"Jenin has been home to refugees since the Nakba in 1948. It was formally established as a refugee camp in 1953. It has faced decades of violent attacks from Israeli military forces and has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israel’s open-ended, 56-year-long military occupation. In 2022, Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot by an Israeli sniper while reporting on an Israeli military raid in Jenin. It is also home to some 40,000 Palestinians, many of them children and families trying to live an ordinary life, but unable due to the insecurities imposed by Israel’s occupation."
July 11, 2023
To:
Brittany Ekelund, Digital Producer, CTV News Edmonton
Dan Taylor, Managing Editor, CTV News
Dear Ms. Ekelund and Mr. Taylor,
I’m writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, https://www.cjpme.org) to thank you for covering the recent protest in Edmonton in support of Palestinians, but to alert you to a factual error in your July 9 article entitled, “Protestors stand in solidarity with Palestinian people, look to 'change the narrative.'”
We applaud your coverage of the demonstration in Edmonton. We do not hear from demonstrators supporting Palestine often enough. Given the recent attacks on Jenin, and the generally poor media coverage across Canada, it is refreshing to hear protesters speak out.
However, I must alert you to a serious error in your article that appeared online.
The article states:
“A multiple-day raid on the camp was carried out by the Israeli military on July 3. Three Palestinians were killed, 13 more were injured and thousands were forced from their homes.”
During Israel’s invasion of the Jenin Refugee Camp, 12 Palestinians were killed, including 4 children, and some 117 were injured. I believe you are mistakenly mixing up the attack on Jenin with Israel’s subsequent attack on Nablus, which killed 3 Palestinians.
Please correct the article to include the correct number of casualties and I urge you to include information about the number of children killed during Israel’s invasion as well.
As reported in BBC, video footage has emerged of an unarmed child being shot outside a hospital by an Israeli soldier during the attack. This has not been widely reported in Canada, so including it in the correction to your update is important.
I also take issue with CTV’s reductive description of Jenin during the accompanying video segment. The host says Jenin is a “Palestinian militant stronghold in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.”
Jenin has been home to refugees since the Nakba in 1948. It was formally established as a refugee camp in 1953. It has faced decades of violent attacks from Israeli military forces and has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israel’s open-ended, 56-year-long military occupation. In 2022, Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot by an Israeli sniper while reporting on an Israeli military raid in Jenin. It is also home to some 40,000 Palestinians, many of them children and families trying to live an ordinary life, but unable due to the insecurities imposed by Israel’s occupation.
I insist your future reporting describes Jenin as “a center of Palestinian resistance against Israel’s military occupation in the West Bank” rather than as a “militant stronghold.”
If you would like to discuss this matter further, please contact me at 438-380-5410.
Sincerely,
Jason Toney
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
Director of Media Advocacy