Mirvat al-Azzeh,a 45-year-old freelance producer, was booked on suspicion of inciting terrorism
NBC News has cut ties with a Palestinian journalist after she was arrested by Israeli authorities Thursday for glorifying the Hamas attacks. According to the Jerusalem Post, Mirvat al-Azzeh, a 45-year-old freelance producer, was booked on suspicion of inciting terrorism and identifying with a terrorist organization after sharing four posts on Facebook.
''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,'' a police spokesperson stated in court, as per New York Post.
On October 7,al-Azzeh wrote on Facebook about an elderly woman who was kidnapped, "It's killing me, it's a black comedy, the old woman looks happy, a bit of action before she dies."
She wrote in another, ''Sirens all the time, the Jews are hiding and the Arabs are out drinking coffee on their balconies.'' She also said she felt like she was ''watching a movie where the director is Palestinian and the protagonists are from Gaza.''
A police representative at a Friday hearing of the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court claimed that she chose "to incite and glorify the horrible acts committed against civilians.''
Her defense attorney said that al-Azzeh confirmed that the posts were hers.
''This is a normative woman, engaged in journalism, and her role is very important to everyone. 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,'' her defense attorney claimed.
''I believe she admitted to all the deeds described to her and cooperated fully with the investigation. She did not attempt to conceal the offenses or claim that her accounts had been hacked. Even when she didn't have a mobile phone, which is the main tool involved, she still said, 'Yes, those are my posts.''
An NBC News spokesperson said in a statement that it has severed ties with her, adding that she began working for the network after the October 7 attack.
The spokesperson told Fox News, ''The investigation of Ms. Azza is unrelated to NBC News. It is based on her personal Facebook posts that predate her time with us as a freelancer. We were not aware of those posts before we engaged Ms. Azza four weeks ago. She will not be contributing to our coverage going forward.''
According to al-Azzeh's LinkedIn page, she has been a freelance journalist since September 2018.
Since the start of the Gaza war triggered by the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Israeli security forces have carried out large-scale arrests of Palestinians suspected of links to Hamas or of inciting violence.