"The article, which relies mostly on information sourced from the Israeli military, fails to mention that the Israeli military fired live bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas, at Palestinian residents protesting the raid and demolition, wounding at least 35, including 20 who suffered from gunshot wounds. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli forces also deliberately injured two Palestinian journalists, Rabee Munir and Momen Samreen, who suffered serious wounds to the head and abdomen. The article also fails to specify that the demolition of Islam Faroukh’s house displaced his parents and four sisters – exemplifying the real brutality and damage by Israeli forces that are absent from Israeli military sources."
June 8, 2023
To:
Josef Federman, News Director, Associated Press
Anne Marie Owens, Editor-in-Chief, Toronto Star
Donovan Vincent, Public Editor, Toronto Star
Dear Mr. Federman, Ms. Owens, and Mr. Vincent,
I’m writing to you on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, https://www.cjpme.org) to request for a headline change and immediate updates to the article “Israel demolishes home of Palestinian suspect in Jerusalem attacks that killed 2,” by the Associated Press (AP) and published by the Toronto Star on June 8, 2023.
First, your headline “Israel demolishes home of Palestinian suspect in Jerusalem attacks that killed 2,” is misleading and fails to mention that the Israeli military raid in Ramallah has wounded at least 35 Palestinian civilians, including journalists. It is these casualties which are more pressing and should be in the headline, rather than Israeli casualties from a previous date last year.
As such, I ask that you immediately update your headline to “Israel demolishes home of Palestinian suspect in last years’ Jerusalem attacks, wounding at least 35 Palestinians, including 2 journalists.”
Second, your article fails to cite or include Palestinian sources and perspectives, and thus provides a one-sided report which favours the official Israeli military narrative.
The article, which relies mostly on information sourced from the Israeli military, fails to mention that the Israeli military fired live bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas, at Palestinian residents protesting the raid and demolition, wounding at least 35, including 20 who suffered from gunshot wounds. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli forces also deliberately injured two Palestinian journalists, Rabee Munir and Momen Samreen, who suffered serious wounds to the head and abdomen. The article also fails to specify that the demolition of Islam Faroukh’s house displaced his parents and four sisters – exemplifying the real brutality and damage by Israeli forces that are absent from Israeli military sources.
I urge the AP to be far more skeptical of Israeli military sources when it reports on developments in Israel-Palestine. Israeli military sources often downplay the severity of military raids and can provide highly misleading accounts of the actions of their forces. I strongly suggest that AP include authoritative Palestinian sources, especially regarding events that result in the injury or death of Palestinian civilians, just as Reuters has done in this article.
Third, I take issue with the problematic language used to describe the violence in the occupied West Bank. In the article, you write:
“The attack in November came after months of relentless violence in the West Bank, where the Israeli military has been conducting near-nightly raids in response to Palestinian attacks against Israelis.”
By referring to the escalation of violence in the occupied West Bank in such terms, you gravely obscure the asymmetrical nature of Israeli violence on Palestinians and Israel’s role as the aggressor party. In fact, the Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA)[1] encourages journalists to avoid “both sides framing” and recognize the power imbalance between Israel, and the Palestinian people. To ignore or choose not to mention the reasons why Palestinians may resort to violence provides a one-sided perspective that lacks important context regarding the relationship between the Israeli government, the Israeli military forces, and the Palestinians.
As such, I ask that you update your sentence to read:
“The attack in November came after months of relentless violence in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli military has been conducting near-nightly military raids.”
Finally, on several accounts, you refer to Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip but fail to specify that they are “occupied Palestinian territory” as recognized by the international community. Israel has militarily occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip since 1967 according to international law.
As such, I insist that you correct all references to Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip to specify that they are “occupied.”
I look forward to seeing the changes made and expect that such problematic language and inadequate context is not repeated in future articles.
Should you wish, you can contact me at 438-380-5410 for more information.
Sincerely,
Tayla Shair, Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East