"Israel’s behaviour these past eight months has rightly triggered international outrage, and such outrage should not misrepresented by a CBC podcast. Ms. Poisson should have done much better in ensuring that such context entered the discussion fairly."
June 12, 2024
Dear Ms. Poisson and CBC Front Burner production staff,
I am writing to express concerns about the failure to properly contextualize the discussion in Front Burner’s podcastepisode, “Two Jewish parents on recent school attacks.”
While I understand that not every podcast can present a history lesson on the devastating historic consequences of the creation of the modern state of Israel, I feel like the podcast’s discussion around Zionism could have been much better contextualized. I make this point especially because Ms. Poisson herself was the one who introduced Zionism/anti-Zionism into the discussion.
As a historic ideology, Zionism was a Jewish nationalist movement that called for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Early Zionism leaders literally talked about the “colonization” of Palestine. In 2024, such an idea is highly offensive and anachronistic, and the Front Burner podcast should have properly contextualized this during the discussion. While Jews today may try to euphemize it as something like “support for the state of Israel,” this ignores the catastrophic impact that Zionism has had on Palestine, the Palestinians, and the entire region. Indeed, such an explanation would have explained why pro-Palestinian protestors described themselves to Ms. Poisson as “anti-Zionist” and not “antisesmitic.”
Similarly, Ms. Poisson made pejorative references about the “from the river to the sea,” and “globalize the intifada” protest chants. These chants have, of course, been repeatedly contextualized as reasonable and non-violent protest chants. For Ms. Poisson to cite them in a negative light, without highlighting this counter-balancing context, was irresponsible. Israel’s behaviour these past eight months has rightly triggered international outrage, and such outrage should not misrepresented by a CBC podcast. Ms. Poisson should have done much better in ensuring that such context entered the discussion fairly.
Should you wish to discuss further, you can reach me at 438-380-5410.
Sincerely,
Thomas Woodley, MPA
President, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East