On January 23, the Editor of the Winnipeg Free Press informed CJPME that he changed a headline after a complaint. “Escaping the Gaza chaos” told the story of Israeli teenagers who left a town in northeastern Israel, the furthest point from Gaza in Israel. The story misleadingly described Israel as “war-torn” and portrayed Israelis as escaping the same kind of threats as those faced by Palestinians in Gaza, who have faced genocidal attacks for over 100 days.
While none of the article’s problematic language was changed, the headline was altered to “Young Israeli skaters get a reprieve from the horrors back home.” To conflate Palestinian and Israeli suffering is a form of anti-Palestinian racism. The violence experienced by Palestinians is 20 times worse than Israelis by death toll alone at this point. This doesn’t even consider the damage to homes, infrastructure, and much else.
CJPME plans on submitting a complaint to the National NewsMedia Council regarding these issues, but a change to the headline was an important modification nonetheless.