The Media Accountability Project  

The letter makes a false charge that Palestinian activists and slogans, including the BDS movement, are “Islamist.” However, most Palestinian movements (including BDS) are secular and encompass both Muslim and Christian Palestinians. My concern here, however, is not only that it is a false claim, but that it has overtly Islamophobic overtones. The author is using the term “Islamist” solely to try to paint Jama and the Palestinian solidarity movement in a negative light, perpetuating anti-Islam and anti-Palestinian sentiment.

You do a fantastic job at reporting on the university’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and their events for Palestinian Awareness Week. You also provide context on the right of return for Palestinian refugees, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the illegal settlements displacing Palestinians till today. I commend you for including comments by the president of SJP in discussing the importance of Palestinian Awareness Week for Palestinian students and their allies at the University of Manitoba.

"There have been different interpretations of Jama’s comments with many groups, including Jewish ones, contesting her comments as being antisemitic. However, you assert this in your headline as fact whereas it is way more accurate to describe it as an 'antisemitic controversy' for sparking debate. As such, I insist that you change the headline from 'antisemitic comments' to 'antisemitic controversy' to better reflect the fact that this is a news article."

In the first two weeks of March 2023, there was a series of articles in media outlets reporting on unfair accusations against Sarah Jama, the Ontario NDP candidate in the Hamilton Centre byelection, related to her advocacy for Palestinian human rights. Jama is a well-respected disability rights activist with a long history of speaking out for Palestinians.

In total, CJPME responded to 7 such articles and news broadcasts, including in the Toronto Sun, Toronto Star, and National Post. CJPME took issue with how they had helped to fuel the smear campaign against Jama by relying on highly contestable claims made by the pro-Israel group B’nai Brith Canada, thereby presenting activists in a one-sided and negative light. None of them provided a perspective from the Palestine solidarity movement itself nor mentioned the many civil society groups who support Jama’s activism.

As a result of our persistent advocacy, CJPME’s perspective on Jama’s Palestine activism and the smear campaign against her was incorporated into media coverage on the subject, including articles in the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star, and syndicated elsewhere. The Toronto Star's coverage was also updated to include a Palestinian perspective on the meaning of a popular chant. CJPME also had a statement featured on multiple CP24 news broadcasts aired on March 16 and 17. This helped restore some balance to the otherwise skewed reporting. Jama was elected MPP on March 16. Click here to read all of our letters on this subject.

Like many, we were horrified by the unfair attacks on #hamont MPP @SarahJama_ due her courageous support for Palestinian human rights, but encouraged to see voters reject this smear. Thanks to @CP24 for including our perspective in coverage of last night’s election result. pic.twitter.com/ATE5MYlNnV

— Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (@CJPME) March 17, 2023

"Cohn claims that the phrase, 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free' is controversial 'because it speaks for liberation from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea – with no Israel to speak of.' The reality, however, is that Israel is the occupying power, ‘from the river to the sea.’"

Unfortunately, your article fails to provide a response to these claims from Palestinians and their allies. Given that you have reported on B’nai Brith’s claims, which depict the Palestinian movement in a negative light, it seems appropriate and necessary to include a response from those who are being targeted. It is not only Jama who is affected by these false and unfair claims which conflate human rights activism with antisemitism.

"You have also failed to provide any balancing perspective on whether Sarah Jama’s comments are antisemitic and have therefore failed in your journalistic mandate to provide diversity in your news reporting.  By comparison, the Globe and Mail, in an article about Jama and her comments published March 14, cited Independent Jewish Voices which supports Jama, as well as Michael Bueckert of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, who describes the ruckus as a “smear campaign.”" 

On March 12, the Toronto Star published an article by journalist Rob Ferguson about Ontario NDP candidate Sarah Jama, which had falsely conflated Jama’s support for Palestinian human rights with antisemitism. Unfortunately, the article had uncritically repeated a smear campaign by pro-Israel advocacy group B’nai Brith. In part, the article claimed that Jama had previously been affiliated with a group which “has called for a Palestinian state ‘from the (Jordan) river to the sea’ — often interpreted as erasing the state of Israel.” Based on this one-sided interpretation, it was assumed therefore that the chant was antisemitic.

In describing a common Palestinian chant, the Star, therefore, had provided only a hostile interpretation which painted it in a negative light, without asking Palestinians themselves what it meant. CJPME promptly wrote to the Star about this gross misinterpretation, which we noted is a simple and legitimate call for freedom for all Palestinians under Israeli rule. CJPME insisted that the Star update its article to “include a Palestinian perspective regarding the meaning of this legitimate chant, instead of relying on interpretations sourced entirely by perspectives which are hostile to Palestinian narratives and activism.”

Late on March 13, the article was updated to describe the chant more accurately as “a contested refrain interpreted by some as a rallying cry for Palestinian freedom, but by others as a call to erase the state of Israel.” An Editor’s Note was appended to the bottom of the article to read: “This story has been updated to provide more context regarding the phrase ‘from the (Jordan) river to the sea.’” However, the article did not incorporate additional Palestinian perspectives or change the misleading headline, as had been requested.