NEW YORK — A Jewish man who moved to the United States as a refugee from Syria sued Al Jazeera last week for libel, drawing the news network into the court battles being waged across the US in response to the war in Gaza and antisemitism.

Abraham Hamra, an immigration attorney based in New York, said in the lawsuit that Al Jazeera falsely reported that he had been paid by the Israeli government to visit humanitarian aid sites in Gaza as part of a propaganda effort. Hamra is an outspoken opponent of antisemitism online who stands out in the pro-Israel influencer world because of his fluent Arabic.

Hamra said the claim was “categorically false” and he had never been paid by the Israeli government or any related entity.

Al Jazeera published a post earlier this month on its official English-language Instagram page, with more than 6.4 million followers, that showed a video of Hamra standing near aid supplies meant for Gazans. The Israeli government had invited influencers to the site to show Israel’s delivery of aid through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

The video had text over Hamra’s image that said the influencers were invited by the Israeli government to tour the aid sites and “reportedly paid” to partake in the visit, implying that Israel had compensated them. The post did not include any source for the claim.

Hamra said in the lawsuit that he had funded the trip himself.

Al Jazeera did not contact Hamra for comment before publishing the video, a standard practice for news organizations.

The lawsuit accused Al Jazeera of a longstanding pattern of antisemitism and anti-Zionist bias, and a “reckless disregard for the truth” when reporting on........

© The Times of Israel