"These kinds of exclusions, when repeated, become dehumanizing, as the implicit message is that Palestinian and Lebanese civilians who are victims of Israeli attacks don’t matter and can be ignored. Meanwhile, Israeli deaths are framed as more deserving of coverage, receiving more focus and emotional weight. This selective empathy has no place in reporting."
October 9, 2024
To:
Marilena Lucci, Editor-in-Chief, Montreal Gazette
Jeff Blond, Managing Editor, Montreal Gazette
Jacob Serebrin, Reporter, Montreal Gazette
To the Gazette Newsroom,
I am writing to express my concerns on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) regarding your recent article, “Montreal's Jewish Community Defiant as it Mourns Victims of Hamas Attack on Israel” published on Oct 7, 2024 by the Montreal Gazette. Your piece lacks both context and sensitivity by failing to acknowledge the mourning of lives lost on October 7, 2023, in both Arab and Jewish communities in Montreal. Additionally, Mr. Serebrin’s article contains factual inaccuracies on the death toll in Gaza.
Firstly, the article neglects to mention the aftermath of the attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7, particularly Israel's military siege of Gaza and the immense loss of Palestinian lives ever since. At the time of writing, Israel has killed 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza, the majority of them women, children, and elderly. The piece also fails to address the growing regional escalations, including Lebanese casualties, now reporting at about 2,000 since last year. To omit these numbers while emphasizing only one side of the suffering creates a one-sided perspective that completely disregards the loss of Arab lives and how that has taken a toll on Palestinian and Lebanese communities in Montreal.
Second, the article’s emphasis on the resilience of Montreal’s Jewish community is framed in a way that uncritically aligns Jewish resilience with support for Israel’s military actions. The repeated references to pride in Israeli nationalism - commonly referred to as Zionism - and strength in the face of adversity, such as the statement “we are not Jews on trembling knees” and the celebration of standing “proud to be Zionists,” overshadow the fact that Israel’s military operations are vastly disproportionate and primarily target a trapped civilian population in Gaza. By focusing on the resilience of the Jewish community and connecting it to support for Israel’s war efforts in Gaza and Lebanon, the article obscures the glaring power imbalance between Israel’s well-equipped military and the largely defenseless Palestinian and Lebanese civilians. The significant death toll of Palestinians and Lebanese civilians as a direct result of Israel’s military aggression in both occupied Palestine and Lebanon is completely excluded from the article in order to bolster this narrative of defiant Israeli nationalism in Montreal’s Jewish community. These kinds of exclusions, when repeated, become dehumanizing, as the implicit message is that Palestinian and Lebanese civilians who are victims of Israeli attacks don’t matter and can be ignored. Meanwhile, Israeli deaths are framed as more deserving of coverage, receiving more focus and emotional weight. This selective empathy has no place in reporting.
Furthermore, I take issue with the failure to reflect the diversity of voices within Montreal’s Jewish community. The article exclusively features Zionist perspectives, portraying the community as monolithic in its support for Israel’s war effort. However, this excludes a substantial portion of Jewish voices who do not support the escalation of violence. For example, organizations like Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) represent Jewish Canadians who advocate for peace in the region and push for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. By excluding these perspectives, The Gazette contributes to the false perception that all Jews are marching to Israel’s drumbeat of war.
Lastly, I am deeply concerned that the Montreal Gazette has failed to critically assess and counter the misleading claim presented by Hirshson in paragraph 13. His statement that Israel has limited civilian casualties with a 1.4:1 civilian-to-Hamas-fighter death ratio is both insulting and factually incorrect. While the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) publicly claim to have killed 17,000-18,000, this figure grossly underrepresents the reality of the death toll in Gaza, where over 41,000 people have been killed, the vast majority of whom are still civilians if we do accept the IDF numbers, including 11,355 children and 6,297 women, according to the latest September 2024 reports by the United Nations.
Moreover, the claim of 17,000 Hamas fighters killed is itself questionable. Non-governmental organizations like Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), which specialize in tracking conflict fatalities, suggest a much lower number. While Israel’s operations in the Gaza Strip have significantly reduced Hamas’ military manpower, the exact number of fighters it has lost remains uncertain. More detailed IDF reports on the killing of militants containing specifics on timeframes, locations, or operations, recorded by ACLED, account for approximately 8,500 Palestinian militant fatalities. To be clear, the IDF’s analyzed documents contradict their own public claims about militant deaths.
This wide disparity in publicly available data should raise immediate red flags for any responsible journalist. By uncritically parroting these numbers, The Gazette perpetuates a dangerously false narrative that diminishes the horrifying reality of civilian suffering in Gaza. It is the duty of any credible media outlet to question data coming from a military party involved in the conflict, especially when it has been accused of committing genocide by collectively punishing a group of people. In this case, Hirshson’s statement is blatantly misleading, and The Gazette should be held accountable for failing to challenge it or at least make readers aware of the well-founded skepticism expressed by NGOs and experts.
As the Gazette is a member of Canada’s National NewsMedia Council (NNC), your newsroom should commit to upholding journalistic ethics. I urge you to issue a correction or at the very least, update your shoddy reporting with up-to-date accurate, context-rich data from trusted humanitarian sources such as ACLED. Anything less is a breach of journalistic responsibility and contributes to the spread of misinformation, further eroding public trust in the Montreal Gazette. Failure to uphold the bare minimum of journalistic integrity will result in a formal complaint to the NNC.
I await your response,
Anthony Issa
Media Advocacy Analyst
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME)