The Media Accountability Project  

"This segment is riddled with misinformation and racism. Mr Vuong repeats allegations as if they are fact and gets so much wrong. Regarding the suspect of the US consulate shooting. The man in question, Mohammad Al-Saadi, is an Iraqi national and there are no proven links between him and Hezbollah in Lebanon."

"At a minimum, the reporter should indicate that the Israeli settlers were armed, and she should have attempted to obtain and refer to Palestinian accounts of the confrontation - not just relying on what 'the Israeli military has said' - especially since this situation occurred in a Palestinian village."

Palestinians are under siege in their own towns and being attacked by Israeli settlers. This is also an important context that should be added in future reporting.

AP and CTV omit the important point that the Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. Home demolitions and land theft are illegal and considered collective punishment. Any article about the West Bank conflict must contain this context.

I am afraid this framing creates a false balance by juxtaposing what is unequivocal under international law with the position of an apartheid state whose Prime Minister and former Defence Minister are currently subject to ICC arrest warrants. The legality of Israeli settlements is not a matter of opinion.

The Toronto Star has a responsibility to provide rigorous, contextual, and impartial journalism. This article falls short of that standard. I therefore urge you to amend the title of the piece to reflect a more balanced and evidence-based account of the killing of the Palestinian teenager, specifically attributing Israel in the headline

I take issue with the paragraph that quotes the Israeli forces using the term “terrorist” to inform readers about the alleged motivation behind why they opened fire on a car carrying the Bani Odeh family in the town of Tammun in the northern occupied West Bank, killing Ali Khaled Bani Odeh, 37, his wife Waad, 35, and two of their sons, Mohammad (5) and Othman (7). The Star should have provided context about Israel’s documented history of weaponizing the term “terrorism” as a pretext to justify the killing and illegal detention of Palestinians.

"We question your quoting of COGAT’s statistic that “less than 1% of the total aid” going into the Gaza strip is contributed by the 37 aid groups whose licenses are to be revoked. Where was the 1% statistic derived from? What was included in the 1%? Tents? Food? Baby formula? Water? Medical supplies? What about medical, public health and sanitation services? As you indicated later in the article, Palestinians in Gaza rely on aid groups for food, water, health care, shelter and other essentials."

The Israeli government’s approval of a land registration process that permits Israel to designate territory in the occupied West Bank as “state property” if Palestinians cannot prove ownership is not “contentious,” as stated in the headline. It is an illegal decision that amounts to de facto annexation under occupation.

"While I appreciate that the segment includes references to international criticism on Israel’s annexation policies, the overall framing and language of the report are heavily reliant on Israel's administrative decisions. The real story is that Israel is ramping up its attempts at ethnically cleansing the West Bank of Palestinians."