Columbia University finally dispatched New York police Tuesday evening to clear out anti-Israel demonstrators who were spreading pro-Hamas messages.
But DailyMail.com can now reveal that administrators may next need to look in-house if they really want to clean house.
Because a new investigation has revealed support for Hamas media – among others – at the famous Colombian journalism school.
Mounted on either side of the entrance to Pulitzer Hall – named for Joseph Pulitzer, founder of the university’s journalism school and namesake of the coveted Pulitzer Prize – is a memorial meant to honor the “journalists” killed in the Israel-Gaza war.
The winners were selected from a list compiled by the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
However, 21 of the 98 names posted were employed by Hamas propaganda television and radio stations, 11 worked for media outlets affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group, and at least three were suspected terrorists active before their deaths.
The school has not made the memorial public, but in February, Columbia journalism professor Nina Berman shared a photo of it on her personal Instagram account, along with the disclaimer: “Anyone who comments with doubts about the legitimacy of these journalists or suggests that they are terrorists. will quickly be blocked.
Although the Columbia Journalism School may view its exhibition as a tribute to “journalists,” the facts suggest otherwise.
Mounted on either side of the entrance to Pulitzer Hall – named for Joseph Pulitzer, founder of the university’s journalism school and namesake of the coveted Pulitzer Prize – is a memorial meant to honor the “journalists” killed in the Israel-Gaza war.
DailyMail.com can now reveal that administrators may next need to look internally if they truly want to oust all terrorist sympathizers from campus.
Mohamed Khalifeh, director of “Al Aqsa Television,” is just one of 15 commemorative names who worked for the Hamas-run media network operating in Gaza.
In 2010, the Obama administration sanctioned Al Aqsa TV as a terrorist entity.
“Al-Aqsa is one of Hamas’ main media outlets and broadcasts programs and video clips designed to recruit children to become armed Hamas fighters and suicide bombers once they reach adulthood.” , noted the US Treasury Department.
“(We) will not distinguish between a company financed and controlled by a terrorist group, such as Al-Aqsa TV, and the terrorist group itself,” the department concluded.
In 2007, the producers of Al-Aqsa TV’s animated children’s show star, a Mickey Mouse-like character named Farfour, were exposed for promoting radical Islam, hatred of Jews and encouraging children to arm themselves with AK-47 assault rifles.
The station’s response to global outrage was to depict an “Israeli” character beating Farfour to death, before replacing Farfour with a bee named Nahool, who also preached violence.
Al-Aqsa TV also openly celebrated the 2012 terrorist attack on a bus in Tel Aviv, which injured 22 Israelis.
“God willing, we will soon see body bags,” an Al-Aqsa presenter said on air.
In 2016, the Obama State Department designated Al-Asqa TV director Fathi Ahmad Mohammad Hammad as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
In addition to running Al-Aqsa TV, Hammad is Hamas’ interior minister and, according to the State Department, was a top military commander who “coordinated terrorist cells” and oversaw tunnel construction. under Gaza.
The Obama administration had good reason to be concerned.
“Through social media alone, ISIS was able to recruit over 100,000 foreign terrorist fighters to come to Iraq/Syria and fight between 2014 and 2017,” the retired counterterrorism special agent told DailyMail.com of the FBI, James G. Conway.
“The media plays a key role in international terrorism today,” said Conway, who now owns Global Intel Strategies, an international police training company. “Al-Aqsa (TV), as an important Hamas media entity, plays a key role in promoting and disseminating Hamas’ message” of incitement to violence and genocide.
(Left) Mohamed Khalifeh, director of “Al Aqsa Television”, is just one of 15 commemorative names who worked for the Hamas-run media network operating in Gaza. (Right) Iyah El-Ruwagh, host of the Al Aqsa radio network, is one of six employees of the Hamas-controlled radio station
Six other names on the Columbia memorial worked for the Hamas-controlled Al-Aqsa Radio Station, a sister entity to Al-Aqsa Television. Among them is Iyah El-Ruwagh, who worked as a host for the radio network.
The United States has not designated Al-Aqsa Radio as a terrorist organization, but it is undeniable that Hamas controls the channel and uses it for propaganda purposes.
Hamas established the radio station after taking control of the Gaza Strip in 2006, when it appointed its first director, Ibrahim Daher, who would still run the station today.
In a 2014 interview with The Washington Post, Daher, who once described the station as an instrument of “pushing,” was clear about his goals.
“The main thing we emphasize is the activity of the resistance and the number of people supporting it,” he said. “We are not interested in showing anything else, like the successes of the Israelis or how businesses were affected by the war, or the Gazans who fled the city because of it.”
The channel also allegedly encouraged civilians in Gaza to serve as human shields for Hamas militants.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies at Georgetown University released a report in 2023 calling Hamas’ radio station and other media outlets “propaganda campaigns.”
The memorial also includes eleven other so-called “journalists” who worked for media outlets controlled by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, designated a terrorist organization in 1997 by the government.
At least one of these “journalists” was accused by Israel of being “actively involved in attacks against IDF forces.”
Hamza Al Dahdou, an Al Jazeera correspondent and son of Al Jazeera bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh, and Mustafa Thuria, a cameraman for Agence-France Presse, were both killed by an Israeli airstrike in January.
Following the attack, the IDF released documents purporting to show that Dahdouh was a member of Islamic Jihad and that Thuria served in Hamas’ Gaza City brigade.
At least two of the honored “journalists” were accused by Israel of being “actively involved in attacks against IDF forces.” (Left) Mustafa Thuria, a cameraman for Agence-France Presse, was killed by an Israeli airstrike in January. (Right) Hamza Al Dahdou was accused of being a member of Islamic Jihad
According to an Israeli government-sponsored think tank with close ties to Israeli intelligence, another “journalist” commemorated by Columbia – named Mohammad Jarghoun (above) – was a member of Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades.
According to an Israeli government-sponsored think tank with close ties to Israeli intelligence, another “journalist” commemorated by Columbia – named Mohammad Jarghoun – was a member of Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades.
It is certainly strange that two revered institutions of American journalism would honor “journalists” involved in producing terrorist propaganda, especially when publicly available information raises serious questions about the integrity of their media outlets.
It is even stranger that they worship suspected terrorists – even though CPJ claims to explicitly exclude such individuals.
“We do not include journalists (in the list of journalists honored) if there is evidence that they were acting on behalf of militant groups or serving in a military capacity at the time of their death,” CPJ states on its website Internet.
Columbia University did not readily respond to requests for comment.
But the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) – the nonprofit organization that compiled the list of names for the memorial on behalf of Colombia and whose website – said in a statement that its research “at this time day” found no evidence that any of the people commemorated “were engaged in activist activities.”
CPJ also pledged to “continue to investigate the circumstances of each case.”
Todd Bensman is a two-time National Press Club award winner and member of the Middle East Forum. He received his undergraduate degree in journalism from Northern Arizona University and his master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
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