The Media Accountability Project  

"We believe that your news article does a good job of detailing the consequences of this racist law for Palestinians. However, the headline is misleading and inaccurate for several reasons, and we are requesting an immediate change.

First, your use of the term 'Arab' in the headline is problematic, as it refers specifically to Palestinians. Israel’s preferred use of the politicized terms 'Arab-Israeli' or simply 'Arab' is intended to downplay or erase the 'Palestinian' identity of the vast majority of the members of this group. We, therefore, urge you to follow the widely used and respected Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA) guidelines on covering issues related to Israel and Palestine, which encourage journalists to avoid the language of 'Arab-Israeli' or 'Arab' and instead use the more appropriate term 'Palestinian citizens of Israel,' or simply 'Palestinian.'"

The use of the term “attackers” in the headline is misleading. According to the Israeli parliament’s press release, the new law applies to Palestinians who are convicted of an offense that “constitutes a breach of trust to the State of Israel.” As reported by the Times of Israel, the law applies to Palestinians who have been “incarcerated following a conviction for terror, aiding terror, harming Israeli sovereignty, inciting war, or aiding an enemy during wartime.” Many of these requirements are vague and could potentially encapsulate many Palestinian citizens of Israel convicted of a variety of offences, and not necessarily for violent attacks on Israel. Therefore, referring to them as “attackers” minimizes the potentially harmful implications of this new law.

It is encouraging to see that anti-Palestinian racism is finally being acknowledged by school boards, and was recently named by the Peel school board in their anti-racism policy.This is critically important at a time when Israel’s discriminatory treatment of the Palestinians is increasingly acknowledged by human rights groups as apartheid. Sadly, Kay’s rejection of the idea that Palestinians can face racism, and her slanderous remarks against Palestinian solidarity activists, demonstrate just how pervasive the problem of anti-Palestinian bigotry really is.