"Contrasted with the photo of an indoor interfaith meeting from Rabbi Wise himself, the photo seems intended to project xenophobia and fanaticism. This is highly inappropriate and deliberately misleading on the part of the Spec."
February 22, 2024
To:
Rabbi Stephen Wise, Collaborator, Hamilton Spectator
Roger Leblanc, Opinions, Hamilton Spectator
Paul Berton, Editor-in-Chief, Hamilton Spectator
Dear Rabbi Stephen Wise, Roger Leblanc, and Paul Berton,
I am writing to express my concern about the article: “While protests happen outside, real peace happens inside,”published on February 19 in Hamilton Spectator.
Although a lot of issues can be raised about the opinion piece, the main concern of my letter is that you included a picture unrelated to the events recollected by Rabbi Stephen Wise: the Oakville town council meeting and the February 10, 2024, pro-Palestine rally organized by Oakville-Halton 4 Palestine (OH4P).
You include a Getty Image by Jeff J. Mitchell with the caption, “Supporters of Palestine react to people holding an Israeli flag as they participate in a rally last November in Glasgow, Scotland. While protesters seem to think that blocking traffic and yelling intimidating slogans can affect anything, the real work to be done is in meaningful conversation between people of different backgrounds, Rabbi Stephen Wise writes.”
It is deeply concerning that you included a picture of a demonstration that took place in Glasgow, Scotland, that has no relation to the pro-Palestine rally organized by OH4P. The photo you chose from Scotland depicts a dark-haired woman wearing a keffiyeh caught mid-shout holding a flag with “Freedom for Palestine” written in Arabic. Contrasted with the photo of an indoor interfaith meeting from Rabbi Wise himself, the photo seems intended to project xenophobia and fanaticism. This is highly inappropriate and deliberately misleading on the part of the Spec.
The demonstration which is the subject of Rabbi Wise’s op-ed is covered in in this article from the Oakville News. If you bother to do so, you can find abundant relevant footage related to the Oakville protest instead of misleading your readers with a picture from a November demonstration in Glasgow, Scotland.
I, therefore, ask you to immediately remove the Glasgow picture from the opinion piece. I also demand that you include an editor’s note apologizing for originally placing a misleading photo with the op-ed.
I hope the Hamilton Spectator will exercise more caution when covering pro-Palestine rallies in the future.
Sincerely,
Fatima Haidar,
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East