Oftentimes, when I am watching or reading the news, Al Jazeera shows up in my suggested content because I am interested in the Middle East. 

As I searched their site for mentions of October 7, hoping and praying that they mentioned the barbaric acts committed by Hamas, I stumbled upon an op-ed titled “On October 7th, Gaza Broke Out of Prison” by Mariam Barghouti published on October 14. The piece describes the liberating feeling some Palestinians felt when Hamas broke into Israel. This moment is referred to as “initial euphoria.” In addition, it refers to the walls blocking off Gaza as “apartheid,” which is incorrect and a mischaracterization. 

The piece also completely elides Hamas's role in the attack. As the author glorifies those who broke out of their “prison” on October 7, she completely fails to recognize that Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union. Moreover, the op-ed erases the atrocities that followed Hamas’ initial attack: the mass slaughter of innocent civilians at the Nova festival. She failed to mention the women who were barbarically raped, the many who were hiding for their lives in bushes, bathrooms, trash cans, and any other sort of cover, or the children who were slaughtered in front of their parents and parents who were slaughtered in front of their children. The 240 hostages, among them women, children, and elderly that were taken into Gaza before many of them being sexually assaulted, psychologically tortured, and left in the dark at the whim of their captors. Instead of mentioning any of these crimes against humanity that unfolded on October 7 – crimes which forced Israel into war – the author focuses entirely on the Palestinian deaths that were looming at the time of the piece’s publication. By exclusively focusing on the humanitarian crisis and rising death toll in Gaza, she omits the cause of the war entirely. 

Although to the author, “those images and videos of the prison wall torn down in Gaza are liberating,” the events of October 7 had devastating consequences. According to Chen Almog-Goldstein, a freed Israeli hostage, there is also increasing concern for Israeli hostages still in captivity. She explains that many have not menstruated in months, suggesting that they could be pregnant because of rape. There is more pressure than ever to free them because if it takes too long to broker another deal, it could be too late to terminate their pregnancies. 

While this is an op-ed and not a news article, it reflects an extreme bias and inappropriate representation of the events on October 7. It portrays Hamas terrorists as victims rather than perpetrators. Moreover, Al Jazeera is funded by the Qatari royal family and the network is often seen by other countries as a tool to bolster their perspectives. It presents a narrative that abides by the agenda of their sponsor. Qatar often functions as a mediator with Israel and Hamas for ceasefire and hostage negotiations and the U.S. and Iran regarding prisoner swaps. Although Qatar often attempts to strike a balanced relationship with its rivaling allies, its support for Hamas is evident. From housing senior Hamas leaders, to the existence of a Hamas political office in Doha, to Al Jazeera (which frequently perpetuates Hamas’s message, resulting in media and diplomatic harm), Qatar tends to treat Hamas as an ally.

Critiquing the Israeli government is important and valid. Although I am all for holding Israel to a high standard of ethical warfare (if such a thing even exists), this op-ed does no such thing. Rather, the author decides to paint a sympathetic story for terrorists, rapists, and murderers that committed atrocities on October 7 and erases the devastation felt by Israeli civilians. The author ignores the irreparable violation that faced Israeli society on October 7, a violation that in many ways, jeopardized the possibility of Palestinian statehood for the foreseeable future.