Sarah Henderson at Senate estimates this week, where she wrongly accused a late Palestinian journalist, who filed for the ABC, of holding a Hamas ID card. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP View image in fullscreen Sarah Henderson at Senate estimates this week, where she wrongly accused a late Palestinian journalist, who filed for the ABC, of holding a Hamas ID card. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP Weekly Beast Australian media Liberal senator admits mistake after grilling ABC execs about Gaza journalist’s ‘Hamas’ ID Amanda Meade Sarah Henderson calls Hugh Marks after fiery estimates clash. Plus: the Offsiders presenter’s many paid partnerships
Want to get this in your inbox every Friday? Sign up for the Weekly Beast media newsletter here
S arah Henderson has admitted that she wrongly accused a late Palestinian journalist, Roshdi Sarraj , who filed video for the ABC from Gaza, of holding “a Hamas ID card” in a fiery Senate estimates hearing this week.
The clash between the Liberal senator and ABC executives led to a headline in The Australian: “ABC investigates whether it hired Hamas terrorist for Middle-East coverage.”
The opposition communications spokesperson had held up a printout of an Israeli defence force report, saying: “Their work includes the fact that Sarraj has a Hamas ID card. And you don’t think that’s sufficient evidence?”
After estimates Henderson realised that she had made a mistake and called the ABC managing director, Hugh Marks, to say so.
Read more Henderson told Weekly Beast she had referenced the wrong Palestinian journalist and had written to the Senate communications committee to correct the record in Hansard.
“While the IDF concluded Mr Al-Sarraj was a Hamas military operative, I incorrectly said he held a Hamas ID card rather than the two Al Jazeera journalists I referenced in the hearing who had Hamas military ID numbers,” Henderson said.
The ABC’s editorial director, Gavin Fang, had been sparring with Henderson over the national broadcaster’s response to IDF claims that 170 media workers – including Sarraj – killed in the conflict were Hamas operatives.
Henderson said Fang had dismissed evidence she called “overwhelming and very compelling” that the public broadcaster had hired a Hamas terrorist.
“Mr Marks, Mr Fang is being completely flippant in relation to this matter,” she said “There’s very, very serious and significant evidence in relation to the ABC stringer that he was someone the ABC hired who was a Hamas terrorist, and the fact that you are being so flippant about the very significant evidence uncovered by the IDF is deeply concerning.”
Sign up to get Guardian Australia’s weekly media diary as a free newsletter
But Fang said the IDF had not provided any evidence to the ABC that Sarraj had active links to the terrorist organisation.
“So for the best of our knowledge [Sarraj] was a legitimate journalist who was tragically killed, ” he told estimates. “Until we are able to find something that goes to the veracity of that claim, I don’t think it’s incumbent on us … to declare that that person was a member of Hamas.”
As an ABC presenter, the Offsiders host, Abbey Gelmi, is bound by the ABC’s external work guidelines, so we wondered if the former Seven sports reporter had to seek Aunty’s approval for all her commercial Instagram posts . Because that could be a full-time job for an ABC manager.
View image in fullscreen An ad for Olay on Abbey Gelmi’s Instagram account Her latest posts include paid partne…