The Media Accountability Project  

"Such a description misrepresents Hamas because in 2006, it won the Palestinian legislative elections and, following a power struggle with Fatah, took control of certain aspects of the Gaza Strip in 2007. The terms “controlled,” “seized control” and “took over the territory” obscure essential electoral elements of Hamas’ governance."

"The report fails to mention Israel’s crippling, ongoing blockade of Gaza. It also misrepresents Hamas because in 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections and, following a power struggle with Fatah, took control of certain aspects of the Gaza Strip in 2007."

"It is not credible to take a belligerent army’s word as the basis for publishable facts. Where Israel is the sole source for a piece of information, you need to admit this to readers."

"The number of rockets fired from Gaza is qualified, described as being in thousands; whereas Israel’s attacks are given no such qualification, merely described as an ambiguous number of air strikes. This is a grotesque omission in Israel’s favor, especially given that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that 3,209 Palestinians have been confirmed killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza since 2008 — 2,198 of those killed were civilians."

"The article lists all the important events that occurred, from 1362 to 2022, on September 12. Overall, the article did a fine job of listing and describing the events, but was incorrect with the 2005 event listed. The article states that "in 2005, the Israeli army withdrew from Gaza, officially ending Israel’s 38-year occupation" which is completely false."

Including Palestinian voices and mentioning the obstacles and difficulties they experience in entering or exiting Gaza, even as American citizens, allows your readers to have an insight into the daily struggles experienced by Palestinians. The experience of Gazans has unfortunately been overlooked by other media outlets in their coverage of this issue.

"It is therefore entirely appropriate, and indeed necessary, for Global National to have reported on the impact of Israel’s judicial changes on Palestinians under Israeli rule. This reporting should necessarily include the impact on the 1.6 million Palestinians who hold second-class Israeli citizenship, as well as the 5.2 million Palestinians under Israeli military occupation in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza."

I was especially pleased that you chose to tell the story of Huda Zaqqut, whose life feels “like a miracle” in spite of the hardships of living in Gaza.  I appreciated that you pointed out that Gaza is “like a prison”, closed “on all sides” due to Israel and Egypt’s blockade.

"Fegelman cites a Jerusalem Post article that does not back his claim, that 1,500 rockets were fired by PIJ militants “while hiding behind Palestinian civilians.” The sentence in question is written in such a way that one should interpret it as meaning that specifically 1,500 rockets were fired from positions that were “behind Palestinian civilians.”"

On April 5, 2023, a CBC Radio segment properly referred to Gaza as “occupied.” However, after pressure from the pro-Israel lobby group Honest Reporting Canada, the next day CBC issued an on-air ‘correction’ erroneously stating: “Last night, we made a reference to the Gaza Strip being ‘occupied.’ The territory is not occupied, but rather has its borders controlled by Israel and Egypt.” A similar text was also posted online, claiming that “Gaza is not occupied.”

CJPME responded to this false ‘correction’ by sending a letter to CBC arguing that they presented a statement of opinion as a statement of fact; Gaza is in fact considered “occupied territory” by the UN, human rights groups and the humanitarian sector, including Human Rights Watch and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Additionally, Michael Lynk, former UN Special Rapporteur, also sent a letter to CBC writing that, “Under international law, this degree of control exercised by Israel since 2005 is sufficient to conclude that Israel remains the occupying power over Gaza.”

As a result of CJPME’s complaint, on April 14, 2023, CBC walked back its on-air ‘correction’ by updating the text on its website to:

On April 5, 2023, CBC Radio referred to the Gaza Strip being occupied. While Israel continues to control most of the flow of people and goods into and out of the Gaza strip, which to some analysts constitutes a continued occupation, it ended its permanent military presence there in 2005. An on-air clarification was broadcast April 6, and this clarification note was published to specify that Israel doesn't consider Gaza to be occupied. This clarification note has since been updated to describe Gaza's status more precisely.

While this update includes a far more accurate description of Gaza’s legal status, several issues remain. CJPME sent a follow-up letter to CBC highlighting that the phrasing of “some analysts” significantly downplays the fact that this position is held by the international community. While this correction is an improvement to the original one, it still fails to correctly label Gaza as an occupied territory and Israel as an occupying power. CJPME is requesting that CBC update its language on Gaza to properly reflect international consensus and to align with CBC’s reporting on the status of the occupied West Bank.