Humans of New York or ‘Humans of Gaza’? Photographer Faces Backlash Over Series on Palestinian Aid Group With Alleged Terror Ties

A popular social media photoblog known for sharing moving profiles of New York City strangers is now being accused of platforming hate. “Breaking: Humans of New York just posted a fawning story about Marwa Abu El Nour, a Gazan psychologist working for Doctors Without Borders,” a Middle East analyst, Eitan Fischberger, wrote on X. He claims, however, that Ms. Abu El Nour shared a pro-Jihadist message online on the day of Hamas’s October 7 attack.“Humans of New York” launched in 2010 as a photoblog featuring street portraits and interviews collected by New York City-based photographer Brandon Stanton. As the account gained popularity — it boasts nearly 30 million followers across Instagram and Facebook — Mr. Stanton expanded his street photography past the five boroughs. Most recently, Mr. Stanton turned his focus to Gaza, documenting the plight of several Palestinian medical professionals working with a humanitarian NGO, Doctors Without Borders, to provide medical care for Palestinians in the Strip. Each post features a series of photographs alongside first-person accounts of their experiences working in Gaza.One post profiles Marwa Abu El-Nour, whom Mr. Stanton describes as a mental health supervisor in Gaza. She recounts losing her entire family to an Israeli strike and shares what she would tell her loved ones if she had one last moment with them. Thousands of users commented to express sympathy and praise Ms. Abu El-Nour for her bravery.However, posts that Mr. Fischberger uncovered from Ms. Abu El-Nour’s personal Facebook account appeared to paint a different picture. One post dated October 7, 2023 — the day of Hamas’s attack on Israel — shows Ms. Abu El-Nour praying to Allah for the “victory” of the mujahideen — the Arabic term for jihadists — against “the Jews.” An Israeli political scientist, Gerald Steinberg, who founded a non-governmental organization watchdog group, NGO Monitor, says “nobody should be surprised” to see a Doctors Without Borders employee supporting the October 7 massacre. According to Mr. Steinberg, the organization has become a “propaganda campaign for Hamas.” “Listen, the doctors they send to Gaza are already primed to do their propaganda. And that’s probably one of the reasons that those are the people who go. There’s no oversight. There are no limitations,” Mr. Steinberg tells the Sun. His organization monitors non-governmental organizations involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict to improve accountability within the NGO sector. NGO Monitor’s website dedicates an entire page to what it describes as Doctors Without Borders’s problematic anti-Israel political advocacy and evidence of the group’s alleged ties to terror groups Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas.While the humanitarian aid group claims to provide emergency services to those in need “irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation” while observing “neutrality and impartiality,” NGO Monitor alleges that Doctors Without Borders “consistently abuses its status as a humanitarian organization to launch venomous anti-Israel political campaigns.”The aid organization drew recent criticism after a spokesman for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation accused Doctors Without Borders staff at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis of refusing to treat GHF workers injured during a Hamas ambush. He claimed that the GHF employees were “not allowed to enter” and were “left to die outside of the entrance.” Doctors Without Borders, which has vocally disparaged the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s operations, denied the allegations, stating that they “have seen no credible evidence that healthcare was refused.” Mr. Steinberg notes that humanitarian groups like Doctors Without Borders “are almost always embraced without question” because of the “halo effect” of their industry. People like Mr. Stanton of “Humans of New York,” Mr. Steinberg says, “either fall into the trap or hold connections that are out of the public eye.” Mr. Stanton has not yet responded to the Sun’s request for comment. This isn’t the first time content on “Humans of New York” has sparked controversy within the Jewish community. In May, Mr. Stanton drew criticism after publishing a lengthy profile of members of Neturei Karta, a fringe ultra-Orthodox Jewish anti-Zionist group. The interview departed from the personal stories typically featured in Stanton’s profiles, instead focusing on the subjects’ anti-Zionist activism.Critics condemned Mr. Stanton for platforming the views of a small Jewish community whose views don’t represent the overwhelming majority of the Jewish population. Mr. Stanton never publicly addressed the backlash.For some Jewish fans of “Humans of New York,” Mr. Stanton’s recent series has been the last straw. One self-described pro-Israel New York Jew took to Reddit to share the concern that “Humans of New York is becoming Humans of Gaza.” “Over the last few days HONY has had nothing to do with New Yorkers and is just propaganda that’s pro-Gaza/anti-Israel based on the comments,” the user wrote. “What can I do?”

Humans of New York or ‘Humans of Gaza’? Photographer Faces Backlash Over Series on Palestinian Aid Group With Alleged Terror Ties

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