"Are these the instances of “hate and “antisemitism” she responded to with “messages of peace” that read, “Our love is stronger than your [star of David] hate” painted in blue and white? Sure, this message is peaceful, but was it written in response to tangible examples of antisemitism or, rather, messages of Palestinian liberation that just made her uncomfortable?"
March 1, 2024
To:
Phil Tsekouras, Reporter, CTV News
Omar Sachedina, Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor, CTV News
Dan Taylor, Managing Editor, CTV News
Dear Mr. Tsekouras,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East to express concern regarding a recent article titled “Death threats, antisemitic messages targeting Jewish Toronto University student seen on school walls,” published on February 28 on CTV News.
In your article, you include Samantha’s testimony that the graffiti in the stairwell had “horrible things about Jews,” and yet, neither the pictures of the graffiti provided nor the messages she recalls seem to be about Jews. One example mentioned in your article is “F U Zionists,” which is clearly in opposition to Zionists, not Jews. The picture of a speech bubble coming out of a drawn character’s mouth with “Ahhhh I’m gonna kill you!!” seems to be part of a greater image that is cropped. Is it journalistically responsible to include this cropped photo if the meaning or target of the drawing is unclear?
You write that “when she first saw the messages,” Sam “tried to combat the hate” by painting words of peace. Unfortunately, your article does not specify examples of “the hate” to which Sam refers. After assessing the video embedded in your article, the walls are visibly covered with messages like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” “Free Palestine,” and “Gaza Gaza Gaza,” and other messages echoing Palestinian liberation and, in some cases, condemning Zionism. Are these the instances of “hate and “antisemitism” she responded to with “messages of peace” that read, “Our love is stronger than your [star of David] hate” painted in blue and white? Sure, this message is peaceful, but was it written in response to tangible examples of antisemitism or, rather, messages of Palestinian liberation that just made her uncomfortable?
Beyond the article’s blatant conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism, you do not mention Islamophobia or anti-Palestinian racism once and fail to contextualize the claim that antisemitism accounts for the most hate-motivated offenses against any one group in Toronto. The infrastructure for reporting antisemitism is relatively well-developed and robust because of the wide range of Canadian civil society and lobbying groups dedicated to this cause. Self-reporting methods for victims of anti-Palestinian (not formally recognized in Police data) and anti-Muslim racism are far less developed, however. In 2018, Parliament’s Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage also found that under-reporting was a predictable challenge in fighting racism among Muslim-Canadian communities because some victims have a “fear of engaging with the police” or that they may not be supported or believed if they did so.[1] To adhere to journalistic ethics and provide readers with some of the shortcomings of police-collected data, please include this context.
Here is a brief list of resources regarding the under-reporting of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate crimes:
- Canadian Heritage Parliamentary Committee, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 25 September 2017, 1640 (Ms. Shalini Konanur, Executive Director and Lawyer, South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO).
- A report by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, titled “Anti-Palestinian Racism in Canada.”
- A report published in 2021 by Independent Jewish Voices, titled “The Use and Misuse of Antisemitism Statistics in Canada.”
I hope you will edit your article accordingly and consider my critiques in future reporting.
Sincerely,
Rose Mardikian,
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
[1] CHPC, Evidence, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, 25 September 2017, 1705 (Ms. Shalini Konanur, Executive Director and Lawyer, South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO)).