"It implies that Israel’s military and ground assault is only targeting Hamas, though most essential infrastructure has been grazed, and over 32,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom are healthcare/aid workers, women, children, and infants."
March 26, 2024
To:
Max Harrold, Assignment Editor/Video journalist, CTV News Montreal
Dear Max Harrold,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East to express concern regarding a recent article titled “McGill student hospitalized after hunger strike against Israel-Hamas war,” published on March 26 on CTV News Montreal.
In the first sentence of your article, you state that Rania Amine, the McGill University student who has been hospitalized, was part of a hunger strike demanding that “the school divest from certain companies believed to be contributing to Israel’s war against Hamas.” Rania did not state that the strike is demanding divestment from companies “contributing to Israel’s war against Hamas.” Those are not her words. In the news clip embedded before the article, Rania clearly states that she is “not comfortable with a single dollar going to a settler colonial state that is currently conducting one of the most violent and unprecedented genocides in recent history.” On the McGill Hunger Strike Instagram, their demands are clearly stated:
We call on McGill University to immediately divest from and boycott companies funding Israeli genocide and apartheid as stated by the demands of the policy against genocide. We also demand that McGill cut all of its academic ties with the Israeli State including with Israeli universities, as well as removing from its curriculum classes with ties to Israel.
To state that their demands are complete divestment from companies “believed to be contributing to Israel’s war against Hamas” muddles their clearly stated aims. Israel’s war against Hamas is a loaded term. It implies that Israel’s military and ground assault is only targeting Hamas, though most essential infrastructure has been grazed, and over 32,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom are healthcare/aid workers, women, children, and infants. Further, the Hunger Striker’s aims extend far beyond Israel’s current military assault on Gaza and this chapter in its ongoing genocide of Palestinians. The Hunger Strikers stand in stark opposition to all facets of Israel’s apartheid state that work to dispossess and repress Palestinians. Please adjust your language to avoid misrepresenting their demands.
Sincerely,
Rose Mardikian,
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East