The Media Accountability Project  

"Jama’s critics (and subsequently, your article) are wildly misrepresenting the meaning of the Palestinian chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which is a simple and legitimate call for freedom for all Palestinians under Israeli rule. Yousef Munayyer writes in Jewish Currents that the chant refers to “a state in which Palestinians can live in their homeland as free and equal citizens, neither dominated by others nor dominating them.” As he writes, “the claim that [it] carries a genocidal intent relies not on the historical record, but rather on racism and Islamophobia.”

"Further, you still claim that since 1967, 'more than 500,000 Jewish settlers have moved into dozens of settlements' which is factually incorrect as it excludes settlers living in east Jerusalem which is occupied territory as recognized by the international community. According to Foundation for Middle East Peace, 'by 2014 there were some 700,000 Israeli Jews living in settlements in the occupied territories.' This is a factual error that must be corrected."

"It is frankly appalling that you write several paragraphs about the settler rampage in Hawara and the subsequent settler attack on Monday but make no mention of the fact that a Palestinian was shot and killed in Hawara. To be clear, around 100 Palestinians were injured and one was killed. It is not fair to mention that two Israelis were killed and not mention the significant casualties of Palestinians.

It is even more troubling that you mention that two Israeli brothers were killed but you fail to report on the murder of Sameh al-Aqtash, just four days after he returned from Turkey where he had been supporting earthquake victims. If we take seriously that Palestinian life matters equally to those of Israelis, a full and fair broadcast must mention the casualties of Palestinians in this story. Otherwise, the story is incomplete and unfair."

One paragraph begins with, “Not everyone identifies with the soldiers.”  One assumes that this paragraph will talk about people who are critical of soldiers who threaten insubordination because of their views on Netanyahu’s government’s actions.  Instead, this paragraph talks about how the military upholds a regime of injustice against Palestinians with “open-ended occupation,” and the subjugation of the Palestinians, which itself has, “eroded the country’s democratic ideals.”  It is useful to point out these contradictions.  At the same time, the opening sentence mischaracterizes the whole direction of the paragraph.  As such, I ask that you change the opening sentence of this paragraph to read, “Yet the soldiers’ position has deep contradictions.”

"Even if the statistics are accurate, it would be far more relevant to say that about half of those killed are civilians, including at least 13 children killed by Israeli fire since the start of 2023. That would mean that approximately 1 in 5 Palestinians killed this year have been children."

On February 20, 2023, the Toronto Star and other outlets published an Associated Press story with an inaccurate and misleading headline, “Israel promises not to approve additional West Bank outposts.”

CJPME considered this a serious factual issue which misrepresented the content within the article itself, and pressed for a correction. As CJPME wrote to several outlets:

Unfortunately, the headline is factually inaccurate. Israel has not promised that it will not approve any more West Bank outposts. In fact, multiple Israeli ministers have vowed that last week’s settlement expansion and outpost authorization is just the beginning. Instead, as the story itself makes clear, Israel has made a significantly weaker promise to temporarily ‘hold off’ on such activities for the next few months. As the article mentions, this ‘pause’ does not apply to a coming announcement this week to authorize thousands of new settlement units. Further, as it was reported in the Israeli press, Israel only meets once every three months to authorize settlement expansion anyway, a fact which renders Israel’s ‘promise’ completely meaningless.

On February 27, 2023, the Toronto Star updated its headline to accurately state that “Israel promises to pause additional West Bank outposts.”

There should not be a comma after the word rare. The comma creates the false impression that the “arrest operations” themselves are rare. As you are well-aware, that is not true. This raid is rare only insofar as it was carried out during the day. As such, the sentence should instead read “… in a rare daytime arrest operation…” without the original comma. In the AP’s past reporting, Israeli arrest raids are described as “regular,” which is indisputably the case. I believe this is ultimately a mistake related to the difference between coordinate and cumulative adjectives.

Your article also describes the new right-wing government’s decision to authorize nine illegal settler outposts as a way to “expand its authority” in the occupied West Bank. This framing severely downplays the gravity of this decision. In fact, since 1967, Israel has established at least 132 illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian territory according to the Israeli Peace Now watchdog group. These settlements are in direct violation of the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, therefore constituting a war crime. Scandalously, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s response is that nine settlements are simply “not enough” and that he “want[s] much more.” 

This article again describes the occupied West Bank as “lands the Palestinians seek for a future state.” Your article also suggests that Israel “captured” the West Bank in 1967. Referring to the West Bank in this way obscures the reality that it is territory, occupied militarily by Israel, that all UN resolutions and international peace agreements reserve for a Palestinian state. 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. Israel’s military occupation of these Palestinian territories is critical context for interpreting the nature of, and motivations behind, the new far-right government’s plan to expand illegal settlements.

"Your article describes the occupied West Bank as 'lands the Palestinians seek for a future state.' Your article also mentions that Israel 'captured' the West Bank in 1967. Referring to the West Bank in this way gravely obscures the reality that it is militarily-occupied territory. 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. Israel’s military occupation of these Palestinian territories is critical context for interpreting the nature of, and motivations behind, the new far-right government’s plan to expand illegal settlements. We, therefore, insist that you correctly identify the West Bank as Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) under international law and change 'captured' to 'occupied.'"