The Media Accountability Project  

False assertion that Israeli airstrike on Gaza was in response to militant rocket fire

"Simply put, there were no rocket launches fired from Gaza. The last rocket launches from Gaza happened on May 2, which Israel had already responded to, as reported by the Associated Press. Consequently, on May 3 following the exchange of violence, a ceasefire went into effect that was agreed to by both sides."

May 17, 2023

 

To:

Omar Sachedina, Senior Editor, CTV National News

Rosa Hwang, Executive Producer, CTV National News

James Lewis, Supervising Assistant, CTV News Toronto

Theresa Dixon, Newsroom Assistant, CTV News Toronto

 

Dear Mr. Sachedina, Ms. Hwang, Mr. Lewis and Ms. Dixon,

I’m writing to you on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, https://www.cjpme.org) to request an on-air correction to your news segment regarding the ceasefire between Israeli forces and militants in Gaza aired by CTV News Weekend on May 14, 2023.

Your segment claimed that the “latest round of fighting was sparked Tuesday [May 9] when Israeli jets killed three top commanders from the Islamic Jihad militant group in response to earlier rocket launches from Gaza.” This is a demonstrably false narrative on several levels.

  1. Simply put, there were no rocket launches fired from Gaza. The last rocket launches from Gaza happened on May 2, which Israel had already responded to, as reported by the Associated Press. Consequently, on May 3 following the exchange of violence, a ceasefire went into effect that was agreed to by both sides.
  2. On May 9, Israel unilaterally violated the ceasefire that had been reached a week earlier. Unprovoked, Israel launched an airstrike that killed 13 Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday alone. This included 4 children and 6 other civilians. Israel breaking the ceasefire is what led to the risk of an “all-out war” as you referred to it.

The narrative you present is demonstrably false and favours one side.

As such, I ask that you issue an on-air correction to include the following:

“In a previous news report, we stated that Israel’s May 9 airstrike attack on Gaza which killed 10 civilians, including 4 children, and 3 militants was ‘in response to rocket launches from Gaza,’ whereas Israel unilaterally violated the ceasefire reached by both sides a week earlier.”

Please inform me of what corrective action you will take. Otherwise, I will be forced to take this issue to the CBSC.

Thank you in advance for making this change. Should you wish, you can contact me at 438-380-5410 for more information.

Sincerely,

Reem Majid

Policy Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East

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