Israeli Allegations about ISM 'Links to Terrorism' Constitute Deliberate Falsification

Paul Burrows

May 3, 2003

Doug Saunders' front page article "Israel Vows to Deport Peace Activists" (Globe & Mail, May 3, 2003) repeats Israeli government insinuations that the two British citizens involved with the recent Tel Aviv suicide bombing had "links" to peace activists, including the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The article refers to an alleged "meeting between so-called human-shield activists and the British suicide bombers," and then goes on to quote Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jonathan Peled saying "When we find them [unspecified peace activists], we will take the necessary legal action to deport them." Saunders goes on to write: "The ISM said Asif Mohammed Hanif, the suburban-London 21-year-old man who killed himself and three other people on Wednesday, had met activists recently at a memorial service for Rachel Corrie, a young American who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer."

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Israel/Palestine and 'Canada's National Newspaper'

En Camino Media Alert 2

May 3 , 2003

By Daniel Freeman-Maloy

Two events in occupied Palestine

On April 11, 2003, Tom Hurndall was shot in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Palestine. Hurndall, an activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was attempting to move children out of Israeli soldiers' line of fire when a high caliber sniper bullet hit him directly in the head. The targeting of a UK-based activist, clearly identifiable in an orange vest with reflective stripes, could be considered newsworthy.

But the event did not receive mention in the Globe and Mail, 'Canada's National Newspaper'. Instead, the Globe took the opportunity to run a different kind of update on the ISM. An Israeli military investigation had cleared itself of any responsibility for the death of ISM activist Rachel Corrie who - on March 16, 2003 - had been crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer while speaking to the driver through a bullhorn. She was killed while trying to prevent the bulldozer from destroying a Palestinian family's home. The Israeli military's report explained that responsibility for Rachel Corrie's death lay not with the Israeli authorities, but with the ISM's "illegal, irresponsible and dangerous" behaviour. Corrie had not been "run over by an engineering vehicle, but rather … struck by a hard object, most probably a slab of concrete."(1) The Globe relayed this report without critical analysis.

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Is the Canadian Media Fueling Conflict?

En Camino's first media alert*

April 15, 2003

Canadians are not being served as well as they should be, even by their own public media. We have spent the past two weeks monitoring CBC's coverage of the US-UK war on Iraq. We have found that, while the CBC does better than the UK's BBC, US networks, and even other Canadian channels, it still falls short of journalistic objectivity in many cases. This means that even the best, most open media adopt implicit assumptions, and hence ask questions, that are more helpful to powerful, pro-war interests than they are to the public interest. Viewers have the right to demand better.

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Colombia's Public Services

An interview with Alex Lopez of SINTRAEMCALI*

April 15, 2003

Alexander Lopez Maya is one of the union activists who exposed corruption at the top levels of Cali Municipal Utilities between 1998 and 2002. He helped build international solidarity for Cali's public services union, SINTRAEMCALI, and led peaceful occupations of municipal buildings in 1998 to prevent privatization. In 2001, when another attempt was made to privatize the city's public utilities corporation (EMCALI), SINTRAEMCALI occupied Cali's city hall and again prevented privatization. The struggle of SINTRAEMCALI to success despite persecution by the government and threats by paramilitaries is an incredible story, and Alex Lopez is one of the leaders of that movement.

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