The Media Accountability Project  

"I applaud students today who are engaging in contemporary issues, protesting atrocities even worse in some ways than what concerned us. I don not recall any state violence where 135 children a day are being killed by the aggressor as is the case with Israel’s bombardment of Gaza."

"Since your article is about a hate crime, a 63-year-old man ripping a Palestinian flag off a vehicle and leaving an offensive note in Pickering, it would be more precise to include a reference to “anti-Palestinian racism.” 

"Your use of the terms “Arab” and “Arab-Israeli,” instead of “Palestinian citizens of Israel” is puzzling. You mention throughout your reporting that these “Arabs” are descendants of Palestinians and self-identify as Palestinian citizens of Israel. Why then do you choose to dilute their identity by constantly referring to them as Arabs?"

I find it alarming that China’s efforts, in the context of Palestine’s international relations, would be framed around promoting “authoritarian government.” The paragraph paints a portrait of a clash of civilians between an ‘authoritarian’ boogey-man and the “Western-led democratic world order.” 

On May 25, 2023, the Toronto Star published an article on a forthcoming visit to Canada by Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli. The article touched on Chikli’s far-right positions and associations but did not include any context about his racist and dangerous views against Palestinians. Chikli has called for the elimination of the Palestinian national identity, called Palestinian society “barbaric,” repeatedly compared Palestinians to Nazis, and says that annexing the occupied West Bank is “excellent." CJPME wrote to the Toronto Star on May 26 to request the inclusion of this information, noting that "Chikli and his far-right government present serious harms to many different groups of people, and Palestinians cannot be left out of this conversation.”

Following CJPME’s complaint, the article was updated later that day to note that “Chikli has also been called out by his critics for making anti-Palestinian remarks.” An editor’s note was added to say that “This story has been updated to provide more background on Amichai Chikli.”

CJPME had also taken issue with the Toronto Star’s description of Jerusalem Day, which was only described from Israel’s perspective as the “unification” of Jerusalem. CJPME requested an update to note that “unification” refers to the occupation and illegal annexation of East Jerusalem, but this change has not yet been made.

"Benlolo points to opinion polls which show that Palestinians have lost hope in a political outcome and are turning to armed struggle as a last resort. However, he ignores the many troubling polls which show that Jewish Israelis do not support democracy or equality."

"While Cohen argues that the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) is not representative of Canadian Jews, his decision to exclude mention of Independent Jewish Voices reflects his own myopia around Canadian Jews of different backgrounds, occupations and affiliations, especially those who are committed to social justice and human rights."

Zivo claims that “Israel is a bastion of LGBTQ acceptance in a region that otherwise beats, executes and imprisons queer people.” It is quite ironic that Zivo’s concerns for LGBTQ rights do not extend to queer Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, who are denied their most basic, fundamental human rights. Zivo’s portrayal of Israel as an almost-perfect liberal democracy completely ignores and erases the 6.8 million Palestinians living under Israeli rule against their will.

On March 20, 2023, the Hill Times published a letter to the editor by CJPME’s Jason Toney about the need for Canadian politicians to stop meeting with far-right Israeli figures, and for this issue to be included in broader coverage of far-right extremism.

Here is an excerpt of the edited letter:

Who politicians meet with matters. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that far-right politics are gaining a foothold in Canada. While this article mentions a recent meeting between Conservative MPs and far-right Israeli real estate developer Chaim Silverstein, this only scratches the surface of connections between Canadian officials and Israeli extremists.

In February, Trade Minister Mary Ng met with Ofir Akunis, a minister in the most far-right government in Israel’s history, and an anti-Palestinian extremist who advocates for annexing the occupied West Bank.

More recently, Senate Speaker George Furey and Senators Don Plett and Patti Laboucane-Benson met with members of Israel’s far-right government on a trip to Israel. Of particular concern was Furey’s meeting with Knesset Speaker MK Amir Ohana (Likud), who is on record as saying that Muslims have a “murderous culture” and that Palestinians are merely “guests” in their country.

Let’s face it: politicians need to be more discerning about with whom they rub shoulders. Far-right Israeli extremism is dangerous as it has a real-world impact on the lives and safety of Palestinians under Israel’s regime of oppression, which human rights groups describe as apartheid. Canadian officials must stop giving them a pass.

On March 3, 2023, the National Post published an opinion piece by Avi Benlolo tited, “The West keeps subsidizing the Palestinian Authority's death culture.” CJPME identified several issues in the article which crossed the line and amounted to falsehoods and racist tropes, rather than legitimate differences of political opinion.

On March 9, 2023, the article was amended to correct a quote from a video posted to a Facebook page affiliated with the Fatah movement, which had been directly and falsely attributed to Mahmoud Abbas.

Unfortunately, other issues remain uncorrected, including the fraudulent use of the term “terrorism” in a way which includes all acts of resistance by Palestinians (and not only acts of violence against civilians), and the use of a dehumanizing and generalizing trope that Palestinians possess a “death culture.”