"The Toronto Star’s decision to highlight a Hamas comment on the ceasefire talks, rather than 1) Israel’s devastating attack on civilians, 2) Israel’s decision to make an attack in a supposed “safe zone,” and 3) Israel’s false claim of having killed a Hamas leader, seems very suspect."
July 16, 2024
To:
Melanie Lidman, Reporter, Associated Press
Wafaa Shurafa, Producer, Associated Press
Josef Federman, News Director, Jerusalem, Associated Press
Donovan Vincent, Public Editor, Toronto Star
Dear Mr. Vincent,
I was highly disappointed with the Toronto Star’s article on Israel’s recent attack in the Khan Yunis area entitled, “Hamas says Gaza cease-fire talks haven’t paused and claims military chief survived Israeli strike.” As you are probably aware, in this incident covered, Israel justified killing at least 90 civilians in an attacked intended as an assassination of a Hamas leader.
The Toronto Star’s decision to highlight a Hamas comment on the ceasefire talks, rather than 1) Israel’s devastating attack on civilians, 2) Israel’s decision to make an attack in a supposed “safe zone,” and 3) Israel’s false claim of having killed a Hamas leader, seems very suspect.
I challenge the Star to choose a headline which focuses on the most significant aspects of the situation, e.g. “Israel’s attack in Gaza ‘Safe Zone’ results in death of 90 civilians.”
Beyond the headline, there are many things that I object to in this article, but a glaring failure of journalism is reflected in the paragraph, “On Sunday, some survivors were angry that the attack targeting Deif occurred without warning in an area they were told was safe.”
I don’t believe that Associated Press spoke to any Palestinian witnesses to the attack who said that they were angry because they weren’t “warned” of the attack. Please correct this paragraph, or provide the quote in question.
The positioning of the different information in the article was also very skewed. The descriptions of the horror of the attack were all left until the end of the article, while claims by Israeli and Hamas officials were given excessive prominence. Canadian readers deserve to understand the horror of an incident, before being presented with all the excuses for it.
I call on the Toronto Star and Associated Press to do far better in their reporting of these emotional and important issues. I am happy to discuss further at 1-438-380-5410, should you wish to do so.
Sincerely,
Thomas Woodley, MPA
President, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East