If Christopher Dornan believes, as he states, that there is " a too-pervasive bias against Israel in the reporting of the conflict in the region", he must be living in a different world from the rest of us. Neil Macdonald's reports, on the CBC, from the Middle East were balanced and fair.

Neither Professor Dornan nor Mr. Asper, nor our media, or politicians can spare a word for the brutal illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory that has been allowed to stand for 36 years, in defiance of international law and repeated Security Council resolutions. The practices of this occupation are in violation of evey article of the Fourth Geneva Convention and thus tantamount to war crimes. If the suicide bombers, killing innocent civilians in cafes and restaurants should be called homicide bombers, how about the homicide bombers, from their Apaches and F16's, killing hundreds of innocent civilians, in the refugee camps in Gaza, Jenin and Nablus? How about the Israeli soldiers killing hundreds in the streets of Hebron and Gaza, demolishing thousands of homes with their bulldozers and subjecting people to daily humiliation at hundreds of checkpoints? What title should they be given by our media?

Yes, there is a need for balance in our media and a halt to the offensive characterisation of any criticism of Israeli policies as anti-Semitism. The israeli noted journalist and former Knesset member, Uri Avnery, described this correctly in his statement: "The Sharon government is a giant laboratory for the growing of the anti-Semitism virus. It exports it to the whole world... Many good people, who feel no hatred at all towards the Jews, but who detest the persecution of the Palestinians, are now called anti-Semites."