Even more troubling, Ms. Jabakhanji makes an unfounded and racist assertion that Palestinians watch and celebrate missile strikes on Israel, while Israelis seek shelter in bomb bunkers. This type of harmful editorializing misrepresents the Palestinian experience and perpetuates anti-Palestinian racism.
Poor Coverage – Media outlet to be critiqued
A CJPME Media Researcher has launched a media alert for the following article. Please submit a quick response to the media, even if it’s just a sentence or two:
Title of Piece: Sara Jabakhanji: This man's son, killed in Iran's attack on Israel, was waiting for a ceasefire in Gaza to return home
Media Outlet: CBC
Click here to access the piece on-line.
Comments of the CJPME Media Researcher:
(Note: Please do not copy and paste the material below as the content to your message to the media - put all comments in your own words):
CBC journalist Sara Jabakhanji published an article on the death of Sameh Khadr Hassan Al-Asali, a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank killed in Iran's attack on Israel. Unfortunately, the article is rife with serious misrepresentations regarding the realities of freedom of movement in the West Bank. Even more troubling, Ms. Jabakhanji makes an unfounded and racist assertion that Palestinians watch and celebrate missile strikes on Israel, while Israelis seek shelter in bomb bunkers. This type of harmful editorializing misrepresents the Palestinian experience and perpetuates anti-Palestinian racism.
- Jabakhanji states that “around 700 workers from Gaza have been staying in Jericho, in the Jordan Valley, since the start of the war in Gaza almost a year ago.” These workers have been displaced, but they are not voluntarily "staying" in Jericho on some kind of vacation. They, like many other Palestinians, have been unable to return to Gaza due to the Israeli blockade that has made passage in and out of the strip impossible. These workers are effectively trapped.
- Jabakhanji also states that “Unlike Israelis, who went into bomb shelters after warning sirens sounded across the country, many Palestinians in the West Bank went out to watch the missiles and observe the explosions as they were intercepted by the Israeli air defence.” There are many issues with this statement that you could and should raise, but here are some helpful facts:
- 65% of Israelis have access to bomb shelters, but in Gaza and the West Bank, such shelters are virtually non-existent.
- Within Israel, there are glaring, apartheid-driven inequalities between Jewish Israelis' access to bomb shelters and the access of Palestinian citizens of Israel. 50% of "Arab communities" near the border of Lebanon and Syria have limited bomb shelter access, compared to only 7.5% of the Jewish communities in the same area.
- Bedouin citizens of Israel are legally barred from even building bomb shelters in their homes.
- The article includes Israeli and Palestinian death tolls but excludes Lebanese.
- Refers to the West Bank as "Israeli-occupied" but does not clarify that Gaza is also occupied by Israel, according to the International Court of Justice.
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The CJPME Media Centre Team
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