Yesterday, we posted on X about a recent ‘Week in Photos’ article in the Observer (Guardian sister site) which included a picture of rescued Israeli hostage Noa Argamani being embraced by her father.
We commented on the appalling decision by editors to add a caption promoting the unevidenced claims on the putatively high civilian casualty count, without mentioning that 1) The casualty count was provided by Hamas. 2) the IDF’s casualty count was under far lower, and reported that most were combatants, and 3) The deaths – whatever the count – were the result of a shootout in which terrorists were trying to kill the hostages and their rescuers.
Upon searching the X post history of Jim Powell, The Observer’s picture editor, and the journalist responsible for the ‘Week in Photos’ article in question, we learned that, on Oct. 15, 2023, eight days after the Hamas massacre, he reposted a post by notorious anti-Semite, terror promoter and Oct. 7th massacre defender Mohammed el-Kurd.
Here’s the video in the post that the Guardian editor had pinned on his X account.
First, note that el-Kurd (and the Guardian’s Powell) was promoting the ‘genocide’ smear only eight days after the Hamas massacre. (In fact, el-Kurd began circulating that terror propaganda as early as Oct. 8th.) Further, the main message in el-Kurd’s video, endorsed by the Guardian editor, was a condemnation – as “totalitarian” and “dehumanising to Palestinians” – those media outlets which alert readers that Gaza casualty data is provided by Hamas-controlled ministries.
So, Jim Powell evidently agreed with the anti-Israel extremist’s view that 1) Israel was committing “genocide” during the week following the Oct. 7th massacre and 2) Hamas, the proscribed Gaza terror group which carried out the worst antisemitic massacre since the Holocaust, should be trusted as a news source – a belief which likely influenced his decision to omit that the civilian casualty count cited in the Argamani photo caption was provided by the proscribed terror group.
Finally, a few hours after our X post, Powell deleted his re-post of el-Kurd without an explanation or apology.
We’re glad he made that decision, but the fact that the Guardian editor evidently shares the extremists views of Mohammed el-Kurd is, though not surprising, still extremely disturbing.
