"I find it puzzling and deeply disturbing that Global News could, in good conscience, piece together a news segment that goes from footage of a battered, hollowed, and burned Al-Shifa hospital to Israeli army footage of their justification for their attacks: three guns scattered on the floor."
April 2, 2024
To:
Crystal Goomansingh, Journalist, Global News London
Amanda Connolly, Managing Editor, Online Breaking News & Politics, Global News
Tania Kohut, Supervisor, Breaking News, Global News
Dear Crystal Goomansingh,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East to express concern regarding a recent news segment titled “Gaza crisis: Al-Shifa Hospital in shambles after Israeli raid,” posted on April 1 on Global News
I find it puzzling and deeply disturbing that Global News could, in good conscience, piece together a news segment that goes from footage of a battered, hollowed, and burned Al-Shifa hospital to Israeli army footage of their justification for their attacks: three guns scattered on the floor. The anchor narrates these clips by stating that hospitals are protected during wartime under international humanitarian law, “but that designation can be lost if these facilities are militarized.”
The result of this assemblage is a news segment that justifies a hospital’s decimation with the alleged presence of Hamas, all while providing zero evidence for these claims. By failing to include Hamas’ statements that deny any presence inside the hospital, Global News has presented a one-sided argument, void of any skepticism, that indulges Israel’s narrative: one of Gaza’s major hospitals and its operations have been targeted because Hamas was present. Their air strikes and executions successfully killed 200 militants. These are all claims that have been supported by nothing other than the fact that Israel said so. Surely, the burden of proof should be on Israel to meaningfully prove the presence of Hamas military operations, and the evidence standard should be higher than “footage” of guns sprawled on a hospital floor.
Beyond the exclusion of Hamas’ response to Israel’s claims, there is no mention of the 30,000 Palestinians who were inside the hospital at the start of the raid, either sheltering, treating patients, or being treated by medical staff. Most hospital buildings were stormed with tanks and heavy gunfire, shelled, and lit on fire. There are reports of Ismail Alghoul, a journalist for Al Jazeera Arabic, being severely beaten and seized from the hospital before being taken to an unknown destination, along with other journalists. Jamila al-Hissi, a Palestinian woman who was besieged near al-Shifa hospital, recalls the torture, execution, and rape of women inside the hospital in a recent testimony. There are also reports of a pair of doctors– a mother and son– executed by Israeli forces “as they were trying to escape the hospital.”
Indeed, some of these accounts remain unverified. But so do Israel’s.
Consistently giving priority to statements provided by Israel and excluding testimonies provided by witnesses or key Palestinian government officials is a blatant double standard and perpetuates Canadian media’s tendency to assign the burden of proof to anyone but Israel. This is a consistent issue I’ve remarked in Global News’ reporting on Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. While I understand that video segments like these can be challenging to edit, I implore the Global News Production Team to consider my points when producing future news segments.
Rose Mardikian,
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East