The Media Accountability Project  

"The second part of your sentence is untrue. While its 1988 Charter vowed to work outside the framework of peace initiatives with Israel, since 2004 Hamas leaders have repeatedly and consistently stated they would accept a peace agreement based on Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders. Such an agreement would effectively mean accepting a negotiated peace and a de facto recognition of Israel."

"In the opening paragraph, you describe the murder of 19-year-old Faris Hashash, referring to him there only as a “passerby.” I find it alarming that he would not be described simply as a “civilian.” As you are aware, attacks against civilians carry serious implications in international law. Your article serves to obscure this fact by using the term “passerby.” Further, it is unfortunate to notice that the Israeli vehicle that was shot at in the West Bank around the same time was qualified as a “civilian vehicle.” Why isn’t Hashash qualified as a civilian, but an Israeli car is?"

"The descriptions of both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) are too limited. Rather than relying on catch-all terms like “Islamist” or simply “Iranian-backed,” we encourage journalists to transparently cite the stated aims of these groups."

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.

"I am glad that you quote the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding Israeli military investigations, and their failure to prosecute crimes committed against innocent Palestinian civilians, especially children."

By failing to properly contextualize this issue, your reporting fails to explain the consequences of Israel’s military occupation of East Jerusalem. As such, readers are left without a proper understanding of why Israel’s flag march demonstrates triumphalism and domination over an occupied population, why ‘tensions’ therefore arise, and why Palestinians view the march as a provocation.

I appreciate that you bring attention to the distress felt by the disabled siblings after they received a phone call from Israeli forces warning of an imminent airstrike on their home. Necessary mobility equipment, like wheelchairs for the disabled siblings, was left behind as they were forced to flee their homes. However, in your reporting of Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza, you mention that 15 residential blocks were destroyed without mentioning the loss of Palestinian lives.

"It is rare to read a story from a civilian perspective on war in Canadian mainstream media. Even if far outside the personal experience of the reader, Mr. al-Mughrabi  allows us to see Gazans for once not as statistics but as people, who try to keep the family safe in a place where there is no shelter and no safety, while coping with frightened children who can’t sleep because of the noise and shaking."

By failing to specify the number of Palestinian casualties, you obscure the reality that Israeli airstrikes are not “targeted” considering the majority of casualties were civilians and omit necessary context for your reader in understanding why Palestinian resistance groups have launched rockets in retaliation.

"Gaza has been living under a brutal 15-year-long illegal blockade and siege by Israel, preventing basic goods and medicine from entering the occupied territory. In fact, since 2007, Israel has imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the strip. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Occupied Palestinian territory, Israel’s blockade on Gaza amounts to a 'denial of basic human rights in contravention of international law and amounts to collective punishment.'"