On October 8, 2024, CJPME sent a letter to the Hill Times to address serious concerns over the misleading and harmful language used in their article titled: “So much pain, and there’s been no winners’: MPs mark Oct. 7 anniversary.”
The article referred to Israel’s year-long genocidal campaign in Gaza as a “counteroffensive” and claimed that this “counteroffensive” is expanding to Lebanon—an egregious euphemism that whitewashes the atrocities Israel has been committing in occupied Gaza for the past year.
CJPME argued that the term “counteroffensive” should be replaced with “genocide,” as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on January 31, 2024, that Israel’s military operations plausibly constitute genocide. In response to CJPME’s advocacy efforts, The Hill Times updated the article by removing the term “counteroffensive” and replacing it with more accurate language, alongside an editor’s note acknowledging the correction.
Additionally, The Hill Times invited CJPME to submit a letter to the editor challenging their use of B’nai Brith’s antisemitism report, which conflates anti-Zionism with antisemitism. In the letter, CJPME emphasized that B’nai Brith’s report is dangerous because it stifles legitimate advocacy for Palestinian liberation.
These changes represent a significant victory in our ongoing mission to ensure that media outlets uphold standards of journalistic integrity, fairness, and accuracy in their reporting on Palestine and Lebanon.