"As said by the late Malcolm X, whose philosophy inspires me deeply: “So early in life, I had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise.” Guided by his call to speak out, I raise my voice now out of profound frustration with media outlets such as the CBC that fail to hold Israel accountable. This lack of accountability is evident in your headline that uses language that does not mention Israel as the Zionist entity committing genocide in the occupied Gaza Strip."
January 17, 2025
To:
Nancy Waugh, Managing Editor, CBC News
Brodie Fenlon, News Editor in Chief, CBC News
Graeme Bruce, Producer, CBC News
Maxime Bertrand, Ombudsman, CBC News
To the CBC Newsroom,
On behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, I wish to offer constructive feedback on your recent article titled "The state of Gaza after 15 months of war," published on January 16, 2025.
I take issue with the headline, which removes the onus from Israel - the zionist settler colonial entity committing the gravest crime according to international law - genocide - which Amnesty International concluded on December 4, 2024.
The report concluded that between October 2023 and July 2024, Israel committed “with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza three out of the five prohibited acts under the Genocide Convention, including killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or in part.”
It is even more glaring that such double standards are not present when reporting Israeli deaths, as they are usually attributed to Hamas for instance. This is an example:
The question remains: what more evidence is needed to compel the CBC to acknowledge that Israel, the Zionist entity, is committing genocide in the occupied Gaza Strip and to accurately assign responsibility for committing the gravest crime under international law?
Please, update your headline so it reads: “The state of occupied Gaza after 15 months enduring Israel’s genocide.”
Despite this critique, I want to thank you for mentioning that recent estimates by The Lancet Medical Journal suggest that the true number of deaths in occupied Gaza, including indirect fatalities, could be four times higher than the current count. This is very important to be mentioned, as the current death toll number, more than 46,000 is inaccurate - some Palestinians remain unidentified under the rubble due to Israel’s deliberate dismantling of Gaza’s infrastructure with bunkers and air strikes funded by western countries.
As a Muslim woman who immigrated from Lebanon due to regional instability which is largely driven by the Israeli expansionist settler colonial project, I vividly recall the terrifying sound of airstrikes over my village. As said by the late Malcolm X, whose philosophy inspires me deeply: “So early in life, I had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise.” Guided by his call to speak out, I raise my voice now out of profound frustration with media outlets such as the CBC that fail to hold Israel accountable. This lack of accountability is evident in your headline that uses language that does not mention Israel as the Zionist entity committing genocide in the occupied Gaza Strip.
I sincerely hope my words encourage you to make the necessary changes to your article that reinforce the journalistic standards expected by the CBC when reporting on marginalized communities.
I await your response.
Warm regards,
Lynn Naji
Media Accountability Project Team at Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East