On July 30, HRC contacted CBC in regards to the following report it issued which claimed outright that Israel shelled and destroyed a power plant in Gaza:

Headline: “Gaza conflict: Israel hits symbols of Hamas rule as UN finds rockets in school”

Subheadline: “Gaza’s only power plant shut down by shelling, residents brace for prolonged power outages.”

Body: “The scene at the Gaza power plant after two tank shells hit one of three fuel tanks was daunting. “We need at least one year to repair the power plant, the turbines, the fuel tanks and the control room,” said Fathi Sheik Khalil of the Gaza Energy Authority. “Everything was burned.”

Importantly, on CBC Power and Politics, an Israeli spokesperson, Yigal Palmor, denied Israel was responsible for the shelling of the power plant and yet, CBC reported it as fact that Israel was culpable. CBC previously featured the article as follows and this no longer appears:

CBC.ca’s report outright stated and implied that Israel hit the power plant and this matter is still unknown and denied by Israel, who it should be noted in this article does not target civilian infrastructure.

We asked CBC to correct this article who in turn amended the report to include the following Israeli statement prominently: “Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor, denied that Israel shelled the power plant in an interview with CBC’s Power and Politics. While Palmor said he didn’t know how the plant was damaged, he said “it wasn’t anything that had to do with Israeli army operations.”

Regrettably, the CBC still outright claims Israel was culpable despite our protestations. The article still states the following in a body paragraph: “The scene at the Gaza power plant after two tank shells hit one of three fuel tanks was daunting. “We need at least one year to repair the power plant, the turbines, the fuel tanks and the control room,” said Fathi Sheik Khalil of the Gaza Energy Authority. “Everything was burned.”

Furthermore, we have requested that CBC reporters Derek Stoffel and Sasa Petricic acknowledge Palmor’s claims to remedy their premature and prejudicial tweets:

So far, neither correspondent has remedied their unfair tweets.