"As the National Post is a member of Canada’s National NewsMedia Council, it is expected that your newsroom provides stories that are factually correct. I urge you to clarify Samidoun’s advocacy efforts and avoid the misleading term “anti-Israel” in order to correctly portray the pro-Palestinian solidarity movement in Canada. Unless the National Post has a mandate to actively contribute to furthering harmful stereotypes and defamatory statements against Palestinians and their allies, I suggest corrections be duly made."
October 21, 2024
To:
Rob Roberts, Editor-in-Chief, National Post
Tyler Dawson, Journalist, National Post
Dear Mr. Roberts and Mr. Dawson,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) to express deep concern regarding your article, “Canada designates Samidoun a terrorist entity after ‘anti-Israel protests,’” published on Oct. 15, 2024 by the National Post. I take issue with your defamatory framing of the Palestinian solidarity movement.
Mr. Dawson’s article frames pro-Palestine protesters as “anti-Israel” and labels the entire movement as terrorist sympathizers. This is the most blatant in your headline, which describes protests as anti-Israel. This label is neither neutral nor balanced, ignoring protesters' opposition to Israel's apartheid policies and their support for Palestinian human rights. Further, your article first describes Samidoun as simply a leading "anti-Israel" organization and highlights extreme examples of protest, such as flag burning and chants of support for Hezbollah and Hamas. Samidoun hardly represents the entire pro-Palestinian solidarity movement — they are an active, but relatively small group. Balanced articles about Samidoun still highlight their controversial statements and tactics, but do not describe them as an “anti-Israel” organization, because that is not a fair description. It is a strong editorial statement, not neutral journalism. Many reputable human rights organizations have flagged the treatment of Palestinian prisoners as a serious concern, including B'Tselem, the United Nations Human Rights Office and the United Nations’ International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel. You only mention this key role of Samidoun in paragraph 11, which effectively buries information that ought to have been included in your lead. This context is reported as an afterthought and ignores Samidoun’s advocacy efforts in order to frame the group solely as violent.
Additionally, the decision to refer to Hezbollah and Hamas as “terror groups” without proper journalistic attribution (e.g., “terrorist organizations as defined by the Canadian government”) also skews the reader's perception. In journalistic standards, such designations must be carefully qualified to avoid one-sided editorialization. I suggest you refer to them as “militant groups” or attribute them as terrorist organizations as defined by the Canadian government.
This framing also contributes to the defamation of Palestinians and their allies as being terrorist sympathizers and opposed to democratic values which is a form of anti-Palestinian racism as defined by the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association. The movement is not a monolith and should not be reported as one. I suggest revising the term “anti-Israel” to the more fair “pro-Palestine” descriptor, as this would better align with Canadian standards of reporting, as outlined by the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ). I demand Mr. Dawson use the term “pro-Palestinian protests,” which more accurately reflects the movement in his current and future reports.
Lastly, the article inaccurately conflates the U.S. and Canada’s designations of Samidoun. I want to bring to your attention that while Public Safety Canada has designated Samidoun as a terrorist organization due to alleged “links” to the PFLP, it has not accused Samidoun’s Vancouver chapter of providing material support to the PFLP. Notably, it is the United States that has claimed their Samidoun chapters fund the PFLP—not Canada. In addition, the article raises doubts about the Canadian citizenship of Khaled Barakat and Charlotte Kates without providing substantive evidence. This kind of insinuation is irresponsible and downright libelous for a news report unless there is evidence to support such doubts.
I insist that you issue a correction to clarify that Canada has not stated that the Samidoun Vancouver chapter funds the PFLP and remove the sentence casting doubt on Mr. Barakt’s and Ms. Kate’s citizenship status.
As the National Post is a member of Canada’s National NewsMedia Council, it is expected that your newsroom provides stories that are factually correct. I urge you to clarify Samidoun’s advocacy efforts and avoid the misleading term “anti-Israel” in order to correctly portray the pro-Palestinian solidarity movement in Canada. Unless the National Post has a mandate to actively contribute to furthering harmful stereotypes and defamatory statements against Palestinians and their allies, I suggest corrections be duly made.
I await your response,
Anthony Issa
Media Analyst
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East