"I’m disappointed with the article’s paragraph which talks about the death toll in Gaza, as it fails to make clear that the Palestinians are the overwhelming victims in this conflict."
July 23, 2024
To:
Josef Federman, News Director, Jerusalem, Associated Press
Adrienne Batra, Editor in chief , Toronto Sun
Dear Ms. Batra, Mr. Federman,
I was disappointed with the Toronto Sun’s article on July 19 about the air attack on Tel Aviv, entitled, “Air attack on Tel Aviv by Yemen’s Houthi rebels leaves 1 dead, at least 10 injured.”
I’m disappointed with the article’s paragraph which talks about the death toll in Gaza, as it fails to make clear that the Palestinians are the overwhelming victims in this conflict. As such:
- Please replace the sentence, “The war in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, has killed more than 38,600 people…”
- With the sentence, “The war in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, has killed more than 38,600 Palestinians…”
Next, your reporting on the violence between Iran and Israel vastly downplays Israel’s provocation of the Iranians. You write, “Israel for the most part also has avoided direct confrontations with Iran throughout the war.” Yet there is no reason to limit the scope of the review to the last 10 months. While both Iran and Israel have launched attacks on one another, Iran’s attack in April was hardly an overreaction. Articles in both the New York Times, and Aljazeera highlight the significant culpability of Israel for the ongoing violence between the two countries.
As such, your contextual paragraph was extremely one-sided, and does not reflect well on your journalistic professionalism. Please ensure better balance and fairness in the future.
Despite the above, I’m glad to see that you updated the original sentence, “Yemen’s Houthis have repeatedly launched drones and missiles toward Israel throughout the nine-month-long war in sympathy with Hamas,” to remove the phrase, “in sympathy.” As you rightly realized, the Houthis are driven by concern about the genocide of Palestinians, and not out of “sympathy” for Hamas.
I am convinced that the Toronto Sun and Associated Press can do far better in their reporting on Iran and Israel. I am happy to discuss further at 1-438-380-5410, should you wish to do so.
Sincerely,
Thomas Woodley, MPA
President, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East