BOMBSHELL: Motaz Azaiza admits Gazans were hoping for war.

Gazans hoped for war

Azaiza said: “A lot of people in Gaza were wishing the war would come.”

He explained that when war or escalation comes, NGOs become involved and “there’s a job opportunity.”

He added: “People only know us through war.”

The $75 million UNRWA campaign

Azaiza stayed up until approximately 4 a.m. on the night before October 7 and had planned a small celebration with his colleagues.

He said the celebration was connected to the success of videos he had been making in Gaza to pressure the American Congress to release $75 million for food through UNRWA.

He explained that UNRWA had been accused of supporting terrorist organizations and that Congress had frozen its funding.

He described repeatedly producing videos, filming, and showing them to the American public in order to generate pressure for the money to be released.

UNRWA USA hired Azaiza to produce online content before the war and subsequently took him on a fundraising tour of five American cities in 2025.

Azaiza therefore had a direct working relationship with UNRWA and participated in advocacy intended to secure U.S. taxpayer funding for the organization.

People fabricated sniper wounds for Hamas payments

Azaiza described young men in Gaza burning their own legs with iron rods to create fake sniper wounds.

They did this to collect payments Hamas provided to people who were wounded during the 2018 Great March of Return.

Azaiza's Hamas and Fatah affiliations

Azaiza said: “When I was young, I was Hamas.”

He said he eventually withdrew because he did not find himself in Hamas.

After entering university, he wanted scholarships and said he had to go along with a particular faction.

He therefore began identifying with Fatah.

Palestinian-on-Palestinian violence

Azaiza described a history of Palestinians being killed by other Palestinians.

He said approximately 800 Palestinians were killed by Palestinian hands.

He described people being thrown from rooftops, shot in the legs, and burned.

He discussed the consequences of political division and the treatment of dissent within Palestinian society.

Why he communicated in English

Azaiza explained that he initially spoke Arabic in his coverage.

He said this came from resentment and that they repeatedly tried speaking Arabic but “nobody helped us.”

He said there were already many people speaking Arabic and explained the decision to communicate in English to reach an international audience.

October 7 and the hostages

Azaiza described seeing people looking at kidnapped soldiers, filming them, hitting them, and spitting on them.

He said he was filming as well.

He then explained his reaction to what he was witnessing and how he understood the events.

The Holocaust

Azaiza said of the Holocaust: “It means nothing next to what is happening.”

The interviewer agreed and said Gaza was worse because the Holocaust was targeted while the war in Gaza was blanket targeting that affected everyone.

Azaiza's international profile

Azaiza was named to TIME 100.

He was nominated for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.

CNN, The Guardian, and Sky interviewed or featured him as a source on events in Gaza.

The supplied posts contrast this public presentation with Azaiza's work for UNRWA and his political history.

Central argument of the thread

The thread argues that Azaiza was not a neutral, independent photojournalist.

It presents him as someone who worked with UNRWA, advocated for restoration of U.S. funding, had previous affiliations with Hamas and Fatah, and made statements about Palestinian society, the 2018 protests, October 7, the hostages, and the Holocaust that challenge the way Western media presented him.

Reaction

Michael Rapaport responded to the thread: “wait this Motaz???” [Pictured with Mamdani]

I saved days of my life just because I stopped reading any article with either “Bombshell” or where someone/something is “panicking” in the title.

I’ve missed out on nothing

3 posted on 09/22/2026 10:26:36 AM PDT by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)

@EFischberger
Eitan Fischberger
@EFischberger
So it turns out that Hamas runs a WhatsApp group with all of Gaza’s journalists, where Hamas “managed the discourse and the narrative.”

These outlets have “journalists” in Gaza:

Reuters, AP, NYT, CNN, Wapo, PBS, NPR, BBC, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and Drop Site News
September 19, 2026.
https://x.com/EFischberger/status/2101285810104316295

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.