UN resolution calling for ceasefire is “immoral”
ECAJ statement on UN resolution calling for “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza independently of releasing hostages.
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Hard facts on misinformation and controversies in the Israel-Palestine conflict
- Debunked claim about ‘plausible genocide’
There continue to be reports in the media uncritically repeating the false claim that in its interim ruling on 26 January 2024 in the South Africa v. Israel case, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that Israel had committed ‘plausible genocide’.
This falsehood was recently debunked by Judge Joan Donoghue who, as ICJ President at the time, delivered the Provisional Measures ruling in this case. Judge Donoghue said in a recent BBC interview “I’m correcting what’s often said in the media – it [the ICJ] didn’t decide that the claim of genocide was plausible”. Instead, she explained, the ICJ held that it was plausible to claim that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, like all national, ethnic, racial or religious groups, have the right to be protected from acts of genocide.
Source: Former head of ICJ explains ruling on genocide case against Israel brought by S Africa (bbc.com), dated 26 April 2024.
She confirmed that the ICJ had made it clear that it was not prejudging, even on an interim basis, whether such acts have in fact been committed, and will only consider this question in the trial phase. Until the full trial takes place and a determination is reached, any allegation that the ICJ has made even a preliminary finding that genocide has occurred is completely false.
Source: “The Court is not called upon, for the purposes of its decision on the request for the indication of provisional measures, to establish the existence of breaches of obligations under the Genocide Convention”, see paragraph 62, page 19, International Court of Justice Provisional Measures Order, available at: Order of 26 January 2024 (icj-cij.org), dated 26 January 2024; and Doctor KC, Brian, Unherd, The flaws in the genocide case against Israel – UnHerd, dated 1 March 2024.
- Controversy over civilian casualty figures in Gaza
The United Nations has revised down the figure it publishes for the proportion of women and children killed in Gaza, leading to claims fewer Palestinian civilians have been killed since Israel launched its offensive following the Hamas attack of 7 October. On 6 May 2024, the UN said that 69% of reported fatalities were women and children. Two days later, it said this figure was 52%. The UN said it is now relying on figures from the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, rather than from the Hamas-run Government Media Office (GMO).
Source: ‘Gaza war: Why is the UN citing lower death toll for women and children?’, BBC News, 16 May 2024
On 9 May 2024 the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that it was now distinguishing between “reported” deaths, totalling 34,904, and those which have actually been “identified”, totalling 24,686. It had previously “reported” more than 14,500 child deaths and 9,500 deaths of women, but now specified that only a little more than half that number (7,797 children and 4,959 women) had been “identified”. The OCHA report concluded that 52% of casualties in Gaza were women and children, 40% were men, and 8% were “elderly”. It did not explain what age the report considers to be “elderly” and how it categorises children, or what percentage are combatants.
Source: https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-217
OCHA has also published a disclaimer about its use of casualty figures, which is almost never cited by media outlets. It states: “Disclaimer: The UN has so far not been able to produce independent, comprehensive, and verified casualty figures; the current numbers have been provided by the Ministry of Health or the Government Media Office in Gaza and the Israeli authorities and await further verification.”
Source: https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-217
As noted, the UN figures do not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. (Sadly, Hamas uses even boys aged under 18 as combatants). The figures also fail to specify casualties in Gaza caused by Palestinian fire, including errant rockets and direct fire on Palestinian civilians. These and many other deficiencies have been highlighted in several recent studies which have concluded that the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry figures are likely to have been fabricated, both in overall totals and in the breakdown of men, women and children.
Sources:
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-gaza-health-ministry-fakes-casualty-numbers; https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/gaza-fatality-data-has-become-completely-unreliable; https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/how-hamas-manipulates-gaza-fatality-numbers-examining-male-undercount-and-other; https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/unrwa-staff-death-toll-gaza-israel-hamas-war-data/
Based on the new UN figures and Israeli reports that at least 14,000 Hamas and other combatants have been killed, Israel has stated that just over 1 civilian has been killed in Gaza for every combatant.
Source: ‘Israel’s Netanyahu says militants make up about half of Gaza deaths’, CBS News, 14 May 2024.
By comparison, a report by the UN Secretary General found that in previous conflicts in urban areas, 89% of casualties were civilians, meaning 8 civilian casualties for every combatant.
Source: ‘Ninety Per Cent of War-Time Casualties Are Civilians’, UN Document SC/14904, 25 May 2022.
While the loss of civilian lives and the scale of human suffering on both sides of the conflict has indeed been appalling, Gazan casualties are the direct result of Hamas openly targeting Israeli civilians while shielding themselves behind and under Gazan civilians and civilian infrastructure.
- Why Al-Jazeera is a tainted news outlet
Al Jazeera is a media organisation owned by the government of Qatar, but unlike media organisations that are owned by western governments, such as the BBC, the ABC and SBS, it does not operate independently of the government that owns and funds it.
The government of Qatar is a hereditary monarchy in which the monarch (the Emir) exercises full executive power. The Qatari monarchy is a key financial backer and ally of Hamas. The current head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, has resided in the Qatari capital, Doha, since 2016. In 2021 it was reported that Qatar had transferred more than $US 1.8 billion to Hamas.
Source: David Ehl, ‘What is Hamas and who supports it?’, Deutsche Welle, 15 May 2021.
More recently, the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs valued Qatari financial support for Hamas at $US 30 million per month.
Source: ‘Qatar, Iran, Turkey and beyond: Hamas’s network of allies’, France 24, 14 October 2023.
The control exercised by the Qatari government over Al Jazeera has also been extensively documented.
Source: Shawn Powers, ‘The Geopolitics of the News: The Case of the Al Jazeera Network’, University of Southern California, December 2009.
It follows that Al Jazeera has an egregious conflict of interest when it comes to its reporting of any issue in which the Qatari government has an interest, such as the Israel-Hamas conflict. This conflict of interest is not merely theoretical. During the current Israel-Hamas war, Al Jazeera’s inherent bias in favour of Hamas and against Israel has become starkly evident. In November 2023, Arab journalists and intellectuals on social media called Al-Jazeera a mouthpiece for terror organizations that serves them by spreading lies and inciting terror, and accused it of jeopardizing Arab national security. Source: ‘Arab Journalists: Al-Jazeera Is A Mouthpiece Of The Terrorist Organizations’, Middle East Media Research Institute, November 22, 2023.
The following examples of biased coverage of the war by Al-Jazeera, or the outright complicity of its journalists with Hamas, are by no means exhaustive.
- On 15 November 2023, Al Jazeera was conducting an interview with a wounded Gazan resident, who blamed Hamas hiding amongst civilians for his wounds; Al Jazeera promptly ended the interview. The video can be viewed at ‘Gaza resident criticizes Hamas on Al Jazeera, reporter turns away and ignores him’, Visegrad 24:
- Al Jazeera has been accused of pushing Hamas propaganda, repeatedly broadcasting statements by Hamas’ military and political leaders calling for a broader uprising and aligning themselves closely with Hamas’ preferred language for the conflict. One of Al Jazeera’s most prominent journalists, Majed Abdulhadi, celebrated Hamas’s attack as it happened by reciting a kind of prose poem and rhapsodizing at length about the attack. (David D. Kirkpatrick and Adam Rasgon, ‘The Hamas propaganda war’, The New Yorker, 30 October 2023: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-hamas-propaganda-war)
- Several journalists of Al Jazeera have been accused of assisting or commanding Hamas units in their fight against Israel. One of Al Jazeera’s journalists in the Gaza Strip was simultaneously a Hamas commander according to the materials published by the IDF. The journalist, Ismail Abu Omar, was shown in a photograph in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 attack. (Emanuel Fabian, ‘IDF says Al Jazeera reporter wounded yesterday is also a Hamas deputy commander’, Times of Israel, 14 February 2024: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-says-al-jazeera-reporter-wounded-yesterday-is-also-a-hamas-deputy-commander/
- During the current war, IDF forces found a laptop belonging to Muhammad Samir Muhammad Washah in a Hamas base in the northern Gaza Strip. Washah was born in al-Bureij in 1986 and was a correspondent for Al Jazeera Mubasher TV and the Al Jazeera network in the Gaza Strip. The contents of his computer revealed he was also a commander in the anti-tank missile unit of Hamas’ military wing. At the end of 2022, he transferred to R&D in the Hamas anti-aircraft force. Photos were also found on the computer linking him to activities in Hamas’ military wing (Avichay Adraee’s X account, February 11, 2024). Following the IDF spokesman’s announcement, a web surfer published a photo of Washah with Yahya al-Sinwar from his Instagram account. The photographic evidence is reproduced in a report published by The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center on 27 February 2024: https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/more-than-half-of-the-palestinian-journalists-killed-in-the-gaza-strip-during-operation-iron-swords-were-affiliated-with-terrorist-organizations/
Given this history, the integrity of news coverage of the current war between Hamas and Israel by any media outlet which routinely uses reports by Al Jazeera has been compromised. Al Jazeera reports are subject to the policy dictates of the Qatari government, and thus lack the qualities of editorial independence and integrity, accuracy, and diversity of views and perspectives which are the hallmarks of reputable journalism.
