"The article disproportionately favors the judge of the ruling against the encampment at U of T, Markus Koehnen, as you significantly give more space for him to articulate his views, with his quotes prominently featured. In contrast, pro-Palestine perspectives are confined to just three paragraphs. It is irresponsible to publish an article about the pro-Palestine encampment while burying the perspectives of the proponents of the encampment. More students involved in the encampment could and should have been contacted and quoted."
July 4, 2024
To:
Ben Cohen, City Hall Bureau, Toronto Star
Jacques Gallant, Courts and Justice Reporter, Toronto Star
Anne Marie Owens, Editor-in-Chief, Toronto Star
Dear Mr. Cohen, Mr. Gallant, and Ms. Owens,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East to express concerns about the article “Judge grants injunction against U of T’s pro-Palestinian encampment” published by the Toronto Star on July 2, 2024.
First, your article disproportionately favors the judge of the ruling against the encampment at U of T, Markus Koehnen, as you significantly give more space for him to articulate his views, with his quotes prominently featured. In contrast, pro-Palestine perspectives are confined to just three paragraphs. It is irresponsible to publish an article about the pro-Palestine encampment while burying the perspectives of the proponents of the encampment. More students involved in the encampment could and should have been contacted and quoted. According to the Arab Canadian Lawyer’s Association of anti-Palestinian racism, burying and silencing Palestinian perspectives is a form of anti-Palestinian racism, whether intentional or not.
I urge you to consider updating this article to include more Palestinian perspectives, and to be sure to give more equal space to pro-Palestinian perspectives in future reporting.
Second, you write: “the encampment, which has become the local focal point of the supporters of both sides in the Middle Eastern conflict that erupted last October….”.
Though you provide hyperlinks explaining what the “conflict” is, describing that students at U of T are encamping in response to the middle eastern conflict is a complete perversion of reality. The explicit reason provided as to why students are encamping is to “terminate all partnerships with Israeli academic institutions that operate in the Occupied Palestinian territories, or sustain the apartheid policies, occupation and illegal settlement of these territories”. Though you directly quote Judge Markus Koehnen several times in your article, you merely paraphrase that supporters are encamping in response to the “middle eastern conflict”. This is a clear double standard. I urge you to directly quote the intentions of the protesters, which you can find on their X (formerly Twitter) page.
Finally, I take issue with the fact that you write a “conflict” has been erupting since October 7th. A “conflict” hasn’t been erupting since October 7th; Israel has been employing full-blown war tactics on Palestinians in Gaza, such as starvation, indiscriminate bombing of neighborhoods and hospitals, using Palestinians as human shields.
I, therefore, urge you to change your sentence to this: “the encampment, which has become the local focal point of the supporters of both sides in Israel’s war on Gaza that erupted last October….”.
I hope you make these changes and consider my suggestions in future reporting on the pro-Palestine encampments.
Sincerely,
Lynn Naji
Junior Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East