"With all due respect Mr. Blaff, your article should be labeled as an opinion piece. The entire article is a transcript that regurgitates Mr. Levy’s talking points without any actual reporting, skepticism, or critical analysis. Mr. Levy, a former Israeli government spokesperson, has an obvious vested interest in spreading anti-Palestinian rhetoric. Interviewing someone who has called pro-Palestinian demonstrators 'rape apologists' makes me question the LFP’s journalistic integrity, and its adherence to the journalistic standards defined by the CAJ."
July 9, 2024
To:
Ari David Blaff, “Journalist,” The London Free Press
Joe Ruscitti, Editor-in-Chief, The London Free Press
Dear Mr. Blaff and Mr. Ruscitti,
I am writing to express my concern about the article “Former Israel spokesperson Eylon Levy on foolish progressive support for Hamas terrorists,” published on July 4 by the London Free Press (LFP.) Your problematic piece omits Palestinian narratives and uncritically parrots the one-sided views of an ex-Israel spokesman without challenging his defamatory and dehumanizing claims against Palestinians.
With all due respect Mr. Blaff, your article should be labeled as an opinion piece. The entire article is a transcript that regurgitates Mr. Levy’s talking points without any actual reporting, skepticism, or critical analysis. Mr. Levy, a former Israeli government spokesperson, has an obvious vested interest in spreading anti-Palestinian rhetoric. Interviewing someone who has called pro-Palestinian demonstrators "rape apologists" makes me question the LFP’s journalistic integrity, and its adherence to the journalistic standards defined by the CAJ.
Publishing an article based entirely on biased and unreliable claims from an ex-Israeli spokesperson with a clear agenda does not meet the threshold of credible objective reporting.
I also take immense issue with Mr. Levy’s claims that Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields. As you must be aware Mr. Blaff, Hamas has denied these accusations, and Israel has not allowed independent investigators to verify such claims. Your failure to question these assertions serves to rationalize attacks, downplay Israel’s responsibility for targeting civilian infrastructure, and overlook the broader and systematic nature of Israel’s assaults in Gaza. If you or Mr. Levy have concrete evidence of Hamas using civilians as human shields, it is your responsibility as journalists to be transparent and provide your audience with this verifiable information.
Additionally, your framing of Hezbollah as the sole perpetrator which is provoking a war between Lebanon and Israel is incredibly one-sided. Your parrot Mr. Levy’s claim that Hezbollah has since October 7 and “every day since then, [has fired] rockets, anti-tank missiles and suicide drones into Israel.” However, apart from Israel’s tens of thousands of air force sorties over Lebanon over the past years, you fail to mention Israel’s airstrikes in Lebanon. It is incredibly baffling and misguided to omit the fact that Lebanese in southern Lebanon have also experienced displacement “with nearly 100,000 internally displaced people in Lebanon as a result of the conflict.” Presenting Hezbollah as the sole provocateur is neither fair nor balanced. Please include this context in your column.
Lastly, Mr. Levy supports the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as the sole definition in Canada. You forget to include the fact that this definition is highly controversial as it conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism, thus defaming Palestinians and their allies and pressuring others to silence their voices. The IHRA definition itself reinforces anti-Palestinian racism as defined by the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association in its back-handed attempt at quashing Palestinian narratives. It is important for transparency that you also provide this context around IHRA.
I urge you to consider these points and make the necessary revisions to ensure a fair and balanced representation of this important issue.
I await your response,
Anthony Issa
Media Analyst
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East