CNN Errs on New Hamas ‘Charter,’ Gaza Unemployment

June 14 Update: CNN Corrects on New Hamas ‘Charter,’ Gaza Unemployment

In his article today, “What the Qatar crisis means for Hamas,” CNN International’s Ian Lee errs on Hamas and Gaza unemployment.

First, the article twice falsely refers to a new policy document that Hamas issued on May 1 as a “new charter.” The article begins:

When Palestinian militant group Hamas announced its new charter to the world, it wasn’t from Ramallah or Gaza City, but from the Sheraton hotel’s gilded Salwa Ballroom in Doha.

Further down, the article repeats the incorrect reference to a “new charter,” stating:

Last month, a new leader was announced — Ismail Haniya taking over from long-time leader Meshaal — at the same time as the militant group issued its new charter.

But as CNN correctly reported at the time, in the very article hyperlinked in the first erroneous reference to a “new charter,” Hamas issued a new policy document on May 1, not a new charter. As CNN’s May 3 article reported: “The Palestinian militant group Hamas unveiled a new policy document Monday . . . ” The earlier CNN story repeatedly refers to the document as a “document” and not a charter, because it was not a “new charter.”

Hamas itself refers to the new policy statement as “A Document of General Principles and Policies” — not a charter.

Hamas’ own Mahmoud al-Zahar made clear that the new document does not in any way replace the founding charter of 1988. As Reuters reported:

One of Hamas’s most senior officials said on Wednesday a documentpublished by the Islamist Palestinian group last week was not a substitute for its founding charter, which advocates Israel’s destruction.

In a second, unrelated error, Lee reports:

According to the United Nations, the unemployment rate in the strip hovers around 65% and one million people rely on food handouts from the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency.

In fact, United Nations documents put Gaza’s unemployment at below 45 percent, not at 65 percent. According to the “Gaza Situation Report, 197 30 May – 5 June 2017 target=_blank” published by UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East,

In the first quarter of 2017, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate in Gaza stood at 41.1 per cent, one of the highest rates worldwide.

Also, according to this May 3 UN document:

In the fourth quarter of 2016, the joblessness rate stood at an average of 40.6 per cent – 68.6 per cent for women – according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).

CAMERA has contacted CNN to request corrections. Stay tuned for an update. Readers may also contact CNN International on Twitter.

See also: “In English, Haaretz Upgrades Hamas’ New Document to New ‘Charter'”