"Israel’s actions have been detailed in a recent report by Refugees International. Without this context, your readers will likely have a false sense of the likely impact of these new aid routes. I insist that you add context about Israel’s deliberate obstruction of aid entering Gaza."
April 5, 2024
To:
Alexander Panetta, Correspondent, CBC News
Nancy Waugh, Sr Manager, Journalistic Standards, CBC News
Dear Alexander Panetta and Nancy Waugh,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East to express concern regarding your article: “After U.S. ultimatum, Israel immediately promises to open new aid routes into Gaza,” published on April 4.
I take foremost issue with your article being misleading.
You write: “Israel promised to open new humanitarian aid routes into Gaza immediately after being threatened Thursday with an ultimatum from its most important international ally.”
The story frames these new humanitarian aid routes as a significant step. What is critically omitted, however, is that the issue of getting aid into Gaza has not been the number of routes but Israel’s deliberate obstruction of aid. Israel’s actions have been detailed in a recent report by Refugees International. Without this context, your readers will likely have a false sense of the likely impact of these new aid routes.
I insist that you add context about Israel’s deliberate obstruction of aid entering Gaza.
You write: “The people on that [Lavender] list were allegedly targeted for bombing, even if they were with numerous civilians.”
This sentence, while not untrue, is misleading. Not only does Lavender allow for significant “collateral damage” and civilian deaths, when it has been reported that this system “makes what are regarded as ‘errors’ in approximately 10 percent of cases, and is known to occasionally mark individuals who have merely a loose connection to militant groups, or no connection at all.” To my knowledge, this is the first time that CBC is covering Lavender, and these types of details are important to get right.
I, therefore, ask you to update this section to make clear that Lavender’s list is wrong roughly 10% of the time and allows for significant collateral damage and civilian deaths even for so-called low-priority targets in Gaza.
I hope CBC will make these changes and report on Israel and the U.S.’ actions regarding Palestine accurately.
Sincerely,
Fatima Haidar
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East