In the 15 years we’ve been monitoring British media coverage of Israel, a March 29 segment by Sky News’ Alex Crawford denying the Hezbollah affiliation of a “journalist” killed in Lebanon represents one the most egregious examples we’ve seen of a mainstream outlet actively promoting the PR messaging of a proscribed terror group.
As was widely noted, Crawford denied that Ali Shoeib, a reporter for the Hezbollah-owned channel Al Manar, was affiliated with Hezbollah, even while her filmed report showed that the burial was at a military cemetery festooned with Hezbollah flags, and included banners pronouncing that he was a “martyr” of “the resistance” who would “find peace with Nasrallah”.
The Alma Research and Education Centre reported that Shoeib was “Hezbollah’s ‘in-house correspondent’ in southern Lebanon” who was an “active participant in Hezbollah’s propaganda campaign for at least 21 years”, while the IDF long claimed Shoeib belonged to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.
Further, David Collier revealed the terror ties of Mohammed Ftouni, one of the other “journalists” killed in the IDF strike.
Moreover, the spectacle of Crawford’s colleagues running to her defence after her deceit was exposed is another example of how Sky has been so captured by antizionist group think that they seem incapable of anything resembling self-reflection concerning the Al-Jazeera-style propaganda promoted by some of their colleagues – particularly following the Oct. 7th massacre.
The culture of impunity at the network is also such that Crawford continues to churn out content that avoids even the veneer of impartiality.
Her March 26 report (“Funerals held for Lebanese paramedics killed by Israeli strikes”) is another example of the correspondent’s predetermined conclusion of Israeli guilt framed as investigative journalism.
First, while Crawford begins by noting the deaths of two Lebanese medics following Israeli strikes, which is framed – without evidence – as a broader IDF campaign to target medical workers, she avoids all details necessary to fact-check her report. Crawford omits, for instance, the date and location of the attack, as well as the victims’ names.
We had to review other media reports to learn that the March 25 incident involved an Israeli drone strike in Nabatieh, which killed Ali Jaber and Joud Suleiman while they were traveling on motorbikes.
Though few facts about that specific strike are available, a few days later, the IDF reported that, in a separate incident, it struck a Hezbollah cell in southern Lebanon over the weekend that was operating an ambulance while posing as paramedics, which is a war crime.
IDF Arabic Spokesperson Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee also reported last month that Hezbollah and the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement routinely use medical vehicles to move around forces and weapons.
According to Adraee, both Hezbollah and Amal employ ambulances owned by the Islamic Health Organization, a Shiite healthcare entity closely linked to Hezbollah. The organisation, Adraee added, openly acknowledges on its website its provision of services to support Hezbollah terrorists’ actions against what it terms the “Zionist occupation”.
He also mentioned two individuals, Musa and Muhammed Sheet, who were wearing Islamic Health Organization uniforms while operating an ambulance, and were claimed as Hezbollah members after they were killed in an IDF strike in January.
While Crawford spends a total of ten seconds towards the end of the segment noting IDF statements that Hezbollah consistently uses ambulances to transport weapons and fighters, she immediately counters those claims by citing “angry denials” by (unnamed) Lebanese officials.
In contrast to Crawford’s defence of the terror group committed to both Israel’s annihilation and the murder of Jews abroad, the Sky journalist didn’t push back, or even respond, when a Lebanese doctor told her that the IDF’s military campaign represented a campaign of “genocide”.
What is beyond doubt is that Sky News editors and executives have no intention of reining in their “special correspondent” in Lebanon, despite the fact that her campaign to delegitimise the Jewish state, while defending the honour of antisemitic terror groups, continues to shame their network.
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