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July 22, 2025 11:09 am

Reuters Employed a Journalist Who Praised Oct. 7 and Works for the Houthis; Now It Refuses to Comment

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avatar by HonestReporting Staff

Opinion

Partygoers at the Supernova Psy-Trance Festival running to safety during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, as seen in the documentary “Supernova: The Music Festival Massacre.” Photo: Screenshot

She works for terrorists.

She praised Hamas for slaughtering Jews on October 7.

But Reuters is silent on the employment status of Gaza freelance journalist Doaa Rouqa.

In November 2024, HonestReporting revealed that Rouqa was working for the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV while she was freelancing for Reuters.

A year earlier, we exposed how Rouqa had shared enthusiastic Facebook posts celebrating the October 7 Hamas attack that triggered the Israel-Hamas war.

Reuters glossed over Rouqa’s praise for terror — claiming that her posts had been removed and that “appropriate action” had been taken.

But she continued working for the news agency, which also failed to respond to our exposé concerning her moonlighting as a reporter for the Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthi movement — a US-designated terrorist organization.

Working for Terrorists

According to the Reuters digital database, Rouqa has been employed by the wire service since November 2023.

Her social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook reveal that she was simultaneously working for Al-Masirah — reporting on the same stories for both Reuters and the terrorists who attack Israel and threaten global shipping.

On April 25-26, 2023, for example, Rouqa produced reports from Nasser hospital in Gaza for both Reuters and Al-Masirah:

Rouqa’s accounts are filled with selfies and pictures showing her holding a microphone imprinted with Al-Masirah’s logo.

She had no qualms about it, and her Reuters colleagues either turned a blind eye or were clueless.

Either way, her work hasn’t been published by Reuters since June 2024. The agency, however, refuses to confirm either way whether it has cut ties with Rouqa following our exposés.

Transparency on this issue is necessary because freelancers can be used by the agency even after a long hiatus.

Praising Terrorists

Rouqa herself had been quite transparent about her pro-Hamas, anti-Israeli sentiment.

On October 7, 2023, as 1,200 people in Israel were brutalized, raped, and murdered while others were taken hostage, she posted excited praise on her Facebook page for Hamas’ attack.

One post reads in Arabic: “October, Gaza, Glorious — history will record. Alaqsa flood.”

Another, showing a picture of Hamas terrorists inside Israel, reads: “May God protect them. #alAqsa Flood… A morning and day like no other on the road to liberation and great victory, God willing.”

 

And another post, in which Rouqa celebrates rockets fired at Israel, carries an image showing trails of smoke over Gaza and a caption that reads in Arabic: “This is how Gaza has woken up. Good morning to our brave resistance. We wish everyone health.” The sentence above the picture reads: “This morning in Gaza has no parallel. #forever #Gaza #Palestine #a morning of pride.”

 

This overt support for terrorism did not prevent Reuters from purchasing Rouqa’s photos, utilizing her videos, and publishing her stories.

On the contrary, she continued receiving bylines on emotive stories from Gaza.

It also seems that her work for Houthi terrorists wasn’t a deal breaker.

Reuters owes its audience an explanation.

But whether it cuts ties with Rouqa or not, the question remains: If one of the world’s largest news agencies hired someone who prides herself on support for terrorists, how can anyone trust it?

HonestReporting is a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

The opinions presented by Algemeiner bloggers are solely theirs and do not represent those of The Algemeiner, its publishers or editors. If you would like to share your views with a blog post on The Algemeiner, please be in touch through our Contact page.

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