The Media Accountability Project  

"Cohn claims that the phrase, 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free' is controversial 'because it speaks for liberation from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea – with no Israel to speak of.' The reality, however, is that Israel is the occupying power, ‘from the river to the sea.’"

"I fear that you omitted a critical element of Borrell’s piece. He wrote that 'While Israelis can rely on a strong state and army, Palestinians have no such recourse. This vast inequality in the ability to control one’s destiny is visible at every roadside checkpoint.' Borrell goes further than merely equating violence ‘on both sides.’"

"In an article already plagued by unbalanced reporting (read: citing B’nai Brith but no Palestinian groups), I was shocked to read a clear-cut case of plagiarism in the twelfth paragraph of Ferguson’s article. Besides one word, all of this language is plagiarized directly from the Associated Press."

On March 12, the Toronto Star published an article by journalist Rob Ferguson about Ontario NDP candidate Sarah Jama, which had falsely conflated Jama’s support for Palestinian human rights with antisemitism. Unfortunately, the article had uncritically repeated a smear campaign by pro-Israel advocacy group B’nai Brith. In part, the article claimed that Jama had previously been affiliated with a group which “has called for a Palestinian state ‘from the (Jordan) river to the sea’ — often interpreted as erasing the state of Israel.” Based on this one-sided interpretation, it was assumed therefore that the chant was antisemitic.

In describing a common Palestinian chant, the Star, therefore, had provided only a hostile interpretation which painted it in a negative light, without asking Palestinians themselves what it meant. CJPME promptly wrote to the Star about this gross misinterpretation, which we noted is a simple and legitimate call for freedom for all Palestinians under Israeli rule. CJPME insisted that the Star update its article to “include a Palestinian perspective regarding the meaning of this legitimate chant, instead of relying on interpretations sourced entirely by perspectives which are hostile to Palestinian narratives and activism.”

Late on March 13, the article was updated to describe the chant more accurately as “a contested refrain interpreted by some as a rallying cry for Palestinian freedom, but by others as a call to erase the state of Israel.” An Editor’s Note was appended to the bottom of the article to read: “This story has been updated to provide more context regarding the phrase ‘from the (Jordan) river to the sea.’” However, the article did not incorporate additional Palestinian perspectives or change the misleading headline, as had been requested.

"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.”