Reporter from Hezbollah-affiliated channel blasted for biased broadcasting from Israel's Golan Heights

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Hanaa Mahamid, an Arab-Israeli reporter working for the Lebanese Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen channel is facing a backlash after reporting from the Druze town of Majdal Shams in Israel's Golan Heights, where a Hezbollah rocket recently killed 12 local children who were playing soccer. The channel reported from the Israeli territory with an onscreen strip stating, “the occupied Syrian Golan.”

"The residents of occupied Majdal Shams have been opposing the Israeli occupation project for decades," Mahamid claimed.

"Majdal Shams – a piece of the heart," the reporter wrote on Instagram. "Today the heart broke. Its people are respected Syrian-Druze, victims of the occupation like every Palestinian – so do not be mistaken," Mahamid added. She failed to mention that the 12 Druze children were murdered by the terrorist organization Hezbollah, which also controls the TV channel that employs her

During its control of the Golan Heights from 1948 to 1967, the Syrians regularly shelled peaceful Israeli border communities in flagrant violation of international law. The strategically important plateau has been an integral part of Israeli territory since the Jewish state seized it in the 1967 Six-Day War.

In 1981, Israel annexed the Golan Heights and, in 2019, the United States government, under former U.S. President Donald Trump, officially recognized the region as Israeli territory. While the Biden administration has not embraced Trump’s Middle East policies, it, nevertheless, stated that the Hezbollah attack against the Druze town took place on sovereign Israeli territory.

Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi blasted Hamadin for her news segment, stating: "The army is invited to take her and throw her across the border. To let a Hezbollah reporter broadcast from the location of the massacre the terror organization committed is absurd in every sense. "

He continued: "As for Al-Mayadeen, like Al Jazeera, we sought opinions from security authorities to shut them down according to the law. Al Jazeera has been given priority for obvious reasons and has been shut down. Al-Mayadeen is still in progress. As soon as the opinions are received and the approval is obtained, we will shut it down immediately."

In November, Karhi ordered a ban on all Al-Mayadeen broadcasts from Israel, which he described as "dangerous propaganda that leads to harm to the security of the state." In addition to its strong affiliation with Hezbollah, the controversial TV channel also embraces pro-Iranian propaganda. Israel's Security Cabinet initially approved Karhi’s move to shut down Al-Mayadeen but the regulations were removed after a month and a half.

British actor and comedian Sacha Baron-Cohen recently criticized the BBC network for its biased reporting about the Hezbollah rocket attack that killed the 12 Druze children. The headline referred to the site of the attack as “Israeli-occupied Golan,” denying the fact that Golan Heights has been Israeli territory since 1967.
In its headline, the BBC also did not clearly state that Hezbollah was responsible for the attack.