JERUSALEM: An international media association on Wednesday accused the Israeli military of discrediting a Lebanese journalist it killed last month by circulating an AI-generated image of him in Hezbollah fatigues.
Three Lebanese journalists, including Ali Shoeib — a prominent correspondent for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar channel — were killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon on March 28.
The Israeli military posted an image on X of Shoeib wearing a press vest which is partially overlayed with a photoshopped version of the same picture in which he is wearing a Hezbollah uniform. It captioned the image: “Turns out the ‘press vest’ was just a cover for terror.”
A day later, military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani posted another grainy image on X purporting to show Shoeib in fatigues standing by a tank, writing: “We post this unedited photo this morning of the terrorist Ali Shoeib wearing Hezbollah uniform.”
He also acknowledged the image released the previous day had been “edited.”
The Foreign Press Association, representing hundreds of journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, said the military had circulated a “fake” image on March 28 to “discredit the journalist.”
Shoeib was a veteran correspondent for Al Manar TV, who had covered conflicts and politics in Lebanon for decades. More than 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed since October 2023 by Israeli fire, the FPA said.
