Referring to the occupied Palestinian territories as “what the UN global body calls them” reproduces precisely a form of anti-Palestinian erasure that fails to acknowledge Palestinians as an Indigenous people with a collective identity with rights in relation to occupied and historic Palestine. It is also misleading and inaccurate and merits a correction.
To the National Post,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East to express my deep concern over the National Post’s continued reliance on the far-right Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) for coverage. At the very least, readers should be offered information about the bias of the outlet and it should be labelled as opinion. A recent example is this article published yesterday titled: “Please look at me: Former Israeli hostage demands of UN adviser on violence against women.”
The article itself is one-sided, conflates criticism of the apartheid state of Israel with antisemitism, and omits crucial context in ways that misrepresent the findings of the conclusions of the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Pramila Patten regarding the allegations of sexual violence committed by Hamas on October 7.
More egregiously, the article states that “Francesca Albanese, a U.N. adviser on what the global body calls the “occupied Palestinian territories,” has a long history of antisemitic comments.”
By referring to the “occupied Palestinian territories” as “what the global body calls” them, the article manufactures unnecessary skepticism in the mind of readers, implying that the status of the occupied Palestinian territories is just a matter of opinion, one adopted by the United Nations.
To be clear, the illegality of Israeli settlements is not merely the United Nations’ opinion, it is a matter of established international law.
In 2001, the signatories of the Fourth Geneva Convention reconfirmed the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, thus confirming that Israel is considered an occupying power.
Notwithstanding that the International Court of Justice reaffirmed in its 2024 Advisory Opinion that Israel’s settlement policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are unlawful under international law:
“The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying Power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful …. This illegality relates to the entirety of the Palestinian territory “occupied” by Israel in 1967.”
Referring to the occupied Palestinian territories as “what the UN global body calls them” reproduces precisely a form of anti-Palestinian erasure that fails to acknowledge Palestinians as an Indigenous people with a collective identity with rights in relation to occupied and historic Palestine. It is also misleading and inaccurate and merits a correction.
Second, the article mentions that the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese has “a long history of antisemitic comments.” Where is the attribution to this claim? This is a serious allegation, especially since Albanese is an independent expert appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to follow and report on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
To claim that Albanese has a long history of saying antisemitic comments 1) without attribution and 2) when her role is “to assess the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, report publicly about it, and work with governments, civil society and others to foster international cooperation” is a way of weaponizing the real fight against antisemitism to shield the Israeli government from criticism over its ongoing expansion of illegal settlements, settler violence, and apartheid carceral system that is designed to subjugate, control, and confine Palestinians under the most inhumane conditions including physical and psychological assault.
To claim that Albanese has a history of saying antisemitic comments is a serious allegation that is presented without a single attribution. Such a claim has no place in journalism. It is defamatory and a violation of basic journalistic ethics. It requires a correction. CAJ’s ethics guidelines say, “we are careful to distinguish between assertions and facts.” That standard is not met here.
Third, the article gives room for Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, to claim that Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, “seems to be funded by Arab states and acting in a way that’s extremely anti-Israel, extremely hostile” on the basis that she noted no independent investigation had found that rape occurred during the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks despite a March 2024 U.N. report claiming that there is “reasonable grounds” to believe that sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, occurred during the attacks.
This framing omits crucial information and misrepresents the findings of the conclusions of the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, regarding the allegations of sexual violence committed by Hamas on October 7.
The UN report explicitly states that it did not meet with any victim or survivor of the alleged sexual violence that occurred on October 7, specifying that “a more comprehensive assessment of the occurrence of conflict-related sexual violence in the context of the 7 October attacks would require a fully-fledged investigation by competent bodies with adequate time and capacity.”
In other words, they were not able to reach definitive conclusions but identified “reasonable grounds” to believe that Hamas may have committed the alleged assaults while recognizing the need for further investigation.
Again, to be clear, any allegation of rape or sexual violence should be treated with the utmost seriousness and assessed with credible evidence.
However; it is Israeli authorities themselves who have not publicly presented evidence of firsthand witness testimonies relating to allegations of rape by Hamas militants. Notwithstanding that in 2025, an Israeli prosecutor acknowledged that there was still no complainants in alleged cases of rape committed by Palestinians during the events of October 7, 2023.
Yet, the article fails to specify that the U.N report itself called for further investigation. Nor does it inform readers that Israeli authorities have not publicly presented evidence sufficient to substantiate many of the alleged Hamas sexual violence claims. All in all, the article is extremely one-sided and blames Alsalem for “being sympathetic to terrorists” when it is Israeli authorities themselves who have not provided witness testimonies. All of this context matters, and without it the article is misleading and inaccurate.
The National Post is subject to Canadian journalistic standards. As such, we request that the National Post revisit this article and address the outlined above; otherwise, we have no choice but to file a formal complaint with a formal accountability body.
Media Analyst
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East