus comes as no great surprise that New York Times journalist Yousef Masoud was accused of “participating” in the October 7 attacks, and he has now received an award for it.

“The George Polk Awards were established in 1949 by LIU to commemorate George Polk, a CBS correspondent murdered in 1948 while covering the Greek civil war. The awards, which place a premium on investigative and enterprising reporting that gains attention and achieves results, are conferred annually to honor special achievement in journalism.” Masoud was given the award “along with another freelance Times photojournalist named Samar Abu Elouf.” Honest Reporting highlighted Masoud’s “accreditation to a photo provided to the Associated Press, with the caption, ‘Palestinians wave their national flag and celebrate by a destroyed Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of Khan Younis southern Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023‘……The picture shows a man waving a Palestinian flag atop an Israeli tank. The accusation was part of an investigative report from November showing that journalists from leading news outlets, including The New York Times, AP, Reuters, and CNN, joined Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip on October 7 to document the events with their cameras.”

The shocking experience of such frontline news coverage of the October 7 savagery should have been followed up with explanations of why it is critical that Israel win this war against Hamas and other terrorists. It didn’t. Instead, the New York Times and other mainstream media outlets continue to flaunt dead Palestinians in the faces of the public. Little about Hamas’ use of human shields is reported, and virtually nothing about the UN actually stymieing Israel’s efforts to evacuate Palestinians in Rafah. That Yousef Masoud is among the winners of the George Polk Awards is a commentary in itself. An Honest Reporting investigation raised pertinent questions and concerns about the activities of certain journalists on October 7:

What were they doing there so early on what would ordinarily have been a quiet Saturday morning? Was it coordinated with Hamas? Did the respectable wire services, which published their photos, approve of their presence inside enemy territory, together with the terrorist infiltrators? Did the photojournalists who freelance for other media, like CNN and The New York Times, notify these outlets? Judging from the pictures of lynching, kidnapping and storming of an Israeli kibbutz, it seems like the border has been breached not only physically, but also journalistically.

How was it that the journalists escaped Hamas attack? According to the Times of Israel, the Honest Reporting report raises questions about the “the relationship between some of the photographers and the Hamas terror group that rules Gaza.” Also, Gazan freelance journalist Hassan Eslaiah fed information to the Associated Press and CNN:

In the hours following our expose, new material is still coming to light concerning Gazan freelance journalist Hassan Eslaiah whom both AP & CNN used on Oct. 7.

Here he is pictured with Hamas leader and mastermind of the Oct. 7 massacre, Yahya Sinwar. https://t.co/S9pXeIGaFq pic.twitter.com/RmEZU5RsM8

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 8, 2023

“NYT journalist accused of participating in October 7 attacks wins award,” Jerusalem Post, February 22, 2024:

Among the winners of the George Polk Awards is a journalist from The New York Times who is accused of being a member of Hamas and taking part in the October 7 massacre in Israel.

The journalist, named Yousef Masoud, has been accused by NGO Honest Reporting of being present at the October 7 massacre. He was awarded along with another freelance Times photojournalist named Samar Abu Elouf.

Honest Reporting, a media watchdog, highlighted his accreditation to a photo provided to the Associated Press, with the caption, “Palestinians wave their national flag and celebrate by a destroyed Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of Khan Younis southern Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land, and sea and catching the country off-guard on a major holiday.”

The picture shows a man waving a Palestinian flag atop an Israeli tank. The accusation was part of an investigative report from November showing that journalists from leading news outlets, including The New York Times, AP, Reuters, and CNN, joined Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip on October 7 to document the events with their cameras.

The organization, which works to expose anti-Israel bias in the foreign press, raised heavy ethical questions in the investigation regarding the presence of those photographers alongside Hamas terrorists….