The Media Accountability Project  

On June 12, 2024, the Ottawa Citizen’s Editor-in-Chief informed CJPME that it would recategorize an inflammatory article by Canada’s Former Ambassador to Israel that questioned “what is a civilian?”

CJPME had written to the paper making the request, as well as launching an alert about the same article that appeared in the National Post. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, the National Post stands by the article that promotes genocidal rhetoric.

Given that this is a piece essentially advocating against protections for civilians in Gaza, an extremist position, I would urge Ottawa Citizen to clarify this is an op-ed. If not, this article constitutes numerous grave violations of journalistic standards.

"It is ill-intentioned of Monastiriakos to blame students for breaking the law when they are asking their institutions and countries to respect the law. Maybe Monastiriakos should instead start by blaming our State."

As a news item, this statement would have to be backed by 1) data (and their source) showing the increase in antisemitic incidents, and 2) evidence that links the increase with the "anti-Israel protests". Without supplying this, and especially along with your labeling of the slogans as "problematic", this paragraph is potentially misleading and more appropriately belongs in an opinion piece.

"It is estimated that more than 25,000 women and children have been killed in Israel’s military assault on Gaza since Oct. 7. Gazans who are sheltering in Rafah have been the victims of a fatal ground and aerial military assault since Oct. 7, and to reduce the suffering they’ve experienced only to a potential ground assault in Rafah is demeaning."

Robert Walker, the author of this op-ed, is a staffperson at a pro-Israel lobby group. Authors of op-eds aren’t held to the same standards as authors of news stories, so we don’t expect the Ottawa Citizen to force Walker to “change” anything in his op-ed. However, we encourage you to send a letter to this hate-filled opinion piece about Gazan refugees in the hopes that we get a few letters published in the Ottawa Citizen

"Relegating voices that are critical of Israel or sympathetic to Palestinians to disadvantageous locations in an article– or outright excluding them– further marginalizes Palestinian narratives and upholds the status quo of oppression."

"This chant is not hate speech or a call to hate crime. Unfortunately, it has been time and time again unfairly described as such by pro-Israel organizations to prevent legitimate criticism of the State of Israel and its actions, and mentioning only this interpretation of the chant makes the article biased."

"You stated that the death toll in Gaza was “nearing 20,000,” yet the death toll on the day your article was written, January 15, had surpassed 24,000. This is a factual error that needs to be corrected."

"Of course, it is not possible to briefly summarize the destruction in Gaza. However, it is not acceptable to gloss over it, exclude death counts, and downplay the severity."