Florida Rep. Greg Steube is leading an effort to force major news media outlets to account for hiring pro-Hamas freelance journalists who videoed, and may have participated in, the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.
Steube noted the push in an email to constituents on Sunday, saying House Republicans wanted the leaders of the New York Times, Reuters, the Associated Press, and CNN to explain their companies’ connections to photojournalists who were present as Hamas launched the deadly terrorist attack that slaughtered more than 1,200 Jews in Israel.
“We must determine if these individuals had advance knowledge of the attack, were complicit in the attacks, and whether they should be designated as terrorist affiliates,” Steube said in the email.
The Sarasota Republican linked to a Washington Examiner article about the GOP lawmakers’ probe.
The report, published Thursday, said Steube and 14 other GOP lawmakers wanted detailed information from those media outlets about their hiring histories and communications with six photojournalists who were embedded with Hamas at the time.
In one instance, one of those journalists recorded himself carrying a hand grenade while riding a motorcycle with a Hamas terrorist toward the scene of the violence.
The lawmakers also signaled that subpoenas may be headed the way of these news executives if they fail to meet a Dec. 22 deadline to meet the request.
Georgia Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde, the lead author of the letter, noted in the correspondence, “If these photojournalists had prior knowledge and failed to alert authorities, they may be complicit in the death of hundreds of innocent civilians and numerous war crimes.”
The lawmakers also notified the media outlets that Congress has contacted the Departments of Justice and State about possibly designating the six journalists as “terrorist affiliates.”
The lawmakers requested confirmation of the Hassan Eslaiah, Yousef Masoud, Ali Mahmud, Hatem Ali, Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa, and Yasser Qudih.
They are also demanding phone logs, financial records, and documentation of any possible communications between the journalists and Hamas before, during, and after the attack.
The GOP lawmakers also seek to know what times the journalists were at the Israeli border on Oct. 7, what, if any, disciplinary actions were taken against them, and the companies’ policies spelling out “ethical obligations to report impending violence,” and whether the companies themselves contacted government officials prior to the attack with potential warnings,” the Examiner reported.
“Our Congressional Committees take these allegations very seriously and will use its oversight authority to fully investigate this matter and ensure proper accountability,” the letter stated.
Besides Steube and Clyde, other signers included GOP Reps. Doug LaMalfa of California, Ryan Zinke of Montana, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Ben Cline of Virginia, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Alex Mooney of West Virginia, Mary Miller of Illinois, Eli Crane of Arizona, Randy Weber of Texas, Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin, Russell Fry of South Carolina, and Mark Alford of Missouri.
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