The Media Accountability Project  

By referring to Palestinian citizens of Israel as “Israel’s Arab minority,” you downplay the Palestinian identity of the vast majority of the members of their group and their connection with the land, suggesting that they are indistinguishable from Arabs elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa.

While Israel belligerently occupied these territories in 1967, international law does not recognize the “capture” of territory by armed force. Article 2, section 4 of the UN Charter provides no avenue for a country to violate or infringe on the territorial integrity of another country.  Specifically, the UN Charter states that “all Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.” 

"Civilians were definitely impacted by the airstrikes. Your online segment reported that “13 people were killed’ as a result of the airstrikes. However, you failed to mention that most of the casualties were Palestinian civilians including at least 4 children and 4 women; and that 18 people were injured. Included in that death toll was a well-known dentist, Dr. Jamal Khaswan and his family. They lived on the top floor of one of the residential buildings that Israel ‘targeted’."

Your radio segment reports that '19 people were killed' as a result of Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza. However, you fail to mention that most of the casualties were Palestinian civilians, including at least 4 children. By omitting the fact that civilians were killed in Israel’s latest airstrike attack on Gaza, you are presenting the narrative preferred by the Israeli military, which says that any Palestinian living in Gaza is a 'target.'

"The segment fails to specify the other Palestinian casualties that died from the Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip. These casualties included dentist and al-Wafa Hospital chairman of directors Jamal Khaswan, his wife and child, as well as two other Palestinians, killed in a targeted vehicle attack in the Qarara town in Khan Yunis. The attack by Israel has wounded a total of 22 Palestinians, including three children and seven women."

However, in the last paragraph of your article, you write “Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war.” Referring to these territories as “captured” gravely obscures the reality that they are militarily occupied. This is not an opinion but a matter of a settled consensus at the international level, as confirmed by the United Nations Security Council, the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Your segment also fails to mention that the Israeli raid on occupied Nablus left many Palestinian causalities. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, four people were transferred to the hospital for treatment and at least 150 people suffered from inhaling tear gas, including schoolchildren.

I insist that this necessary context is included in your future coverage of events in the occupied West Bank in order to ensure balanced, fair and accurate reporting.

In 2023, Israeli forces conducted repeated military raids into various neighbourhoods and towns in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. These operations are frequently carried out in the middle of the night – where heavily armed Israeli forces forcefully enter Palestinian homes to search, interrogate, photograph, beat, and arrest Palestinians, including young children and the elderly.

As such, I insist that you make more explicit mention of the Palestinians, and the reason they are on the sidelines, literally and figuratively. You mention the Palestinian citizens of Israel, and how they are sitting out the protests, but you don’t mention why. You also don’t mention the 2.5 million Palestinians living under military occupation and apartheid in the territories, and why the protests in Israel are effectively irrelevant to them, even though their every action is controlled by Israel.

"To refer to the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe in Arabic) as a “Palestinian exodus” overlooks the fact that approximately 750,000 to 1 million Palestinians were expelled from their homes by Zionist militias and made refugees. Many are still refugees today, along with their families. They were forced to make a life for themselves elsewhere in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and in Mr. Najjar’s case, Jordan."