"During the incursion, 7 Palestinians were killed, including two children Ahmed Youssef Saqr and Sadil Ghassan Turkman. Over 91 Palestinian civilians, including 23 in critical condition were wounded by Israeli fire, stun grenades and tear gas. This context is essential for viewers to understand that the killing of the four Israeli settlers was a direct response to the brutal raids, arrests, and violence by Israeli forces."
June 22, 2023
To:
Jonathan Whitten, News Director, CityNews Toronto
Samantha Knight, News Editor, CityNews 680 Toronto
Patrick Luciani, Assistant News Director, CityNews 680 Toronto
Dear Mr. Whitten, Ms. Knight, and Mr. Luciani,
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 concerns for a news segment aired by CityNews Toronto at 6 on June 21, 2023 around 18:30 PM EST.
The segment featured a summary of global news from around the world, including the death of four Israeli settlers in a shooting near an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank and a subsequent Israeli settler rampage through several towns in the occupied West Bank.
First, in your news segment, you fail to refer to the Israeli military raid of the Jenin refugee camp on June 20th. During the incursion, 7 Palestinians were killed, including two children Ahmed Youssef Saqr and Sadil Ghassan Turkman. Over 91 Palestinian civilians, including 23 in critical condition were wounded by Israeli fire, stun grenades and tear gas. This context is essential for viewers to understand that the killing of the four Israeli settlers was a direct response to the brutal raids, arrests, and violence by Israeli forces.
While events in Palestine-Israel are constantly developing with each story, it is important to provide such context, even if briefly, as it ensures that any viewer who may not have watched the previous news segment has all the essential information available at once.
Second, in your segment, you fail to state that the West Bank is occupied territory. The transcript of the segment reads:
“Buildings and cars set ablaze as deadly violence hit Palestinian villages in the West Bank, a day after four Israelis were gunned down by Hamas.”
In 1967, Israel belligerently occupied the territory of the West Bank as well as East Jerusalem and Gaza in violation of international law, which does not recognize the “capture” of territory by armed force. Article 2, Section 4 of the UN Charter provides no avenue for a country to violate or infringe on the territorial integrity of another country. In 2001, the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention reconvened reconfirmed the applicability of the and reaffirmed that Israel is indeed an occupying power.
By omitting the word “occupied,” you mislead viewers into thinking that the West Bank is part of Israel, which misrepresents the facts according to international law and obscures Israel’s discriminatory and settler-colonial policies in the territory.
As such, I insist that in all future news segments about the West Bank, you specify that it is “occupied.”
I hope that CityNews Toronto takes immediate action to provide this critical information in future news segments about events ongoing in occupied Palestine.
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