"Palestinian children and their families have been living under Israeli military occupation since June 1967 with no end in sight. Under international law, intentional lethal force is only justified in circumstances where a direct threat to life or of serious injury is present. Investigations and evidence collected by Defense for Children International: Palestine (DCIP) suggest that the use of lethal force against Palestinian children is becoming the norm. 27 Palestinian children have been killed in 2023 by Israeli military."
June 8, 2023
To:
Brandie Weikle, Senior Producer, CBC Radio
Marco Werman, Host, The World
Matthew Bell, Journalist, The World
Chris Hardland-Dunway, Senior Producer, The World
Tinku Ray, Managing Editor, The World
Dear Ms. Weikle, Mr. Werman, Mr. Bell, Mr. Hardland-Dunway and Ms. Ray,
I’m writing to you on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, https://www.cjpme.org) to express my appreciation regarding the radio interview “Palestinian toddler dies after being shot by Israeli army,” by The World and aired on CBC Radio One 1230 (CFFB) on June 7, 2023. I appreciated that you interviewed the journalist Faud AbuGosh, who attended the funeral in Nabi Saleh and provided a firsthand witness of the impact that Mohammad Tamimi’s killing had, not only on the adults, but also the children.
Palestinian children and their families have been living under Israeli military occupation since June 1967 with no end in sight. Under international law, intentional lethal force is only justified in circumstances where a direct threat to life or of serious injury is present. Investigations and evidence collected by Defense for Children International: Palestine (DCIP) suggest that the use of lethal force against Palestinian children is becoming the norm. 27 Palestinian children have been killed in 2023 by Israeli military. Since 2000, a total of 2267 Palestinian children have been killed as a result of Israel military and settler presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.[1] This number does not include children in Gaza who have been killed in successive and deadly Israeli bombardments.
In addition to the ‘deadly’ impacts on them, Palestinian children also experience traumatizing events such as settler violence, home, playground and school demolitions, disrupted education, night raids, arrests and detentions, etc.[2] I would like to see future first hand reporting by The World and CBC about the impacts of these events on Palestinian children.
In the interview, Mr. AbuGosh stated that the Israeli authorities would be investigating the incident. I hope that you will follow-up with future reporting as to the status of the investigation by Israel.
Thank you again for continuing to report on this tragic and unnecessary killing of a child.
Sincerely,
Debbie Hubbard
CJPME-Okanagan, Kelowna British Columbia
[1] DCIP, “Fatalities and Injuries,” https://www.dci-palestine.org/fatalities_injuries
[2] DCIP, “Right to a Childhood,” https://www.dci-palestine.org/right_to_a_childhood