The Media Accountability Project  

One-sided reporting and misleading language used to describe Hamas

"I urge you to update this article, either removing the description of Hamas as an 'Islamist militant group', and/or to add that Hamas 'governs the Gaza Strip, providing social services and running media outlets'."

July 25, 2023

To:

Steve Bartlett, Senior Managing Editor, Saltwire

Bradley Works, Managing Editor, Saltwire

Ali Sawafta, Journalist, Reuters

Henriette Chacar, Journalist, Reuters

Nidal al-Mughrabi, Journalist, Reuters

Kim Coghill, Journalist, Reuters

Dear Mr. Bartlett, Mr. Works, Mr. Sawafta, Ms. Chacar, Mr. al-Mughrabi, Ms. Coghill

I’m writing to you on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, https://www.cjpme.org) with some serious concerns regarding today’s article on Saltwire titled “Israeli troops kill three Palestinian Hamas gunmen in West Bank clash”

Firstly, the article relies solely upon Israeli sources; several other international sources have pointed out that there is no proof that the “alleged” gunmen fired first. Other sources including CTV news, Wafa and Al Jazeera have reported on this incident in which proof that these civilians were armed is lacking.

As such, I insist that the above statement be changed to “Three alleged Palestinian gunmen killed by Israeli troops.”

Secondly, you describe Hamas as being an “Islamist militant group” which is highly reductive and misleading. While Hamas was founded in 1987 as an Islamic paramilitary group fighting for Palestinian liberation, today it governs certain aspects of the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip, providing social services, and runs media outlets. Most readers would understandably not think that a “militant group” is engaged in such activities.

I urge you to update this article, either removing the description of Hamas as an “Islamist militant group”, and/or to add that Hamas “governs the Gaza Strip, providing social services and running media outlets.”

Should you wish, you can contact me at 438-380-5410 for more information.

Sincerely,

Mohamed Khalaf

Director of Strategic Operations, 

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East

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