"I would urge Reuters to be far more skeptical of Israeli military sources when it reports on developments related to Israel-Palestine. There has been well-documented evidence by journalists and Israeli human rights organizations such as B’Tselem and Yesh Din that the Israeli military is complicit in attacks by Jewish-Israeli settlers."
June 27, 2023
To:
Dan Williams, Journalist, Reuters
Brian Moss, Trust Principles, Reuters
Steve Barlett, Senior Managing Editor, Saltwire
Bradley Works, Managing Editor, Saltwire
Dear Mr. Williams, Mr. Moss, Mr. Barlett, and Mr. Works,
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 regarding the article “Israeli, Palestinian ministers discuss West Bank violence in rare contact,” by Dan Williams of Reuters and published by Saltwire on June 27, 2023.
The article discusses a phone call between Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hussein Al-Sheikh, a senior official from the Palestine Liberation Organization, in light of escalating violence by the Israeli military and settlers in the occupied West Bank. However, the article fails to cite or include Palestinian sources and perspectives, and thus provides a one-sided report which favors the official Israeli narrative.
While the article mentions Hussein Al-Sheikh, it does not include any official statement or quote but relies mostly on statements and information sources from representatives in the Israeli military and government. The article fails to include authoritative Palestinian voices such as Palestinian news agency Wafa, the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Defense for Children International - Palestine and others which are on the ground reporting about violence by the Israeli military and Jewish settlers.
I would urge Reuters to be far more skeptical of Israeli military sources when it reports on developments related to Israel-Palestine. There has been well-documented evidence by journalists and Israeli human rights organizations such as B’Tselem and Yesh Din that the Israeli military is complicit in attacks by Jewish-Israeli settlers. According to B’Tselem, “The military avoids confronting violent settlers as a matter of policy, although soldiers have the authority and duty to detain and arrest them. Israeli security forces routinely enable settler violence against Palestinians and their property.”
So much about the current article makes the Israeli concerns over these attacks extremely suspect and results in a whitewash of actual military and government policy. By failing to include such Palestinian perspectives and sources, the article fails to capture the dynamic between the Israeli military, Jewish settlers and indigenous Palestinian residents of the occupied West Bank and the near impunity afforded by settlers.
It is imperative that Reuters update this article to include authoritative Palestinian sources, especially regarding incidents where Israeli military forces and settlers injure or kill Palestinian civilians.
To state that the Israeli forces “…have intensified raids against suspected Palestinian militants over the last 15 months” gravely obscures the reality that Israeli military raids into various villages and towns in the occupied West Bank regularly result in the avoidable injury or death of civilians including children. This is evidenced by the recent death of 2-year-old Mohammed Tamimi who was shot by Israeli forces in a raid on the village of Nabi Saleh or the death of 15-year-old Sadil Ghassan Turkman who was also shot during a military raid of the Jenin refugee camp last week.
I hope that Reuters takes immediate action to improve this article and ensure balanced coverage on all future news articles 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