On June 2, 2023, CJPME launched an alert in response to an Associated Press article published by Toronto Star. The article, “Palestinian toddler critically wounded in West Bank, Israeli military says shooting unintentional,” failed to cite Palestinian sources but relied heavily on Israeli military accounts. At the time of publication, other media outlets were already casting reasonable doubt on the veracity of the Israeli military narrative.
Associated Press is an international wire service responsible for a significant amount of Canada’s media coverage on Israel and Palestine.
Following a barrage of complaints from our media responders, the article was updated to provide more context and a quote was provided from Haitham Aal-Tamimi, the father of Mohammad Aal-Tamimi, a 2-year-old Palestinian boy who was shot in the head by Israeli troops and died days later from his wound.
A subsequent article on the same attack, “Palestinian toddler shot by Israeli troops in West Bank dies of wounds,” was written by AP on June 5 and included more comments from Palestinians and the perspectives of human rights groups.
At the time of writing, 27 Palestinian children have been killed in 2023 according to Defense for Children International – Palestine. Read their statement on Mohammad Aal-Tamimi’s murder here.