As international condemnation of Israel’s targeted killing of five journalists in Gaza on Monday continues to abound in the media, so too has additional reporting on the history of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif – who was among those killed.

The BBC published an article explaining who the five journalists were and noted, “The BBC understands Sharif worked for a Hamas media team in Gaza before the current conflict.” The report also named the four others killed: Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa, and their driver Mohammed Noufal.

Israel publicly accused Sharif of being “the head of a Hamas terrorist cell” and has claimed he was responsible for “advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and [Israeli] troops.” The BBC noted that Israel “has produced little evidence to support that. Sharif previously denied it, and Al Jazeera and media rights groups have rejected the allegation.” The report also added, “In some of his social media posts before his death, the journalist can be heard criticising Hamas.”

The Telegraph’s Jotam Confino weighed in on some of Sharif’s past social media posts, which have also gone viral since his death. “But a closer look at Al-Sharif, the most popular of the 4, reveals his deep support for Hamas, outright glorification of terror attacks, close ties with Hamas members, and previous work for… Yes, Hamas,” noted Confino in a lengthy thread on X.

Included in those posts are images of Sharif posing with Hamas fighters, as well as the mastermind of the October 7th attacks on southern Israel, Yahya Sinwar. “In April 2022, Sharif praised 28-year-old Palestinian, Ra’ad Hazem, after he killed three Israelis in a terror attack in Tel Aviv, calling him “heroic” while praying that God would have mercy on him,” wrote Confino in his thread, while sharing various examples of Sharif’s past posts.

In another graphic post, Sharif posted an image of a Hamas fighter standing on the face of a dead Israeli soldier in a pool of blood. Confino shared Sharif’s post and wrote, “Al Sharif also widely celebrated the October 7 massacre, but later deleted some of his posts from Telegram. This one, however, is still on his site.”

“9 hours and the heroes are still roaming the country killing and capturing… God, God how great you are,” Sharif wrote in a since-deleted post on October 7th, which Confino also shared and has been making the rounds among pro-Israel influencers as well.

Many pundits, however, have also noted that Sharif’s past views do not justify his killing. Former President George W. Bush’s ethics chief Richard Painter commented on Tuesday, “‘Hamas affiliated’ doesn’t justify a targeted killing. Neither does his pro-Hamas journalism. The IDF needs to show that he was involved in Hamas military operations to target him without violating international law.”

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The post BBC Reports Slain Al Jazeera Journalist Once ‘Worked For a Hamas Media Team’ As His Past Praise of Oct 7 Goes Viral first appeared on Mediaite.

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