Survivors of Oct. 7 massacre sue AP for hiring photojournalists ‘embedded with Hamas terrorists’

According to the federal complaint filed in the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday, the plaintiffs are suing the outlet for damages under the Antiterrorism Act.

Lawyers from the nonprofit National Jewish Advocacy Center who are representing the plaintiffs allege that the AP is “materially supporting terrorism” by paying Hamas-affiliated photojournalists for images taken during and following the Oct. 7 atrocities.

According to the complaint obtained by The New York Post, “There is no doubt that AP’s photographers participated in the October 7th massacre and that AP knew, or at the very least should have known, through simple due diligence, that the people they were paying were longstanding Hamas affiliates and full participants in the terrorist attack that they were also documenting.”

The suit mentions the names of four freelance photographers who are “known Hamas associates who were gleefully embedded with the Hamas terrorists during the October 7th attacks,” but mainly focuses on photojournalist Hassan Eslaiah, who was affiliated with Hamas before the attacks.

The AP cut ties with Eslaiah in November after a bombshell report by Honest Reporting revealed his ties to Hamas.

The New York Times and CNN also used his images. Reuters has also been accused of using Hamas “photojournalists.”

He even admitted to riding back to Gaza from Israel with Hamas terrorists. He was photographed smiling with Hamas commander Yahya Sinwar in a 2020 image that went viral after his role in the massacre was revealed.

In a video, he was spotted holding a grenade on the back of a motorcycle being driven by a terrorist following the massacre.

According to court documents, “AP willfully chose to turn a blind eye to these facts, and instead profited from its terrorist photographer’s participation in the massacre through its publication of the ‘exclusive’ images, for which it certainly paid a premium, effectively funding a terrorist organization.”

Following the revelation that exposed Eslaiah’s involvement in Hamas, the AP said in a statement that it did not know about the Oct. 7 attacks before they occurred.