MEDIA ALERT: Stop Israel's Attacks on Gaza & Lebanon
BACKGROUND: Israel is using weapons supplied by the United States to target Palestinian & Lebanese civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon in violation of the US Arms Export Control Act and the Geneva Conventions.

* On July 12th, Israel killed 23 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip with missiles fired from aircraft and shells fired from tanks. Israel killed 9 members of one family in a missile strike on a house near Gaza City.

* On July 12th, Israel launched a massive invasion of Lebanon. Israeli aircraft fired missiles targeting civilian infrastructure, including bridges, roads, a mosque, a community center, and the Beirut International Airport, and the Israeli navy is blockading Lebanon's ports. Israel has killed at least 50 Lebanese civilians and injured more than 100, including entire Lebanese families of 10 and 7 people killed in the villages of Dweir and Baflay.

TAKE ACTION AGAINST BIASED MEDIA:

Hold Israel to account for its killing of civilians and destruction of civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

Write a letter to the editor or op-ed for your local newspaper and call your local talk radio stations to protest Israel's atrocities in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and highlight US support for these actions. For contact information for your local media, click here: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/

Below is a template for a letter to the editor:

Letters to the editor should be short, punchy, and clear. They MUST refer to actual coverage of that particular paper, either naming a particular article or referring to trends (as below). Be sure the text of the letter does in fact respond to the particular article or trend you reference. Be sure to include full name, address, contact phone numbers and (for some, not for others) name of the organization.

BE SURE THAT LETTERS ARE ALL DIFFERENT, AND DO NOT LOOK LIKE CARBON COPIES OF EACH OTHER!

TEMPLATE: USE THIS AS A GUIDE, NOT A CARBON COPY!

* Ask WHY DOESN'T [NAME THE NEWSPAPER] ACKNOWLEDGE or DOWNPLAYS or MINIMIZES THE FACT THAT or DOES NOT EMPHASIZE THAT

a) ISRAEL IS ATTACKING CIVILIANS or

b) ISRAEL IS DESTROYING NON-MILITARY INFRASTRUCTURE or

c) ISRAEL'S RESPONSE IS DISPROPORTIONATE

* Add YOUR READERS SHOULD HAVE ACCESS TO MORE INFORMATION, INCLUDING
a) THAT THE VICTIMS INCLUDE X, AGE XX, Y, AGE XX, AND Z, AGE XX or

b) THAT DESTROYING THE ELECTRICAL PLANT MEANS

1) 860,000 CIVILIANS WITHOUT POWER, MANY WITHOUT WATER or

2) HOSPITALS DEPENDING ON LAST WEEK OF FUEL FOR GENERATORS or

4) ISRAEL AND U.S. HAD ALREADY IMPOSED A SEVERE BOYCOTT ON GAZA CAUSING HUGE HUMANITARIAN CRISES

* EXPRESS CONCERN FOR ISRAELI VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW, AND THE UNCRITICAL NATURE OF U.S. SUPPORT FOR THOSE VIOLATIONS.

MODEL LETTER:

To the Editors:

I am mystified by the failure of the mainstream media to acknowledge that Israeli military actions in the Gaza and southern Lebanon are targeting civilians and other non-military targets. The destruction being wrought on the Palestinian people, and now the Lebanese, has largely been ignored while all attacks - whether on soldiers or civilians - carried out by a Palestinian militant receives significant attention.

The silence of the vast majority of the mainstream media and political leadership in the USA regarding Israel's actions and the blind-eye taken toward Israel's continual failure to respect the United Nations' resolutions.

I ask that [THE NAME OF NEWSPAPER] provide factual coverage of the situation in Palestine, and offer a forum for legitimate debate on the issues at hand.

Sincerely,