Is there a difference between aggression and self-defence? Accidental military attacks and intentional ones? Justified military operations and unjustified ones?
Not according to Eric Volmers of the Calgary Herald. In a May 1st article about the accidental Israeli attack on the family of Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish which resulted in the tragic death of some of his family members, Mr. Volmers described the Israeli operation as having been carried out “for no apparent reason”. We wondered: was Mr. Volmers suggesting that the Israeli Defense Forces had either intentionally or haphazardly fired on innocent civilians? Was this Mr. Volmers’ belief, Mr. Abuelaish’s contention, or was this an established fact on the ground?
We were quite troubled that there was no attribution, either direct or indirect, or otherwise were any facts/evidence presented to buttress Mr. Volmers’ outrageous claim. Such a charge was essentially tantamount to accusing the State of Israel of war crimes and of crimes against humanity. If Mr. Volmers had specific evidence to corroborate the claim that the attack was carried out “for no apparent reason”, shouldn’t he have included this information in the article? And if he didn’t possess this evidence, shouldn’t the Herald retract this false and malicious claim?
As we had done in a similar recent case at the Toronto Star, we posed these questions to the Calgary Herald’s senior Editors. After some back and forth interaction, the Herald agreed with our contention that this report was in fact unfair, inaccurate and seriously misleading due to its severe lack of context, namely that the Israeli military had clearly stated that its forces had come under mortar and sniper fire from Hamas gunmen who were located in a building "adjacent" to the one occupied by the Abu al-Aish family and that the Israeli Defense Forces were simply responding to this fire.Following HonestReporting Canada’s complaint, the Calgary Herald commendably issued the following clarification today to set the record straight on this grave and egregious matter:
