US news network MSNBC takes 2 Muslim journalists off anchoring duties amid war in Israel

US news network MSNBC has reportedly taken two prominent Muslim journalists off anchoring duties since Hamas launched an offensive against Israel on October 7.

While one of the journalists, Ayman Mohyeldin, will fill in for another host on Thursday and Friday, the other anchor Mehdi Hasan’s show on Thursday was not aired, according to the news website Semafor.

Meanwhile, NBC has said that the shift changes are “coincidental,” denying claims that the hosts are being sidelined due to the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine. The news broadcaster added that both Mohyeldin and Hasan had appeared as guests for several programmes this week.

Mohyeldin, an American-Egyptian journalist, is a veteran NBC News correspondent and has covered the Israel-Gaza conflict for two years.

“In 2021, he aggressively questioned Israeli leaders on strikes on the territory,” the Semafor report said.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes in Gaza since Israel issued a warning to evacuate north of Wadi Gaza on Friday, a statement by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Saturday.

The statement added that more than 400,000 Palestinians had been internally displaced.

Israeli infantry made their first raids into the Gaza Strip on Friday since Hamas fighters rampaged through southern Israel, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a campaign of retaliation had only just begun.

Six journalists were injured and one Reuters journalist was killed in southern Lebanon on Friday when missiles fired from the direction of Israel struck them.

The group of journalists, including from Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse, were working near Alma al-Shaab, close to the Israel border, where the Israeli military and Lebanese militia Hezbollah have been trading fire in border clashes.

With inputs from agencies