News of Al Jazeera "journalist" Anas Al-Sharif's death in a targeted Israeli strike prompted a wave of mournful mainstream media coverage. C
by Collin Anderson
News of Al Jazeera "journalist" Anas Al-Sharif's death in a targeted Israeli strike prompted a wave of mournful mainstream media coverage. CNN's Brian Stelter led his "Reliable Sources" newsletter with the story on Monday—subject line "Al Jazeera in mourning"—quoting a colleague who described Al-Sharif as "a household name for many in the Arabic-speaking world" who had documented "the horrors that we are seeing in the Gaza Strip."
Declassified Israeli intelligence, however, shows that Hamas terrorists in the strip knew Al-Sharif for different reasons. Documents discovered by the IDF in Gaza identify Al-Sharif as a leader in a Hamas rocket-launching squad and member of the Nukhba forces, the commando unit behind the Oct. 7 massacre. Stelter referenced the documents before noting that Al Jazeera, which is financed by the Qatari government, "strongly denies the claim."
Months before his death, Al-Sharif's name surfaced in a lawsuit from American victims of Oct. 7 alleging that Al Jazeera provides "substantial assistance" to Hamas. The suit quotes messages Al-Sharif posted to Telegram lauding the Oct. 7 attack as it unfolded.
"9 hours later and the heroes are still roaming the country, killing and capturing… God, God, how great you are," he wrote in one message, hours after Hamas terrorists slaughtered more than 1,000 Jews and took dozens of civilians hostage. "It is a jihad, a jihad of victory and martyrdom," he said in another. "Allahu akbar and thank God."
Al-Sharif went on to post photos of dead Israeli soldiers being stepped on; one included the caption, "The army wants to exterminate people under their rugs 😉🔥" Before the attack, Sharif posted photos of himself smiling alongside Hamas leaders, including slain Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar.
