In November 2012, in Gaza City, officials from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine welcomed an “elite group of young women and men” to celebrate them passing a course on “journalistic investigation, photojournalism, the art of public speaking, and new media.” At the ceremony, according to the PFLP, attendees stood for a moment of silence “to mourn the souls of the martyrs.”

They were handed certificates and “shields of appreciation” from Gaza Bureau Chief Wael al Dahdouh of the Qatari-backed Al Jazeera website, the PFLP said of the Nov. 8 event. One person in attendance, the U.S.-designated terrorist faction said, was Samar Abu Elouf — a freelance photographer for the New York Times.