The Israeli Defense Forces on Sunday accused a prominent journalist–  who in recent months has reported regularly for Al Jazeera from Gaza – of moonlighting as a senior Hamas commander. The accusation comes at Al Jazeera, which is funded and controlled by the government of Qatar, comes under pressure from Congressional Republicans who want the network to be forced to register as a foreign agent in the U.S.  

The IDF’s Israeli Arabic spokesman, Lieutenant Avichay Adraee, posted on X that, “A laptop that belonged to Muhammad Washah, an @AlJazeera journalist, was recovered by IDF in the northern Gaza Strip. It has pics proving he also serves as a senior Hamas military operative in the anti-tank missile array and in late 2022 he moved to work on R&D of aerial weapons for the organization.”

The spokesman published photos of the 32-year-old journalist with various weaponry, including what appear to be rocket-propelled grenade devices and weaponized drones, similar to the armaments used by the militants on October 7. Other photos show Mr. Washah tooling the tip of an RPG.  

Mr. Adraee, in another X message, revealed that the laptop was found “inside one of the Hamas camps in northern Gaza.”

Neither Al Jazeera nor the Qatari government have responded to the Sun’s request for comment.

Addressing the network directly on X, the IDF wrote, “Hey @AlJazeera, we thought you journalists were supposed to give unbiased reports on situations, not actively participate in creating them on the front lines as Hamas terrorists.”

Mr. Washah, who hails from central Gaza, appeared as a reporter on multiple Al Jazeera TV broadcasts in recent months, as well as on several reports online. A November 2023 article describes, “Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Washah” as “Reporting from the scene” of the the IDF’s operation of the Nuseirat refugee camp. The refugee camp housed the Hamas Nuseirat battalion, which the IDF has said was responsible for the attacks on Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7. 

The reporter would not be the first Al Jazeera journalist to be accused by the IDF of working a side gig for a Palestinian militant group. 

After an airstrike killed two journalists for the agency, Hamzah Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuray, last month in Rafah, the IDF released evidence purporting to show that the journalists were also affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

Al Jazeera has long been accused of pro-terrorist sympathies. In the 2000s, it was often Al Qaeda’s first stop when it wanted to publicize a beheading video or release clandestinely made videos from Al Qaeda’s senior leaders in hiding. The continuing evidence of collusion between the Qatari news agency and Hamas has now caught the ears of U.S.  lawmakers on Capitol Hill, where Congress has been pressuring for greater regulation of the news agency. 

On Thursday, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman, James Comer, called for Al Jazeera’s youth-oriented digital vertical, AJ+, which posts public affairs content on various social media platforms, along with China-controlled TikTok, to be compelled to register under the Foreign Agent Registration Act.
Blaming the Biden administration for slow-walking the process, Mr. Comer wrote in a letter that, “Given Al Jazeera’s and TikTok’s public prominence in the U.S., mounting evidence of their use to advance foreign agendas, and the Biden Administration’s own national security concerns with the two companies, the Committee is puzzled that the Department appears to have either ceased or paused enforcement of FARA registration requirements for the companies without explanation.”

He added, “The risks in failing to do so are high, especially at a time when many Americans, particularly young people, seek and trust social media content on tech platforms as primary sources of information, counsel, and comfort.”