Three years into a genocide, your article is shockingly inaccurate. I hope you will consider balancing this out by including Palestinian voices who can speak to the illegal occupation of Palestine, as well as October 7th as it also represents the beginning of the most criminal and deadly phase of Israel’s campaign to ethnically cleanse Palestine.
To the CTV Newsroom,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (www.cjpme.org) regarding your article, “Jewish community in Ottawa gathers to reflect on anniversary of Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel” (October 8, 2026), which includes statements that are factually inaccurate and employs double standards that should be corrected.
Despite the fact that Israel has yet to submit any information to UN Human Rights Council’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel with regards to attacks carried out on and after October 7, 2023 in Israel, I am actually not writing to take issue with characterizing it as a Hamas terror attack.
Sadly, we may never know what really happened on that day because the Israeli government has chosen to conceal all evidence and block international media from entering the country.
What we do know for sure is that since October 7, 2023, Israel killed at least 77,036 people (mostly civilians) in retaliation, including 270 journalists and media workers, 120 academics, and over 560 humanitarian aid workers, a number that includes 393 employees of UNRWA.
I don’t think it is accurate to characterize an ongoing genocide as ‘swift retaliation’. A recent report by the United Nations Human Rights Council says Israel "deliberately" targeted Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. At that time, the commission concluded that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The report also found that the "intense scale and systematic nature of the Israeli military operations have continued," causing unprecedented death, injury and trauma to Palestinian children.
Three years into a genocide, your article is shockingly biased and tone deaf as well as inaccurate. I hope you will consider balancing this out by including Palestinian voices who can speak to the illegal occupation of Palestine, as well as October 7th as it also represents the beginning of the most criminal and deadly phase of Israel’s campaign to ethnically cleanse Palestine.
I would appreciate a response outlining any steps taken to address these issues.
Sincerely,
Nikki Mutch
Media Advocate
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East