The Media Accountability Project  

On January 13, 2026, CJPME launched a media alert to the National Post challenging Barbara Kay’s column, “If the state and police won’t protect Jews, who will?”, which praised the Canadian branch of the Jewish Defence League (JDL) as non-violent. 

CJPME highlighted that the JDL is a far-right organization founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane, shares ideological roots with the terrorist group Kahane Chai (Kach), and has coordinated with the U.S. branch of the JDL, which is considered a terrorist organization by the FBI. 

The Canadian branch also has a documented history of assaults, intimidation of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, and affiliations with far-right extremist networks. CJPME called on the Post to provide accurate context and avoid normalizing a vigilante group with a history of violence.

In response, the National Post updated the column to include a reference to a 2017 assault arrest by a JDL Canada member. However, rather than make a clear and obvious correction, the National Post merely added the word “mostly” in front of “squeaky clean” in reference to the illegal actions by the JDL. The edit falls far short of the corrections these falsehoods merited.

The update also admits that the claims of non-violence come from a phone interview with Meir Weinstein, rather than being statements of fact.

Meir Weinstein was one of the co-founders of the Canadian branch of the JDL. Weinstein openly identifies as a “loyal disciple” of Kahane and regularly discusses his admiration for him. 

In January 2026, Meir Weinstein was arrested and charged with assault at a demonstration outside the Prosserman Jewish Community Centre (JCC) in the Bathurst and Sheppard area of Toronto. It is alleged that Mr. Weinstein approached a protester who was objecting to Israeli comedian Guy Hochman’s appearance at the venue. Weinstein pushed the protester, causing him to fall to the ground.

Original:

In 2015, when BDS activism was already aggressive, the Toronto-based Jewish Defence League of Canada (JDL) — defunct since 2021 — wanted to open a Montreal branch. JDL Canada never carried any weapons. They did not mask. They wore self-identifying vests. They never initiated any physical confrontation(...)

Legally, they were squeaky clean, but were perceived as tainted through name association with the American JDL, which wasn’t.

Revision:

In 2015, when BDS activism was already aggressive, the Toronto-based Jewish Defence League of Canada (JDL) — defunct since 2021 — wanted to open a Montreal branch. JDL Canada never carried any weapons. According to Meir Weinstein, former head of JDL Canada, whom I interviewed by telephone, his team never carried any weapons, and it was not their policy to mask. They wore self-identifying vests. Weinstein also told me they did not initiate physical confrontation (...)

Legally, they were mostly squeaky clean (a JDL member was arrested for assault in 2017), but were perceived as tainted through name association with the American JDL, which wasn’t.

Editor’s note: This column has been updated to include reference to a JDL member who was arrested for assault in 2017.

In this partial-correction, the National Post acknowledged the need for greater transparency regarding the activities of extremist groups in opinion coverage. 

Although a full-correction is overdue, the outcome of this update demonstrates the effectiveness of CJPME’s media advocacy in holding mainstream Canadian media accountable for misrepresenting far-right organizations.

CJPME will continue to monitor Postmedia’s attempts at platforming far-right zionist groups to counter their normalization of extremist organizations in mainstream Canadian media.

"This National Post column by Barbara Kay calls for the normalization of the Jewish Defence League (JDL), a far-right vigilante group that is considered a terrorist organization by the FBI in the United States."

By ignoring these statistics and providing estimates from an unnamed “local health official” far below the data attributed to the local government, you are downplaying the severity of Israel’s near daily violations and perpetuating the U.S.-Israeli narrative that this is an actual ceasefire.

If the Financial Post purports to be a serious media outlet, then it should immediately withdraw this shameless, paint-by-numbers recitation of the canon of fact-free hasbara repeated by propagandists for almost 80 years. Any media outlet worthy of the name must have a non-negotiable policy of printing only the truth. It should also give voice to Palestinians, who have endured unimaginable suffering for generations, so as to give Western audiences a dose of reality that they so desperately need.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a historic ruling on July 19, 2024 that found multiple and serious international law violations by Israel towards Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including, for the first time, finding Israel responsible for apartheid. 

Treating the results as directly comparable is a polemic tactic designed to create a damaging narrative of guilt-by-association, which the Israeli government and its allies in the media have been using as an excuse to indiscriminately killing civilians en masse for almost two years.

"Stoking Islamophobia in Canada, especially in this volatile moment, is not only irresponsible, it is dangerous. Islamophobia and antisemitism are both forms of hate and must be opposed with equal resolve."

"In the name of fair and accurate journalism, I believe this context should have been included in the article, as it’s crucial for readers to understand what truly happened on October 7, including the fact that Israel’s own military directives led to the deaths of its own civilians."

"As an occupying power, Israel is bound by the Fourth Geneva Convention, which mandates the provision of essential supplies to the civilian population under occupation. The deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid, leading to widespread deprivation, has been characterized by the United Nations, mainstream media and human rights organizations as a war crime, specifically the use of starvation as a method of warfare."