Palestine Chronicle

The outlet has been accused of supporting Hamas, and one of its Gaza-based journalists allegedly kept Israelis hostage during the Israel-Hamas conflict. ³

Background

The Palestine Chronicle, founded in 1999 as a small website, attributes its growth to “socially conscious and progressive” activists using the site to support left-of-center causes. One such activist is left-of-center professor and linguist Noam Chomsky who is an honorary editorial board member of the site. ⁴ Originally published in English, the Palestine Chronicle began a French publication, Chronique de Palestine, in the mid-2010s and an Italian version, Palestine Chronicle Italia, in March 2023. ^{5 6}

The Palestine Chronicle’s focus is covering what is calls the “Gaza Genocide.” The site reports on Middle Eastern news in general, but focuses primarily on developments between Israel and Palestine. Since the beginning of the 2023-2024 Israel-Hamas conflict, the Chronicle has maintained a running count of reported Gazan casualties, deaths, and missing persons. ⁷

Hostage Controversy

On June 8, 2024, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers liberated four of the original hostages taken by Hamas after the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Supernova Music Festival concertgoers. ³ Several media outlets claim that three of the four hostages were held by Palestine Chronicle journalist Abdallah Al-Jamal. ^{8 9 10} IDF soldiers killed Al-Jamal, his wife, and his father, and injured his sister while raiding his home. Al-Jamal formerly worked for Al Jazeera and the Gaza Labor Ministry. ⁹

The State of Israel has called on the United States to investigate the connections between the Palestine Chronicle and Hamas. ¹¹

Palestine Chronicle denied that Al-Jamal was holding the hostages, but the Chronicle changed its affiliation with Al-Jamal from a correspondent to a contributor after the liberation of the hostages. ^{12 13 14} The Chronicle also scrubbed its board of directors page after the news of Al-Jamal’s involvement with the hostages was public. ¹¹

This controversy came after the Chronicle published an article arguing that the Israel Defense Forces, not Hamas, was behind the original October 7 terrorist attack against Israel at the Supernova Music Festival. ¹⁵

Leadership

Ramzy Baroud is the editor-in-chief and president of the Palestine Chronicle. ² Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter. Before joining the Chronicle in 1999, Baroud was the managing editor of the Middle East Eye, editor-in-chief of The Brunei Times, and deputy managing editor of Al Jazeera online. He has written several books, taught at Australia’s Curtin University of Technology, Malaysia Campus, and offers lectures at universities around the world. His books provide left-of-center perspectives of Palestinian intifada and what he calls Palestine’s “Freedom Fighter[s]” in Gaza. ¹⁶

Finances

There have been calls to revoke the Palestine Chronicle’s charitable nonprofit status due to its alleged connection to Abdallah Al-Jamal. Lawmakers in the United States, including U.S. Representative and Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee Jason Smith (R-MO), have suggested that the outlet was using its tax-exempt status to pay Hamas terrorists, including Al-Jamal. ^{17 18}

The Palestine Chronicle does not report a full tax return. Instead, the Chronicle files under the 990-N form which allows nonprofits whose annual revenue is less than $50,000 to not report their income. ¹⁹ However, the Washington State Corporations and Charities Filing System record shows the Palestine Chronicle brought in $91,017 in revenue in 2022, along with $47,307 in expenses, and $87,668 in total assets. ²⁰ This has contributed to calls for the IRS to take away Palestine Chronicle’s tax-exempt status. ²¹

The Chronicle raised over $8,000 through a GoFundMe page in 2023. ²²

Palestine Chronicle does not publish information related to its individual donations. ²⁰