"The article refers to al-Nakba education as “partisan lies” and “politicized content on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.” The title of the piece, “Twistory, not history,” undermines the historical significance of the Nakba and implies that its teaching and commemoration is a distortion of historical facts. All these examples amount to Nakba denial, which is a pervasive form of anti-Palestinian racism."
Poor coverage - Media outlet to be critiqued
A CJPME Media Researcher has launched a media alert for the following article. Please submit a quick response to the media, even if it’s just a sentence or two:
Title of Piece: Ari Blaff: "‘Twistory, not history’: B.C. activists lobby government to teach anti-Israel account of 1948 war”
Media Outlet: National Post
Click here to access the piece online. If the article is behind a paywall, click here to view the article in .pdf format.
Comments of the CJPME Media Researcher:
(Note: Please do not copy and paste the material below as the content to your message to the media - put all comments in your own words):
Once again, the National Post has disguised an opinion piece as news. This time, Ari Blaff argues that including Nakba education in the B.C. curriculum would be a “distortion” of what happened in 1948. From denying the validity of statistics regarding how many Palestinians were expelled and massacred to titling his piece “Twistory, not history,” this is a clear case of Nakba denial. Please write to Ari Blaff and Rob Roberts to explain that this piece is unacceptably one-sided and, at the minimum, should be clearly labeled as opinion.
- The article refers to al-Nakba education as “partisan lies” and “politicized content on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.” The title of the piece, “Twistory, not history,” undermines the historical significance of the Nakba and implies that its teaching and commemoration is a distortion of historical facts. All these examples amount to Nakba denial, which is a pervasive form of anti-Palestinian racism.
- Ari Blaff refers to Hamas as “terrorists” who “infiltrated the Israel border” on Oct. 7. Though there is no clear definition of terrorism, it is widely understood as criminal acts against civilians. Considering a portion of Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7 were aimed at military targets, National Posts’ classification of Hamas as “terrorists” is inappropriate and represents a double standard. Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians are never called "terror" attacks by the National Post. Perhaps this term was used because Canada has designated Hamas as a terrorist organization. In that case, the National Post should clarify that Canada’s classification is the source of this weighty language.
- Ari Blaff quotes the letter demanding that the Nakba be added to the B.C. curriculum and comments that their statistics are “at odds with historic evidence,” yet provides no evidence to support this claim. The letter states that 700,000 Palestinians were forcefully expelled and 15,000 were killed, which aligns with estimates reported by outlets like al Jazeera and Vox.
- In addition to the factual inaccuracies listed above, Ari Blaff’s article is one-sided and riddled with moral judgments, making its designation as a “news” article entirely inappropriate.
- The Nakba is a real historical event recognized by international scholars and the United Nations. The Nakba's denial should not be tolerated. It is a violation of basic journalistic standards to so blatantly misrepresent history in a news story.
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The CJPME Media Centre Team
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