"I felt your article would have benefitted from greater context around Israel’s brutal military occupation of the Palestinian territories. For decades, Palestinians and their allies have called for an end to Israel’s brutal military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, begun in 1967."
October 7, 2023
To:
Dan Taylor, Managing Editor, CTV News
Michael Lee, Journalist, CTV News
Dear Mr. Taylor, Mr. Lee,
I was quite disappointed with your piece today entitled, “Trudeau, Poilievre condemn Hamas attack on Israel; Ambassador to Canada calls violence 'unimaginable'.”
While the article summarized the general condemnation of Hamas’ attack against civilians, it did not point out the double-standard maintained by politicians whereby they condemn Hamas’ violence against civilians, but ignore Israel’s violence against civilians.
You quote Iddo Moed, Israel's ambassador-designate to Canada, where he says that violence resulting in the deaths of 200 Israelis is “beyond imagination.” Yet Palestinians are regularly the target of Palestinian attacks where casualties in the hundreds or thousands are not unusual. The death toll of Palestinians since this morning is now already higher than that of Israelis: why isn’t there a quote from a Palestinian highlighting the shock and misery on the Palestinian side? And why no mention of Canadian politicians’ double standard?
Your article also failed to quote sources who take a more nuanced view of the situation, calling for a ceasefire, a de-escalation, or for all sides to show restraint. There are many who would question whether Israel’s response is simply “self defence,” but your article does not capture such voices.
I also found that your description of Hamas was extremely reductive. Your description of Hamas as simply the, “Hamas militant group,” followed later by its description in Canada’s terror list provides no understanding of its motives. Hamas, like all Palestinian armed groups, considers itself a resistance movement, fighting for the human rights and liberation of the Palestinian people. I challenge you to include Hamas’ underlying motivations in the description that you provide.
Finally, I felt your article would have benefitted from greater context around Israel’s brutal military occupation of the Palestinian territories. For decades, Palestinians and their allies have called for an end to Israel’s brutal military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, begun in 1967. Palestinian armed resistance groups like Hamas are able to mobilize support because of widespread Palestinian opposition to Israel’s occupation. In recent years, international human rights organizations have asserted that, on top of its occupation, Israel practices the crime of apartheid against Palestinians.
Some mention of this underlying context would have made the Palestinians’ motivations more evident.
This is an important breaking story to cover, but CTV News should provide more of this core contextual information. Should you wish, feel free to contact me at 438-380-5410.
Sincerely,
Thomas Woodley, MPA
President, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East