Achi news desk-
Last Updated: March 29, 2024, 11:39 IST
Washington DC, United States of America (USA)
The grim photo of Shani Louk’s body was among a collection of 20 images that helped the AP secure first place in one of the International Photo of the Year award categories.
Anger erupts as AP wins prize for photo of slain woman’s body being paraded by Palestinian outfit terrorists, sparking fierce backlash
An image of Hamas members parading the near-naked body of a slain Jewish woman through the streets of Gaza has been awarded the photo of the year award, sparking outrage on social media.
The graphic photo of Shani Louk’s body was among several images that helped the news agency Associated Press (AP) secured first place in one of the categories of the International Pictures of the Year awards earlier this month.
The Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Foundation of the United States gives this award and describes it as the world’s oldest photojournalism competition, the New York Post reported. The news of this award prompted a severe backlash on social media, with people slamming the use of Louk’s image as “a disgraceful destruction of Jewish life.”
The person who took this photo was part of the jihadist gang who murdered, tortured and raped civilians. The family did not want her to be remembered this way. This award celebrates his continued despondency. Her name was Shani Louk pic.twitter.com/n6epjfE6lN
— Alex Hearn (@hearnimator) March 28, 2024
READ MORE: ‘My daughter is no longer alive’: Mother of German-Israeli woman paraded naked by Hamas
Who Was Shani Louk?
She was a German-Israeli woman who was abducted to the Gaza Strip during the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 that triggered a large-scale Israeli military operation in the Palestinian territory.
The music festival bordering Gaza, which the 22-year-old had attended, was apparently one of the first sites to be attacked by Hamas. She was among the dozens of people who were captured by members of the Palestinian outfit and marched through the streets in the back of a pick-up truck.
“The person who took this photo was part of the jihadist gang who murdered, tortured and raped civilians. The family did not want her to be remembered this way. This award celebrates his continued despondency. Her name was Shani Louk,” said one of the people who was outraged by the award.
“The Associated Press Hamas photographer who took a photo of Shani Louk’s body being marched by terrorists won a prestigious photography award. Photographers working for AP, CNN, NYT, and Reuters went with Hamas terrorists to Israel on 10/7 and knew about the attack,” said another user on X.
This is how Shani Louk’s family asked to be remembered. Smiling and alive. The world’s biggest photojournalism competition decided to trample on the family’s wishes in favor of giving a grand prize to a photo of Shani’s mutilated body. She wasn’t even named in… pic.twitter.com/y4L4R35bdA
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) March 28, 2024
One of the videos, which emerged on the internet at the end of October, showed a half-naked woman lying unconscious face down in the back of a pick-up truck in Gaza filled with armed men. It was later reported that Shani Louk was taken hostage when terrorists attacked a rave party in the desert near the border with the Gaza Strip. Although Louk was declared dead, her body has not been returned from Gaza.
