NBC Journalist Arrested in Israel on 'Very Serious Offenses': Report
A reporter who is currently working for NBC News was arrested in Jerusalem last week for allegedly praising Hamas and celebrating the terror group’s Oct. 7 terror attacks on social media as they were happening.
Those attacks left at least 1,200 Israelis dead and hundreds more were kidnapped.
According to The Jerusalem Post, 45-year-old freelance reporter Marwat Al-Azza was taken into custody last Friday.
She is described by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz as a Palestinian residing in East Jerusalem.
She had been wanted for questioning by police since last month over pro-Hamas Facebook posts. Last week, prosecutors granted police that request.
Haaretz reported that Al-Azza praised Hamas on her Facebook page while Israeli citizens were being massacred.
The newspaper, Israel’s oldest publication still in print, reported:
“On October 7, Al-Azza put up posts on her personal Facebook account allegedly supporting Hamas terrorism.
“She wrote on the kidnapping of an elderly woman from a Gaza border community, ‘It’s killing me, it’s a black comedy, the old woman looks happy, a bit of action before she dies.’”
Haaretz further reported in other posts on her Facebook page, Al-Azza portrayed the ongoing massacre as a film in which Hamas militants were the stars.
“Sirens all the time, the Jews are hiding and the Arabs are out drinking coffee on their balconies,” a post from the NBC-employed freelancer read.
One more post stated, “I feel like I’m watching a movie where the director is Palestinian and the protagonists are from Gaza.”
According to the Post, police said Al-Azza cooperated with them and when called on “arrived ready for arrest.”
She also reportedly confirmed to investigators that she authored the Facebook posts.
It is not clear what Al-Azza might be charged with, but police are accusing her of “serious offenses.”
A representative for police in Jerusalem issued the following after Al-Azza was arrested and saw a judge:
“These are very serious offenses during a time of declared war when the respondent lives and makes a living in the same country that is under attack and yet chooses to incite and glorify the horrible acts committed against civilians.”
An attorney for the reporter told the Post that Al-Azza has been cooperative.
“This is a normative woman, engaged in journalism, and her role is very important to everyone,” the attorney stated. “She was asked in her investigation about her work. I believe that in the things attributed to her, she cooperated fully. She did not try to hide, saying ‘I had a hacker.’”
The attorney asked for her to be released.
Instead, a judge ordered her to be confined for four additional days following the arrest.
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