Egypt sports journalist to sue Israel after confusing him for Hamas commander

A famous Egyptian sports journalist has said he will take legal action against Israel after a security debacle by the Shin Bet intelligence agency misidentified him as a commander in Hamas's Rafah Brigade.

Mohamed Shabana said he will take "all necessary measures to legally sue [Israel] in the name of the Palestinian cause" in comments on MBC Masr TV's Al Hekaya show on Saturday.

"They used my name and my picture, and described me with bad traits, I am going to take all the measures," he said.

His comments came after Israel's military displayed the faces of its Hamas kill and wanted list, confusing the journalist with Hamas commander Muhammad Shabana, who carries the same name.

After displaying the wrong image, Shin Bet reportedly removed the picture.

The Egyptian Shabana, a journalist, sports commentator, and former member of the Egyptian Senate, is considered one of the prominent media figures in Egypt, having worked in various channels and served as Secretary-General of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate.

"The Israeli Shin Bet is one of the largest security agencies in Israel, but this [publishing my photo] is normal in light of the confusion that the Zionist entity is suffering from," he said in comments to local media, which had made a mockery of the incident.

Several media figures in Egypt said that the mistake was proof of the lack of basic professional standards within Israeli government agencies and continued dissemination of inaccurate information relating to the war on Gaza, which has been described as a genocide against Palestinians.

"They probably found your picture on Google. Imagine that the highest security branch in Israel gets its information from Google," said Khaled Abou Bakr, a TV host, while talking to Shabana on the phone.

الصحفي المصري محمد شبانة: ادعاءات الاحـ ـتلال بأني أحد قادة كتـ ـائب القـ ـسام ناتج عن جهل#تضامنا_مع_فلسطين#من_غزة_هنا_القاهرة#القاهرة_الإخبارية pic.twitter.com/fpD2xbF2tY

— القاهرة الإخبارية - AlQahera News (@Alqaheranewstv) May 24, 2024

"They are at their weakest point," said popular TV host Amr Adib. "Despite Israel killing almost 35,000 people [in Gaza], the result internally is extremely negative; the country’s shape, reputation, existence, economy, army, and its internal face. The 7 October [attack] has impacted all of this greatly."

The deck of cards campaign is similar to that used by the US army during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, which at the time displayed pictures of members of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Israel's war on Gaza has killed over 35,903 people - over 70 percent of whom were women and children.