Image of slain Israeli woman by ‘journalist’ who infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7 wins prestigious award
Journalist took photo of Shani Louk’s lifeless body during Hamas massacre
A photograph showing the lifeless body of 22-year-old Shani Louk, an Israeli woman who was brutally slaughtered by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, was recently chosen as Photo of the Year by the Reynolds Journalism Institute.
The horrific photograph was taken by Ali Mahmud, a Palestinian photographer working for the Associated Press, who allegedly accompanied the Hamas terrorists into Israel during their invasion and murder spree last October.
Louk, a dual German-Israeli national, was murdered by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, after attending the Nova Music Festival near Kibbutz Re'im, close to the Gaza border.
Israeli Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism Michal Cotler-Wunsh slammed the decision on social media. “This is what the normalization of anti-Semitic hatred looks like,” she wrote on 𝕏.
This is how Shani Louk's family asked for her to be remembered. Smiling and alive.
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) March 28, 2024
The biggest photojournalism competition in the world decided to trample on the family's wishes in favor of giving a photo of Shani's mutilated body a prestigious award. She wasn't even named in… pic.twitter.com/y4L4R35bdA
Cotler-Wunsh later wrote there was no proof Mahmud took an active part in the massacre.
“Either way the publication of the photo in the face of silence and denial of the infiltration aiming to murder, rape, and kidnap civilians requires international legal organizations and mechanisms to prosecute those who openly committed war crimes and crimes against humanity,” she wrote.
“Any other option gives immunity to the perpetrators of the atrocities and normalizes reactions that silence, deny, justify and attack Jews around the world following the most horrific attack on Jews since the Holocaust.”
Mahmud was one of the photojournalists investigated by the watchdog group, HonestReporting that alleged that photographers employed by international media outlets such as the Associated Press, Reuters, and CNN participated in the October 7 attack or at least had prior knowledge of it.
The disturbing image of Louk’s lifeless body being paraded through Gaza on a pickup truck emerged as one of the war's most notoriously iconic images.
“I’m sorry this happened ‘in the name of journalism,’” the mother of Shani, Ricarda Louk, said after the report by HonestReporting was published.
“It’s sad to hear that maybe people knew in advance and supported the attack on Israel through journalism,” Ricarda added.
Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, concurred: “Such a horrific photograph serves Hamas propaganda and humiliates the victims of the massacre. This is a loss of all media ethics.”
Several survivors of the Nova Musical Festival massacre and relatives of murdered victims filed a lawsuit against the world news agency Associated Press for supporting terrorism.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
