The Media Accountability Project  

On May 14, 2025, the Hamilton Spectator published a letter to the editor by CJPME Media Analyst Anthony Issa in response to Gwynne Dyer’s column, “India and Israel are on parallel tracks.” While Dyer’s article introduced important comparisons between Kashmir and Palestine, CJPME’s letter expanded the conversation by challenging oversimplified portrayals of resistance and emphasizing the structural violence and settler-colonialism underlying both conflicts.

The letter drew attention to the risks of describing groups like Hamas or Kashmiri militants as having “triggered” war, without naming the long-standing conditions of occupation, apartheid, and denial of political autonomy that give rise to resistance. It also urged Canadian media to move beyond surface-level analysis and center the voices of those directly affected.

CJPME applauds the Hamilton Spectator for publishing the letter and will continue pushing for Palestinian perspectives in Canadian media coverage.

Click here to access the letter on our website.

While Dyer rightly notes the strategic logic of asymmetric warfare, framing groups like Hamas or Kashmiri militants as having “triggered” war risks obscuring the long-standing conditions of structural violence (mass surveillance, apartheid, crushing of political autonomy) that shape their right to resist.

Vote Palestine made waves in Canadian media as a political force that can no longer be ignored.

On May 9^th, 2025, CJPME Media Analyst Anthony Issa published a hard-hitting letter in the Hamilton Spectator, countering a hostile op-ed by Howard Eisenberg titled, “Canadians reject fringe anti-Israel agenda at the ballot box,” smearing the Vote Palestine campaign as fringe. Eisenberg’s piece was one of many recent media attacks by pro-Israel lobbyists and conservative pundits trying to bury Vote Palestine's momentum.

However, Issa’s response made it clear that Palestinian human rights is a growing movement within Canada. Over 20,000 Canadians pledged support. Hundreds of candidates endorsed the platform. Twenty-five MPs were elected on those commitments, including 10 per cent of the Liberal caucus. This is withing in a minority government Parliament where smaller parties now hold real influence.

Despite this organized backlash by pro-Israel propagandists, Vote Palestine was mentioned more than 100 times in Canadian media over the last 30 days, reaching a potential audience of over 150 million. The campaign is in the national spotlight, and our opponents are scrambling to respond.

As Mr. Issa rightly points out, “the louder you shout, the louder our calls against Israel’s genocide in Gaza become. Now from the streets and Parliament Hill.”

This is what mainstream impact looks like. And this is just the beginning.

"Although much of the coverage was hostile, including from the Toronto Sun, and the National Post, we are fringe no more. And the louder you shout, the louder our calls against Israel's genocide in Gaza become. Now from the streets and Parliament Hill."

While I don’t excuse acts of vandalism nor do I want to assume that pro-Palestinian activists were involved, your story excludes Palestinian perspectives and fundamentally misleads readers about the nature of student activism. There is a clear form of suppression of dissent on campus and this omission reflects exclusion of Palestinian narratives and a prejudicial placement of viewpoints.

On March 28, 2025, CJPME volunteer Debbie Hubbard published a letter to the editor in the Hamilton Spectator in response to a March 25 op-ed, “The politics of disappearance: A warning for Canadians,” by Henry Giroux. Writing in support of the piece, she argued that it is critical for Canadians to take seriously the threats facing Palestine supporters in the US. With fascism and illiberalism on the rise, we too may face increasing degrees of criminalizing Palestine solidarity activism.

The letter reads:

The first thought that came to mind when reading Henry Giroux’s opinion piece was Pastor Martin Miemoller’s poem that ends with “… then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

Dissenting voices like Mahmoud Khalil, who refuse to remain silent about the slaughter and oppression of innocent civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, are sorely needed. Challenging the status quo and resisting should not be censored or punished.

This is truly a watershed and critical moment for Canadians. We are in the midst of a federal election. We must recognize and actively oppose right-wing rhetoric and ideology.

We need to discern which political party will address the social injustices and marginalizations that have been part of our colonial history and continue in the present. Which party will guarantee the right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest that are enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom? Then we need to vote with our feet and show up to cast our vote by April 28.

CJPME appreciates the remarkable contributions of our volunteers, who deeply enhance the value of this project.

"We need to discern which political party will address the social injustices and marginalizations that have been part of our colonial history and continue in the present. Which party will guarantee the right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest that are enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom? Then we need to vote with our feet and show up to cast our vote by April 28."

CJPME’s advocacy efforts resulted in the publication of Media Analyst Anthony Issa’s letter to the editor in The Hamilton Spectator, addressing Elle Canada’s decision to remove MPP Sarah Jama from its list of trailblazing women due to her pro-Palestinian stance. 

Issa’s letter condemned the removal as an act of censorship and anti-Palestinian racism, drawing on the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association’s definition, which highlights the exclusion of Palestinian voices as a form of erasure.

The letter called for Elle Canada to reinstate Jama’s recognition and issue a public apology, warning that their actions set a dangerous precedent for Canadian media by disqualifying women who support Palestinian rights. Issa emphasized that this undermines journalistic integrity, especially at a time when Palestinians in Gaza are facing genocide.

This publication serves as a significant step in CJPME's ongoing campaign to push for accountability in Canadian media and to ensure that voices advocating for Palestinian rights are not silenced.

"This information hopefully makes clear why the presence of these groups serves not to bring safety to Jewish people but to intimidate and threaten advocates for Palestinian human rights. They should be identified instead as extremist vigilante organizations with far-right, anti-Palestinian ideologies."

As journalists, we should be ashamed. Scrubbing an article because of Ms. Jama’s pro-Palestine stance because of backlash is the equivalent of unpublishing and censoring a story. This is a serious violation of journalistic standards and also an act of anti-Palestinian erasure. Excluding Palestinian perspectives and those of their allies is an explicit form of anti-Palestinian racism, according to the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association.