OPINION:
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has collected a cache of Hamas secret papers that reveal how two supposedly neutral organizations betrayed their professional duties to help attack Jews. Both the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the Palestinian relief team in Gaza, and Al Jazeera, the Qatar-created media arm, were essentially Hamas servants.
Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror army, is a routine killer of Jews. Its celebratory Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel broke records but for the Holocaust in the number of Jews slaughtered: 1,200 children, women and men.
The IDF released a detailed report this month on a Gaza war collection of Hamas rosters that list names, photographs, units and missions. The report pays particular attention to Al Jazeera, billed as a journalism outfit, and UNRWA.
In his first term, President Trump moved to declare Al Jazeera a foreign agent of Qatar, which would have required it to report to the Justice Department. He left office before that happened. In his second term, he’s been wooing Qatar’s Al Thani family Islamist rulers as a partner in his grand vision of Middle East peace.
“Declassified IDF intelligence reveals that [over a dozen] Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza were directly affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad,” the IDF report states. “Documents expose their active involvement in terrorist propaganda, training, and operations.”
The IDF investigation highlighted an Al Jazeera journalist it identified as Tamer Al-Mashal, who taught terrorism.
“IDF intelligence exposed documents which revealed he was actively directing Hamas’ propaganda, and would give classes and help on how best to formulate their propaganda,” the IDF said. “A ’true journalist’ putting his knowledge to use the best way he knows how – teaching to promote terrorism.”
The IDF discovered that a second prominent Al Jazeera journalist, Hassan Aslih, was even more actively involved in Hamas. He joined its Khan Yunis Brigade.
“IDF intelligence exposed internal documents, communications, and footage directly linking him to the terrorist organization,” the report said. “He was eliminated in a precise IDF strike while hiding in Nasser Hospital.”
Aslih and Mr. Al-Mashal are two of 16 Al Jazeera journalists the IDF report exposed as actual Hamas activists. Some files showed how the terror group gave specific instructions to Al Jazeera on how to report on its running war with Israel.
According to the IDF report: “The documents include personnel lists of terrorist training courses, phone directories, and salary documents for terrorists. These provide unequivocal proof that these individuals serve as military operatives for the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, and of the integration of Hamas terrorists within the Qatari Al Jazeera media network.”
Another Al Jazeera journalist singled out by the IDF is Ismail Al-Ghoul. He took part in the Oct. 7 massacre as an engineer with the Hamas Gaza Brigade.
And there is a photo of Anas Jamal Al-Sharif wearing a “PRESS”-embossed vest. The IDF published documents showing Al-Sharif was listed in a Hamas battalion phone directory and roster.
In August 2024, the United Nations held a press conference to announce the results of an internal investigation into UNRWA. It found that nine staffers “may have” taken part in Hamas’ Oct. 7 carnage. All were fired.
But the IDF says UNRWA maintained a deeper involvement with Hamas that went well beyond Oct. 7.
“Recently uncovered Hamas documents reveal that senior UNRWA officials and employees, including teachers, school principals, and directors, were actively involved in Hamas’ terrorist network,” the paper states. “The evidence shows UNRWA facilities being used for militant purposes and Gaza’s youth being indoctrinated under the guise of education, exposing the deep infiltration of terrorism within a U.N. agency.”
For example, U.N. employee Mousa El Qidra shows up in Hamas military records, complete with ID number, as a platoon commander in Khan Yunis Brigade. The IDF says he assisted his son on Oct. 7 in kidnapping an Israeli woman.
According to cell phone intercepts, the son tells Mr. Mousa he has “killed and kidnapped many Israelis and he is on his way back to Gaza with the hostages.”
And the IDF lists names of UNRWA staffers who belonged to Hamas terror units, such as the al-Qassam Brigades.
Hamdi El Qedra was an UNRWA teacher. He is listed by Hamas as a radio company squad leader.
Bilal El Swairki, an UNRWA school counselor, is listed as a squad leader, combat engineer.
Marwan Abu Zaid was an UNRWA school principal. For Hamas, he was a security officer in al-Qassam military intelligence department.
Recall the viral surveillance video of a Hamas fighter picking up a dead body on Oct. 7 and loading it into an SUV? The IDF report says they positively identified the man as UNRWA social worker Faisal Al-Naami, who “kidnapped the dead body of an Israeli citizen.”
He is one of the nine that the U.N. said “may have” participated in Oct. 7.
Despite the U.N’s own findings on UNRWA, as well as the IDF’s damning intelligence, the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Nov. 19 to extend the agency’s Gaza operations.
“I commend the countries that refrained from supporting the extension of UNRWA’s mandate in the vote that was just held at the UN,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on X. “UNRWA is part of the problem. It is not part of the solution.”
• Rowan Scarborough is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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