(JNS) The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis warned the Associated Press five years ago about the photographer Hassan Eslaiah, from whom the AP and CNN have distanced themselves following questions about the role he and other freelancers played during the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel.

CAMERA told the AP that Eslaiah “openly identifies with Hamas’s political platform and is a rabid antisemite, who praises terrorists and expresses joy over the murder of innocent and unarmed Israelis,” the media watchdog wrote on Friday.

“We documented AP’s failure to disclose his association with the Hamas terrorist organization, even as the news service cited him as supposed independent verification of a dubious Hamas claim that Israel was responsible for the death of 4-year-old Ahmed Abu Abed, reportedly fatally injured at a Gaza border clash,” CAMERA stated.

The AP’s Dec. 11, 2018 article remains live on the news wire’s website. It states: “Local journalist Hassan Islaieh said Tuesday the boy was with his father and dozens of other protesters when he was hit by shrapnel Friday. He says the boy was about 20 meters (yards) from the fence.” 

On Nov. 9, the AP said “We are no longer working with Hassan Eslaiah, who had been an occasional freelancer for AP and other international news organizations in Gaza.”Since Oct. 7, Eslaiah has referred to “the beautiful thing about storming the settlements,” according to CAMERA. In other posts, he wrote, “Settlers hide inside a garbage container in fear of the warriors of al-Qassam battalion