"This is an inappropriate and reductive way to introduce a discussion about Nakba Day. Palestinians are not “mourning the foundation of Israel” but massacres of ancestors, the loss of their homeland, and other particularly sensitive subject matter. It is also a day to recognize the existence of Palestine, and to portray the topic in such a slanted way is a form of anti-Palestinian racism since it negates the existence of Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel and the horrors that the establishment of the State of Israel entailed."
May 16, 2024
To:
John Moore, Host, Moore in the Morning with John Moore, Newstalk 1010 (CFRB)
Jessie Lorraine, Producer, Moore in the Morning with John Moore, Newstalk 1010 (CFRB)
Brad Bradford, Guest, Moore in the Morning with John Moore, Newstalk 1010 (CFRB)
Dear John Moore, Jessie Lorraine, and Brad Bradford,
I'm writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, https://www.cjpme.org) to express our concerns about the Thursday, May 16, 2024, radio segment from Moore in the Morning with John Moore on Newstalk 1010 (CFRB).
I take foremost issue with John Moore, in the context of discussing parents who want Nakba Day to be observed in Toronto schools saying: “Nakba day is the day where people grieved the foundation of Israel.”
Brad Bradford, the guest, reiterates: “It is effectively mourning or grieving as you said the founding of Israel.”
This is an inappropriate and reductive way to introduce a discussion about Nakba Day. Palestinians are not “mourning the foundation of Israel” but massacres of ancestors, the loss of their homeland, and other particularly sensitive subject matter. It is also a day to recognize the existence of Palestine, and to portray the topic in such a slanted way is a form of anti-Palestinian racism since it negates the existence of Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel and the horrors that the establishment of the State of Israel entailed.
According to the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA),
Anti-Palestinian racism is a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives. Anti-Palestinian racism takes various forms including: denying the Nakba and justifying violence against Palestinians; failing to acknowledge Palestinians as an Indigenous people with a collective identity, belonging and rights in relation to occupied and historic Palestine; erasing the human rights and equal dignity and worth of Palestinians; excluding or pressuring others to exclude Palestinian perspectives, Palestinians and their allies; defaming Palestinians and their allies with slander such as being inherently antisemitic, a terrorist threat/sympathizer or opposed to democratic values.
The Nakba means “catastrophe” in Arabic where 700,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled, 15,000 were massacred, and approximately 500 Palestinian towns were destroyed which led to the establishment of the State of Israel on stolen 4,244776 acres of Palestinian land in 1948.
I ask for an on-air correction that gives the accurate meaning of Nakba Day which is that Nakba Day means “catastrophe” in Arabic and marks the ethnic cleansing and forced expulsion of Palestinians from their land to establish the State of Israel in 1948.
You can contact me at 438-380-5410 for more information or additional comment.
Sincerely,
Fatima Haidar
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East