"It is estimated that more than 25,000 women and children have been killed in Israel’s military assault on Gaza since Oct. 7. Gazans who are sheltering in Rafah have been the victims of a fatal ground and aerial military assault since Oct. 7, and to reduce the suffering they’ve experienced only to a potential ground assault in Rafah is demeaning."
March 13, 2024
To:
Denise Ryan, Reporter, Ottawa Citizen
Nicole Feriancek, Editor-in-Chief, Ottawa Citizen
Aaron Hutchins, Deputy Editor, Ottawa Citizen
Dear Denise Ryan,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East to express concern regarding a recent article titled “Children’s tent brings lessons in life to Palestinian-Canadian mother,” published on March 12 in Ottawa Citizen.
In the very beginning of your article, you write:
Sama said that when Israel invaded Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel, Yafa knew something was happening.
Were those Sama’s own words, or were they paraphrased? Hamas is an Islamic Palestinian liberation organization that governs certain aspects of the Israeli-occupied Gaza strip, provides social services, runs media outlets, and has a military wing. Although “terrorism has many interpretations and no clear definitions, the United Nations attempts to define it as criminal acts against civilians with the purpose to “intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act.” Given that Hamas targeted military personnel and infrastructure on Oct. 7, only a portion of their attacks can be broadly classified as “terrorism.” Considering that some of Israel’s actions in Gaza both before and after Oct. 7 qualify as terrorism, labeling Hamas’ actions as terrorism but not Israel’s is a blatant double standard.
For context, the United Nations Security Council does not have Hamas listed as a terrorist organization. Canada, on the other hand, does. If Canada’s attribution is the reason why you’ve made a broad-brush generalization of Hamas as a terrorist entity, then that needs to be made clear in your article. If Sama called it a terrorist attack in her testimony, then that needs to be made clear by putting those words in quotation marks. Otherwise, your vocabulary insinuates a moral judgment, which is inappropriate in an article labeled “local news.” Your language in this paragraph also suggests that this is Sama’s framing. If this is not Sama’s framing, you should clarify the language.
In an article about children gathering in Ottawa in solidarity with the children under siege in Gaza, you only mention the number of Israelis killed by Hamas on Oct. 7 and omit the number of Palestinians who have been killed and wounded by Israel’s brutal military campaign in Gaza. Further, your vague and inexplicit language throughout the article obfuscates the scale of Israel’s assault on Gaza. You write that children are flying kites in solidarity with “the children under siege in Gaza” and that 1.4 million Gazans are “under threat of a ground assault in the southern Gaza City of Rafah.” Women and children of Gaza are not just under a “siege” or “threat of a ground assault.” It is estimated that more than 25,000 women and children have been killed in Israel’s military assault on Gaza since Oct. 7. Gazans who are sheltering in Rafah have been the victims of a fatal ground and aerial military assault since Oct. 7, and to reduce the suffering they’ve experienced only to a potential ground assault in Rafah is demeaning.
This article is desensitized and disconnected from the dire conditions Israel has imposed everywhere in the Gaza Strip. Please adjust it accordingly.
Sincerely,
Rose Mardikian,
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East