Journalist who held Israeli hostages labored for Hamas

Three former Israeli hostages rescued in a daring Israel Protection Forces raid final yr are suing a US non-profit that employed the Hamas terrorist who held them captive for greater than 200 days.

Former hostages Shlomi Ziv and Andrey Kozlov have signed on as plaintiffs to a lawsuit filed in Seattle federal court docket final yr by fellow hostage Almog Meir Jan, The Put up has realized.

The brand new submitting in opposition to the Olympia, Washington-based nonprofit Individuals Media Undertaking and its sister web site Palestine Chronicle, accommodates extra particulars of the terrorist, Abdallah Aljamal, who had labored for the media group and was killed within the raid.

His social media posts embody {a photograph} of his younger son sporting a Hamas headband and a graphic that’s the image for Hamas’ inside safety bureau.

In a single occasion, Aljamal posted a “blessing” on TikTok at 5:43 a.m. on Oct. 7, 2023, moments earlier than the Hamas assault on Israel that left 1,200 Israelis lifeless and 251 taken hostage, in keeping with court docket filings.

“Reward be to God, good and blessed reward,” the submit reads. “O God, information us. O God, information us. O God, grant us the victory that you just promised. O God, acceptance, acceptance, acceptance. Your victory, O God.” The submit is adopted by a coronary heart emoji.

Whereas holding the hostages at his residence, Aljamal “expressed his hatred for the State of Israel” and was in frequent contact with Nura Tape-Sallie, “an editor on the Palestine Chronicle who posts footage glorifying armed Hamas militants on her Twitter/X web page,” the lawsuit says, citing conversations overhead by one of many hostages.

Following the Hamas assault, “Aljamal’s propaganda within the Palestine Chronicle elevated exponentially, usually publishing two to a few items per day, even because the Hamas operative held plaintiffs hostage in violation of worldwide legislation,” court docket filings say.

The lawsuit additionally claims Ramzy Baroud, the US-based editor of the Palestine Chronicle and a defendant within the case needed to know Aljamal was working for Hamas and harboring the captives whereas additionally nonetheless writing for the information service.

The lawsuit claims the defendants “knew that Aljamal’s…propaganda might solely be made with direct and substantial contacts with different Hamas terrorists offering him info to publish, energy for his digital units, and Web entry for transmission of supplies and communications.”

Baroud didn’t reply to a request looking for remark Monday.

Aljamal had labored for the Palestine Chronicle since at the very least Could, 2019, in keeping with court docket filings.