"It is important that you make an on-air clarification that specifies 5 Israeli Border Police officers were injured by friendly fire in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, not in Nablus."
October 5, 2023
To:
Tim Denis, Niagara in the Morning, Newstalk 610
Bonnie Heslop, News Director, Newstalk 610
Jordana Miller, ABC
Dear Tim Denis, Bonnie Heslop, and Jordana Miller,
Your recent news segment about violence in the occupied West Bank has two inaccuracies that merit on-air clarification. The transcript reads as follows:
Host: Well, a very violent part of the world is violent again today, as violence is spiking in the West Bank.
Jordanna Miller, ABC: Health officials in Ramallah reporting two Palestinians were killed in a gunfight with Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank. The IDF said the suspected militants opened fire on an Israeli vehicle and an M-16 found in their car. Nearby, dozens of Palestinians injured in Nablus during an IDF arrest raid that also left 5 Israelis injured. This level of violence, almost every day, has been the new normal here for more than a year. Israel and the Palestinian Authority unable to significantly reduce tensions.
(Emphasis added)
First, it is false that an Israeli military arrest raid in Nablus left 5 Israelis injured. 5 Israeli Border Police officers were injured by friendly fire during a raid in the Palestinian Tulkarem refugee camp. This is verified in the thorough article released by The Times of Israel on October 5, which was updated today, October 6.
It is important that you make an on-air clarification that specifies 5 Israeli Border Police officers were injured by friendly fire in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, not in Nablus.
Second, your segment fails to specify that these incidents happened in the occupied West Bank. It is critical that listeners be given this essential information, as the failure to mention that the West Bank is occupied leads to highly misleading reporting and decontextualizes the events, which are happening under the context of ongoing military occupation. The United Nations, the European Union, Canada and the United States consider the West Bank to be occupied. As such, it is discussed by all as the “occupied West Bank.” Failure to include “occupied” by ABC and other media puts them on an island, one that is questionable journalistic practice.
I insist that Newstalk 610 make an on-air clarification that resolves these issues and that ABC News make sure its coverage is based in fact and presents readers with context as elementary and essential as occupation in future coverage.
This is not the first time that I have heard alarming problems with ABC’s reporting on these issues.
Sincerely,
Jason Toney
Director of Media Advocacy, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East