"A September 20, 2024, Al-Jazeera report found that since October 7, Hezbollah and its allies attacked Israel 1,901 times, whereas Israel attacked Lebanon in the same period 8,313 times. This is a massive discrepancy that one would imagine merits mention in Brown’s article."
October 10, 2024
Dear all,
'm writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) to express concern about a shocking omission in Chris Brown’s October 10 article, “With Hezbollah's missiles still raining down on them, Israelis want military to deliver knockout blow.”
The article is focused on Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel and states:An Israeli military spokesperson said more than 3,000 rockets had been fired into Israel from Lebanon in October alone, although interceptions by Israel's anti-missile defences have prevented many casualties and limited the damage.
It is remarkable that nowhere in the article does it mention the profound asymmetry in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in the past year. A September 20, 2024, Al-Jazeera report found that since October 7, Hezbollah and its allies attacked Israel 1,901 times, whereas Israel attacked Lebanon in the same period 8,313 times. This is a massive discrepancy that one would imagine merits mention in Brown’s article.
Similarly, a more recent September 27, 2024 BBC investigation also based on data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), showed another dramatic uptick in Israeli attacks in late September.
As you can see in the BBC’s chart, Israel’s attacks on Lebanon have consistently been more frequent than attacks on Israel.
A reader of Chris Brown’s article very well be led to believe the exact opposite of this reality, as there is no acknowledgement of reference to these facts.
I insist that CBC add some reference to this essential information that should not be omitted if the article is to be fair and balanced.
I am also concerned about CBC's euphemistic language seen here:
"Lebanese health authorities say more than 1,000 non-combatants have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon and the capital, Beirut."
Non-combatants? Such language serves to further dehumanize the Lebanese who are already missing from this article. They are civilians. You ought to refer to them as such.
Sincerely,
Jason Toney
Director of Media Advocacy, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East