Israeli army criticized for photomontage featuring killed Lebanese journalist in late March strike

The Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem, FPA, accused the Israeli army on Wednesday, April 15, of trying to discredit a Lebanese journalist killed in March by disseminating a “fake” image generated by artificial intelligence, showing him dressed in a pro-Iranian Hezbollah uniform. The day after its publication, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, international spokesperson for the army, admitted on X that the image had been “edited” and released another, unclear image, purportedly showing Ali Shouaib “wearing a Hezbollah uniform.”

“While the army provided a clarification regarding the [first image], it should never have been disseminated,” as it is “fake,” the FPA denounced on Wednesday, representing several hundred journalists covering Israel and the Palestinian Territories for foreign media. “In recent wars, it has become common for the Israeli army to seek to discredit journalists and sow doubt by disseminating inaccurate information and making accusations without providing clear evidence,” it added in a statement.

The Israeli army provided no evidence to support the accusation against the journalist and published an image on X showing Ali Shouaib wearing a vest with the word “press” partially covered by a modified version of the same photo showing him dressed in a Hezbollah uniform. The caption claims that “the press vest was just a cover for terrorism.”

Three Lebanese journalists, including Ali Shouaib, correspondent for Al-Manar, the television channel of the Islamist movement, were killed on March 28 in an Israeli strike on their car in the Jezzine region, in southern Lebanon. The Israeli army soon claimed responsibility for the strike and the death of the correspondent, labeling him a “terrorist of the al-Radwan force intelligence unit,” an elite unit of Hezbollah, operating “under the guise of a journalist.”