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LONDON: Israel’s military has operated a covert intelligence unit tasked with discrediting Palestinian journalists by falsely linking them to Hamas in an effort to justify their targeting, a magazine report claims.

The revelations, published by Israeli-Palestinian outlet +972 Magazine and based on accounts from three intelligence sources, suggest the existence of a so-called “legitimization cell” that was created following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.

The unit was established to deflect growing international criticism over Israel’s targeting of media workers in Gaza and to preserve global support, particularly by ensuring continued US weapons supplies that sustain its military campaign.

The report follows Israel’s recent killing of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif and three of his colleagues in a targeted airstrike on their makeshift newsroom. Israel claimed Al-Sharif was a Hamas commander, but failed to substantiate the claim with credible evidence. The killing sparked global outcry, with press freedom groups accusing Israel of deliberately targeting journalists and weaponizing unverified intelligence to manufacture legitimacy.

Before his death, Al-Sharif called for protection and warned that Israel’s accusation that linked him to Hamas, frequently repeated by Israeli officials since his reporting on famine in Gaza gained global attention, were attempts to justify his killing.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said more than 180 media workers have been killed in Israeli attacks since late 2023, describing 26 of those deaths as targeted killings and “murders.”

According to the report, the unit was not established for national security purposes, but rather to provide diplomatic and public relations cover for Israeli operations in Gaza, especially when journalists were among the casualties.

The sources said the unit’s purpose was not intelligence gathering in the conventional sense but rather to collect information that could be declassified and circulated to neutralize criticism. Whenever media scrutiny of Israel’s actions intensified, the cell would be tasked with finding a journalist who could be framed as having links to militant activity, even if such evidence was weak or misleading.

“If the global media is talking about Israel killing innocent journalists, then immediately there’s a push to find one journalist who might not be so innocent, as if that somehow makes killing the other 20 acceptable,” one of the sources told the magazine.

Foreign media have been barred from entering Gaza. As a result, Palestinian journalists remain the primary source of on-the-ground reporting. These journalists have faced increasing threats, including direct accusations from Israeli officials and smear campaigns that blur the lines between civilian press and combatant.

Human rights organizations and press freedom advocates have repeatedly accused Israel of deliberately targeting media workers in an effort to silence independent reporting and conceal alleged atrocities in Gaza.

They have called for independent investigations into attacks on journalists, many of whom have been killed while visibly reporting in press-marked gear or inside known media offices.

RIYADH: Officials on Wednesday announced the launch of a new scholarship program designed to prepare Saudi students for a first class-career in the media industry.

Speaking at a press conference, Minister of Media Salman Al-Dossary said the Media Scholarship Project, developed in partnership with the Ministry of Education, would combine “knowledge with empowerment.”

The initiative, he said, was “aimed at preparing male and female students for the job market by training them and sending them to the world’s best universities and companies specializing in the media field.”

Minister of Education Yousef Al-Benyan said the growth in the number of Saudi students at top universities was evidence of the Kingdom’s drive to develop its human capital and expand international education opportunities.

The ministers also discussed the country’s decision to return to a two-semester academic year and the introduction of an artificial intelligence curriculum.

Starting in the 2025-26 academic year, AI studies will be introduced at all stages of education alongside a cybersecurity course for high school students.

Responding to a question from Arab News, Al-Benyan said the 180-day semester “meets the needs of the educational process” in ��������.

The decision was made following a “comprehensive study that included input from all parties, starting with the students themselves, parents and teachers, as well as experts from within the ministry and other parties,” he said.

The change comes four years after the introduction of a three-term system that aimed to extend study days, expand the curricula and make fuller use of educational resources.

Al-Benyan said the National Center for Curriculum Development had produced 27 digital courses, reformulated 19 as interactive books and reviewed 50 others to support an advanced digital learning environment.

He also highlighted the center’s role in aligning curricula with national values and identity, and praised the National Institute for Professional Development for its work with teachers.

“There is a program that will detail the number of values, as well as their quality, and link them to the curriculum and classroom activities. And there will be, God willing, a clear plan from the National Center for Curriculum Development,” he said.

Al-Dossary also shared a number of national economic achievements.

“��������’s program to attract regional headquarters for global companies attracted more than 616 global companies in the first quarter of 2021, up from 120 in the previous quarter, exceeding the 2030 target of 500 companies,” he said.

In the industrial sector, he said the number of factories had risen from “about 7,200 to about 250,500,” while investment had increased from SR955 billion to SR1 trillion and non-oil exports had grown from SR150 billion to SR677 billion.

The ministers were speaking at the latest in a series of quarterly ministerial press conferences designed to shed light on important issues and encourage transparency between officials and journalists, values that align with Vision 2030.