National Jewish Advocacy Center Sues Associated Press for Its ‘Material Support for Terrorism’
‘Each of Hamas’s collaborators needs to be held accountable for its support of the October 7 atrocities, regardless of the form that collaboration took,’ one attorney on the case says.
The National Jewish Advocacy Center is suing the Associated Press for alleged “material support for terrorism,” accusing the news organization of buying photos from a journalist that the center says is affiliated with Hamas.
In the suit filed in the Southern District of New York, the center is accusing the Associated Press of six crimes related to the news wire’s purchase of photographs from at least one journalist that the group says the Associated Press knew had ties to Hamas, an allegation that the Associated Press denies.
“Media organizations don’t have any special right to act with impunity and pretend that they don’t know whom they are paying. Nor does it matter that they were freelancers,” NJAC director Mark Goldfeder said in a statement, adding that “the issue is that AP was furnishing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, not in what capacity the terrorists were cashing the checks.”
One of the lawyers on the case, Etan Mark, said that “Each of Hamas’s collaborators needs to be held accountable for its support of the October 7 atrocities, regardless of the form that collaboration took.”
At issue are photos of the October 7 attack taken by Hassan Eslaiah. The NJAC says Mr. Eslaiah is associated with Hamas and that the Associated Press should have been aware of this association due to a photo of Mr. Eslaiah with a Hamas commander, Yahya Sinwar, dating from 2020.
The photo of Mr. Eslaiah was provided by a site called HonestReporting, which says it is dedicated to analyzing coverage of Israel and “exposing anti-Israel media bias.”
In the suit, the NJAC notes several photos credited to Mr. Eslaiah from the Associated Press’s coverage of October 7 as well as communications from Mr. Eslaiah made on a Telegram channel on the morning of October 7th.
“We wake up to the great gifts of God. The spirit has returned, and our blessings have increased,” Mr. Eslaiah said the morning of October 7 before the attack had begun, according to reporting from the Jerusalem Post.
According to a statement from the NJAC, the Associated Press denies the allegations. The Associated Press did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
