The article should specify that Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer and a major supplier to the Israeli military, producing drones, surveillance technologies, and weapons systems - profiting from and enabling Israel’s ongoing ethnic cleansing campaign against Palestinians in Gaza.
To the Toronto Star and Associated Press,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (www.cjpme.org) to express concern over the Associated Press article published by Toronto Star titled: “Palestine Action activists convicted in UK for break-in at Israeli defense factory.”
The article reports on four Palestine Action activists being found guilty of criminal damage charges following a break-in at an Israeli-owned arms factory, Elbit Systems, in the United Kingdom.
In the interest of accurate and fair reporting, the article should specify that Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer and a major supplier to the Israeli military, producing drones, surveillance technologies, and weapons systems - profiting from and enabling Israel’s ongoing ethnic cleansing campaign against Palestinians in Gaza.
In fact the company has long been the target of international boycott campaigns due to its direct role in profiting from and sustaining Israel’s apartheid regime and ongoing genocide against Palestinians.
My concern however relates more broadly to a recurring pattern in mainstream media: the persistent refusal to explicitly name Palestinians as the victims of Israel’s colonial violence. This is reflected in the article’s wording that “the group said they wanted to dismantle drones and weaponry they believed would be used to kill people.”
The Arab Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA) defines anti-Palestinian racism as a form of anti-Arab racism that “dehumanizes Palestinians.” Referring vaguely to weapons systems used to “kill people,” while avoiding any mention of Palestinians, reproduces precisely this form of anti-Palestinian erasure.
This reflects a wider media trend in which Palestinian identity is deliberately avoided.
I therefore ask, in the interest of accurate, fair, and responsible journalism, in line with the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) Ethics Guidelines, that the article be amended to specify: “the group said they wanted to dismantle drones and weaponry they believed would be used to kill people Palestinians.”
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East