NBC News Reporter Told to Leave Gaza Immediately After Reporting ’Israeli’ Massacre of Children

NBC News correspondent, Ayman Mohyeldin, who personally witnessed the “Israeli” massacre of four young boys on a Gazan beach and who has received widespread praise for his brave and innovative coverage of the conflict, has been told by NBC executives to leave seized Gaza immediately.

According to an NBC source upset at his treatment, the executives claimed the decision was motivated by “security concerns” as “Israel” prepares a ground invasion, a claim repeated by an NBC executive.

However, late on Wednesday, NBC sent another correspondent, Richard Engel, along with an American producer who has never been to seized Gaza and who does not speak Arabic, into the besieged area to cover the ongoing “Israeli assault” [Both Mohyeldin and Engel speak Arabic].

Charlton wrote that “the decision to have Engel report the story for ‘Nightly’ instead of Mohyeldin angered some NBC News staffers.”

Indeed, numerous NBC employees, including some of the network’s highest-profile stars, were at first confused and then indignant over the use of Engel rather than Mohyeldin to report the story.

But what they did not know, and what has not been reported until now, is that Mohyeldin was removed completely from reporting on seized Gaza by a top NBC executive, David Verdi, who ordered Mohyeldin to leave the besieged area immediately.

Despite Mohyeldin’s powerful first-hand reporting – or perhaps because of it – Mohyeldin was nowhere to be seen on Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News broadcast with Brian Williams. Instead, as Media Bistro’s Jordan Chariton noted, NBC curiously had Engel – who was in Tel Aviv, and had just arrived there an hour or so earlier – “report” on the attack.

Mohyeldin is an Egyptian-American with extensive experience reporting on that region. He has covered dozens of major Middle East events in the last decade for CNN, NBC and Al Jazeera English, where his reporting on the 2008 “Israeli” assault on seized Gaza made him a star of the network. NBC aggressively pursued him to leave Al Jazeera, paying him far more than the standard salary for its on-air correspondents.

On Wednesday, Mohyeldin witnessed and then reported on the brutal massacre by “Israeli” gunboats of four young boys as they played soccer on a beach in seized Gaza City. He was instrumental, both in social media and on the air, in conveying to the world the visceral horror of the attack.

Mohyeldin recounted how, moments before their martyrdom, he was kicking a soccer ball with the four boys, who were between the ages of 9 and 11 and all from the same family.

He posted numerous chilling details on his Twitter and Instagram accounts, including the victims’ names and ages, photographs he took of their anguished parents, and video of one of their mothers as she learned about the martyrdom of her young son.

He interviewed one of the wounded boys at the hospital shortly before being operated on.
He then appeared on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, where he dramatically recounted what he saw.

Over the past two weeks, Mohyeldin’s reporting has been far more balanced and even-handed than the standard pro-“Israel” coverage that dominates establishment American press coverage; his reports have provided context to the conflict that is missing from most American reports and he avoids adopting “Israeli” government talking points as truth.

As a result, neocon and “pro-“Israel”” websites have repeatedly attacked him as a “Hamas spokesman” and spouting “pro-Hamas rants.”

Recently last week, as Mohyeldin passed over the border from “Israel,” he said while reporting that “you can understand why some human rights organizations call seized Gaza ‘the world’s largest outdoor prison.”

He added: “One of the major complaints and frustrations among many people is that this is a form of collective punishment. You have 1.7 million people in this territory, now being bombarded, with really no way out.”