On July 19, 2024, CJPME sent a letter to the CBC about an Associated Press article published by the CJPME entitled: “U.S. shutters problem-plagued temporary aid pier in Gaza, claiming mission accomplished” published on July 17, 2024. In particular, CJPME took issue with the sentence: “Aid groups also were terrorized by attacks, from Hamas, gunmen who stripped convoys of supplies and the Israeli military.” While CJPME made a number of points about the article, CJPME foremost challenged CBC/AP’s use of the word “terrorized.”
The UN defines “terrorism” as criminal acts against civilians with the purpose to “intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing an act.” CJPME argued that, if indeed Hamas or unidentified gunmen had stolen aid, it would not be for any political purpose, but rather to feed starving people. As such, the characterization of such attacks as being by nature “terror” would be inaccurate. CJPME asked the CBC/AP to modify the sentence, such that the modifier “terror” not longer applied to Palestinian groups.
The CBC responded with a lengthy email which acknowledged several of the issues raised by CJPME, and explained that they had had a lengthy back-and-forth with AP to strengthen the article. In the end, CBC rewrote the paragraph in question to add attribution and other details to make the language more precise. It now reads:
“Everyone has agreed all along that land crossings are the most productive way to get aid into Gaza, but the Israeli military has routinely blocked routes and slowed deliveries due to inspections. Hamas, armed gunmen who stripped convoys of supplies and the Israeli military created dangerous conditions for aid workers, according to various aid groups, the U.N. and the U.S. More than 278 workers have been killed in the conflict, said Samantha Power, administrator of USAID.”
Notably, in addition to adding far more contextual balance to the paragraph, the CBC/AP removed the word “terrorized” (as applied to Palestinian groups) as requested by CJPME.