The US-based nonprofit is facing a lawsuit filed by three former Israeli hostages who were kidnapped during the Oct 7 attack and rescued from the home of one of the outlet’s journalists after months in captivity.
Ramzy Baroud, editor-in-chief of the US-based nonprofit The Palestine Chronicle, openly admitted during a recent interview that his cousin was a senior Hamas commander who later carried out a suicide attack in Gaza, revelations that surfaced as his organization is facing a federal lawsuit accusing it of aiding a Hamas operative, who was one of its journalists, that was holding Israeli hostages captive in his family home after the October 7 attacks.
During the interview with journalist Chris Hedges, Baroud spoke candidly about his cousin, Ehab Al-Badrasawi, whom he described as “the head of the northern command of Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassam military arm of Hamas.” Baroud recounted learning of his cousin’s role during a 2012 trip to Gaza.
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Baroud also described Ehab’s involvement in the battle for Gaza’s Shati refugee camp following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war after October 7. According to Baroud, his cousin returned personally to the battlefield during intense fighting after younger Hamas fighters became fearful. “He needed to do something so extreme before he dies, that he would change the dynamics of the Shati battle,” Baroud said. Hedges then summarized the incident by stating that Ehab walked into the open and fired on an Israeli tank, after which Baroud said his cousin “blew himself up,” followed later by his sons Abdulrahman al-Rahman and Muhammad.
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Social media posts from both Baroud and his daughter, Zarefah Baroud, who serves as head of digital marketing for American Muslims for Palestine, one of the main drivers behind anti-Israel protests on US college campuses, eulogized Ehab Al-Badrasawi and his son Abdulrahman following their deaths in Gaza. Critics note that those tributes described them as victims of Israeli actions but did not reference their alleged roles within Hamas or Baroud’s later comments about suicide operations.
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Photos circulating online reportedly show Ehab Al-Badrasawi alongside Hamas co-founder Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi during earlier years. Other relatives mentioned in connection to Hamas include Naseer Al-Badrasawi and Muhammad Al-Badrasawi, whom social media posts referred to as “martyrs.” Zarefah Baroud also reportedly visited Gaza in 2022 and met with several family members later identified online as linked to Hamas.
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The controversy surrounding Baroud and The Palestine Chronicle comes amid an ongoing federal lawsuit in the United States. Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled that a lawsuit filed by three former Israeli hostages against the outlet may proceed to discovery and trial. The suit was brought by Almog Meir Jan, Shlomi Ziv, and Andrey Kozlov, who were kidnapped during the October 7 Hamas attack on the Nova Music Festival and later rescued by the Israel Defense Forces after months in captivity.
The lawsuit alleges that The Palestine Chronicle, operated by the nonprofit People Media Project, knowingly employed Abdallah Aljamal, a Gaza-based writer and former Hamas spokesman accused of participating in the hostages’ captivity. According to the complaint, Aljamal continued contributing articles to the outlet while allegedly holding hostages in his family home.
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US District Judge Tiffany Cartwright denied the outlet’s motion to dismiss the case, writing that the plaintiffs had presented enough evidence to support a “reasonable inference” that the organization may have known about Aljamal’s Hamas connections. “Plaintiffs allege that Defendants had actual knowledge that Aljamal was a Hamas operative in the months following the October 7 attacks,” Cartwright wrote in the ruling.
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The plaintiffs argue that by providing Aljamal with a platform and compensation, the nonprofit effectively provided material support to a US-designated terrorist organization. Attorneys representing the hostages also contend that the outlet’s tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status meant American taxpayers indirectly subsidized Hamas propaganda efforts.
The Palestine Chronicle has denied wrongdoing and has argued it did not know Aljamal’s alleged role in the kidnappings. After Aljamal was killed during the Israeli rescue operation, the outlet initially referred to him as a “correspondent” before later describing him as a “freelance contributor” in memorial coverage.
The complaint further points to statements made by Baroud himself, including comments describing the October 7 attacks as “the birth of a miracle,” as evidence of ideological alignment with Hamas narratives.
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