Al Jazeera Journalist Mourned by Mamdani Was Also Hamas Sniper, IDF Says

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently cited the killing of Al Jazeera cameraman Ahmed Wishah by Israel forces as evidence of the AIPAC-funded evils committed by the Jewish state.

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But the Israel Defense Forces say that Wishah was more than just a journalist for the Qatar-based media outlet — he was also allegedly a terrorist.

Wishah was one of three people killed in an Israel strike on a home in central Gaza on Saturday. The IDF says all three people were members of Hamas. Among the dead is Siba’i Abu Hasna, a member of Hamas’ Shadow Unit, which was responsible for guarding hostages who were kidnapped into Gaza.

Mamdani invoked Wishah’s death this week when he was asked to answer for his recent comments referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as “monsters who move dark money.” Critics, including Representative Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.), have voiced concern over the remarks, which play into longstanding antisemitic tropes. 

“More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since the so-called ceasefire,” Mamdani said, when pressed on his previous comments. “Even an Al Jazeera journalist, Ahmed Wishah, was killed this past Saturday by an Israeli strike.”

But Wishah was “simultaneously a Hamas sniper operative,” according to the IDF.

“In recent months, he advanced sniper attack plans and worked alongside his brother, Muhammad Samir Muhammad Washah [sic], a key terrorist in Hamas’ rocket and weapons production headquarters, who also operated under the guise of an Al Jazeera journalist and was eliminated in April,” the Israeli military added.

The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment from National Review.

Evidence online compiled by open-source intelligence investigators appears to support the Israeli military’s claims. Photos on social media show Wishah posing with scoped rifles, while analyst Salo Aizenberg uncovered an image posted by a Gazan mosque celebrating Wishah and two other Hamas-affiliated terrorists as “mujahids” — an Arabic term that refers to those who engage in the act of jihad.

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Furthermore, Joe Truzman, an analyst for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, reports that several people seen in Wishah’s social media pictures were known members of Palestinian terror groups.

Nonetheless, Al Jazeera and several other Western news outlets have mourned Wishah’s death as the cruel killing of yet another Palestinian journalist.

Al Jazeera said it “strongly condemns the heinous crime of targeting and killing,” adding that the death “constitutes a new and flagrant violation of all international laws and norms, and reflects a continued systematic policy of targeting journalists and silencing the voice of truth.”

The outlet published several reports on Wishah’s death, including “’Kind, principled’: Colleagues remember Gaza journalist killed by Israel” and “Gaza bids farewell to slain journalist Ahmed Wishah.”

The Guardian similarly reported on the “Al Jazeera cameraman Ahmed Wishah killed in Israeli strike on Gaza,” while NBC News published a headline that read: “Al Jazeera cameraman killed in Gaza months after his journalist brother died in a separate strike.”

The NBC report includes the IDF’s claims about Wishah, but refutes them, in part, by noting that “A source close to Hamas also told the [Committee to Protect Journalists] that the correspondent had no affiliation with the organization.”

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