"Mr. East also founded the Israeli Canadian Council, which you mention, but it is hardly legitimate. Its inactivity is notable, and its website boasts $0 of total fundraising. When it is active, it merely shares questionable content on social media, like recently highlighting an exchange of comments between Mr. East and a so-called "Hamas loving, Jew hater" who expressed concern about one of his protests."
To:
Kevin Rollason, Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press
Maggie Macintosh, Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press
Paul Samyn, Editor, Winnipeg Free Press
Dear Kevin Rollason, Maggie Macintosh, and Paul Samyn,
I am writing to express concern about your article: “'Abundance of caution' drives city to move menorah for day,” published on December 11 in Winnipeg Free Press.
I want to bring your attention to one significant issue in your article.
You mention and give voice to Ron East while failing to describe him in a complete, fair, and balanced way. You write: “Ron East, founder of the Israeli Canadian Council,” giving way too much weight to this role, misleading your readers.
As seen on his LinkedIn, Ron East is the publisher at TheJ.ca, a racist website.
My organization published a report about his website ("Legitimizing Hate: Canadian Politicians Advertise on Racist Website") to back this claim.
Mr. East also founded the Israeli Canadian Council, which you mention, but it is hardly legitimate. Its inactivity is notable, and its website boasts $0 of total fundraising. When it is active, it merely shares questionable content on social media, like recently highlighting an exchange of comments between Mr. East and a so-called "Hamas loving, Jew hater" who expressed concern about one of his protests.
I, therefore, ask you to include some of this essential information about Mr. East to make your article more complete, accurate, and balanced.
I hope Winnipeg Free Press will include some of this information and exercise more caution in future coverage of Mr. East and his point of view of events.
Sincerely,
Fatima Haidar,
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East