"In dealing with complex and charged issues such as the Israeli apartheid and now genocide, journalistic standards require special attention be paid to use of language, context, and a clear account of historical events."
To the Editor,Thanks to the Star for publishing Dylan Robertson’s interesting backgrounder, Canada’s shifting stance on Palestinian statehood, explained.
While the piece provides important information, there are several turns of phrase that reinforce anti-Palestinian bias.
For example the article describes “calls by Jewish organizations to populate the area” which implies that Palestine was unpopulated at the time. In fact, Palestine was populated. The creation of Israel required violent extermination of thousands of Palestinians and expulsion of over half the surviving inhabitants.
It is also important for readers to recognize that Zionism, the political force that orchestrated this ethnic cleansing, while a political movement within European Jewish communities, is quite distinct from Judaism itself.
Israel’s occupation of more Palestinian territory after 1967 is not just considered illegal by Canada and other nations, it is illegal under international law as confirmed by the International Court of Justice.
In terms of language, the Hamas action of October 2023 which killed 1,200 is termed a “gruesome attack” while Israeli actions which have since destroyed Gaza’s infrastructure, killed over 60,000 and engineered mass starvation, are described more neutrally as an “offensive.”
In dealing with complex and charged issues such as the Israeli apartheid and now genocide, journalistic standards require special attention be paid to use of language, context, and a clear account of historical events.
Tim McCaskell
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