UN special rapporteur lashes out at Israel's claims Al Jazeera reporter was a Hamas member

The UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression lashed out at Israel and debunked their claim that Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif was a Hamas member, Al Jazeera reported on Monday.

Irene Khan told Al Jazeera, “If they had real evidence [of this], do you not think that they would put it out, up front, right away in the international arena? Of course they would. But why are they not doing that? Because they don’t have that evidence,” she said.

“They simply [say] that any journalist who is reporting on Gaza must be a ‘Hamas member’, just as anyone who criticises Israel has to be ‘anti-Semitic’.

“That’s the way that Israel silences the world from criticising them or holding them to account.”