David Rullo’s letter to the Globe took issue with the student, Grace Cross, who presented an eyewitness account of her trip to the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the February 11, 2026 issue. Rullo argued that her piece needs “fact-checking” and lacks “journalistic integrity.” If anyone needs fact-checking or a lesson in journalistic integrity, it’s Rullo, senior staff writer for the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, a paper noted for its deeply biased coverage against the Palestinian people.
Given his apparent difficulty accepting Christian sources such as Sabeel and Friends of Sabeel-North America, which sponsored Grace’s trip, we can lend Mr. Rullo a hand by checking his “facts” against internationally reputable sources. For instance, Rullo questions Cross’s assertion that Israel has committed a genocide against the Palestinian people. In fact, both B’Tselem, (the Israeli human rights organization) and Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, have characterized Israel’s attack in Gaza as a genocide. Moreover, Human Rights Watch, Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security, Amnesty International, Boston University School of Law International Human Rights Clinic, Oxfam, the International Association of Genocide Scholars and the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry have all concluded that Israel has committed a genocide in Gaza. Nearly every other international human rights organization has also declared that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
In other words, there is a consensus among reputable international human rights organizations and genocide scholars that Israel is guilty of genocide. Certainly, Mr. Rullo’s “journalistic responsibilities” would have led him to report on these same conclusions. But alas.
When Grace mentioned that she has a disability and that Israel uses disabilities “as a tactic of oppression,” I was reminded that, because of Israel’s genocide, Gaza has the highest number of people with disabilities per capita anywhere on the planet. In August 2025, a UN report stated that “Over 83 per cent of people with disabilities in Gaza do not have the assistive devices they need, including wheelchairs, hearing aids and other tools. And for those who do, the batteries that power these devices are in very short supply.” You can imagine it is far worse now, many months later. Perhaps Mr. Rullo would consider citing this information in his next column.
Mr. Rullo’s claim that the Palestinian people just happened to migrate to Israel after the UN’s 1948 declaration is almost laughable. Not only does he deny Palestinians their history, but he also denies Israeli historians who acknowledge the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestinian land.
He and his readers might find it helpful to discuss Ilan Pappe’s book, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, which details how around 750,000 Palestinians were displaced and 500 villages destroyed to establish the colonial settler project.
Mr. Rullo cites the Anti-Defamation League as a reliable source in its condemnation of Sabeel. But he doesn’t explain how the ADL has been debunked as a reliable source because it is used as Israel’s attack dog in the USA (Nation, January 31, 2024). And besides, if that weren’t egregious enough, students should consider the ADL’s close relationship with ICE, which is used to terrorize immigrant communities in the USA today. The ADL is an organization with a long track record of Islamophobic, anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Jewish bigotry.
Most recently, the ADL defended Elon Musk’s Nazi salute, arguing that we should give him “the benefit of the doubt.”
But when all else fails, and the facts don’t quite match his snappy narrative, the journalist resorts to ad hominem attacks, such as those he leveled against the Collins family.
Ethical, fact-based journalism is exactly what Grace Cross produced in her piece for The Globe. Mr. Rullo could learn a thing or two from her.
Kate Daher is a founding member of the Pittsburgh Palestine Solidarity Committee.
