Category: Media Watch

Letters to the editor from Canada Palestine Association members addressing Palestine in the news.

Yes, we are bitter!

Statement carried in AlMayadeen English: Canadian Palestinian Association… Read more

Statement carried in AlMayadeen English: Canadian Palestinian Association condemns global complicity in Gaza | Al Mayadeen English

Recently, there has been a flood of mainstream officials finally claiming to recognize the genocide in Gaza. To Bernie Sanders, to those UN officials and other Western politicians and personalities who recently discovered their morality…we acknowledge your late support but our souls are shrieking inside us, why didn’t you speak out sooner? What motivates you now, when there’s less risk? How many of our kids have died during your silence?

Do you think we will ever forgive any of you? And even when you finally “do the right thing”, do you feel remorse for the harm you created before? We are waiting for an acknowledgement of how your prior silence gave licence to genocide.

You still tiptoe around the Palestinian right to armed resistance, as if our very survival is a minefield for you. We remember how you held us responsible to convince you that we deserved your support, even as our people were being massacred. How the onus was on Palestinians to “justify” that we were worthy to be heard and to have dignity. Even at that, our voices were consistently sidetracked for the first celebrity or progressive Jewish person that finally spoke out.

Yes, we are bitter. Bitter that you still give more credence to everyone except the actual people who have survived 77 years of dispossession and Zionist brutality.

Now you want us to applaud your Oslo 2.0, this phoney recognition of a “Zionist Palestinian state”. For months, we have been warning of the dangers of this insipid plan that aims to distract and deflect from the ongoing genocide. Western regimes want us to believe that their conditional recognition of a demilitarized and gutted “Palestinian Authority” (with no authority) somehow compensates for their complicity in the massacre of Palestinians. These governments, including the Canadian government, are recklessly endangering the strategic interests of their own countries and peoples; their support for genocide and the vicious state repression of pro-Palestine advocacy will haunt them for centuries.

We are also bitter about the Arab regimes and their empty slogans, thinking they can still deceive their own people. Egypt signs a $35 billion deal with Israel for gas, the Gulf regimes give the US billions of dollars (and a free jet), and then they all want us to believe they don’t have immediate means at their disposal to change the trajectory of this US-Israeli genocide and massacre.  

Yes, we are bitter, in ways that run deeper than you will ever understand. But our time is coming and the sun will rise over Palestine. As surely as the monstrosity of Zionism will be booted to the dustbin of history.

Why I Hate Zionism and Will Never Forgive its Disciples

On June 6, 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon and the capital city of Beirut under the guise of destroying the PLO Palestine Liberation Organization. This eventually led to the Sabra and Shatila massacre, which occurred even after PLO forces had left Beirut. Protection of Palestinian civilians had been part of the deal negotiated with the US envoy at the time, Philip Habib, but such US guarantees were not worth the paper they were written on. 

And now history repeats itself in Gaza, except with more brutality and a longer timeline. After 1982, we measured time by whether events happened before or after that Israeli invasion. Now, we measure time by the genocide in Gaza. 

The Western officials that are suddenly finding their “morality” to cover up their complicity are despicable. From the smirking Matthew Miller, who for months defended the Biden government’s actions and now claims he believes “Israel committed war crimes” to the leaders of Canada, France and the UK who promised “concrete action” and have done less than nothing, we say your words are an insult to the Palestinian people. 

Miller claims he was just a “spokesperson for the president, the administration”, similar to the “I was just following orders” excuse. And one Israeli media outlet even went so far last week as to tell us that “Most Israelis are not aware of what is going on in Gaza” due to media censorship.  And these utterings from rats fleeing a sinking ship are equally insulting to all those who have opposed the genocide, many of whom have paid a heavy price for their staunch position. 

To claim that most Israelis are not aware of the genocide in Gaza, when so much of the society is militarized and a large part of the population is involved directly in military operations through the draft and the reserves, is absurd.  

And even for those pro-Zionist figures that have genuinely changed their position after 600 plus days of genocide, we say that we appreciate your support, but we also need an acknowledgement of the harm that you did previously. Because the horror that has been inflicted on the whole Palestinian nation and its collective psyche will take generations to heal.  

This is the third article I have written under the “Why I Hate Zionism…” theme and each one comes from a place of increased bitterness and a hardened heart. We fight each day to maintain some semblance of our sanity and our humanity.  

In my second article in September 2024, I wrote that we never imagined that we would still be witnessing these daily horrors. Now, nine months later, we have nothing left to say to the world. We have used all our words, all our lived experiences, all our wisdom to try and shut down this Israeli monster that is hellbent on humiliation, destruction and death. 

And we have no illusions about who is orchestrating, financing and supporting this horror – successive US regimes, other Western governments and reactionary Arab puppets. When Arab Gulf leaders can promise four trillion dollars to Donald Trump in the blink of an eye but not feed the starving people in Gaza, and when the UAE embassy in “Israel” sends greetings to the genocider while Gaza burns, then we know where they stand. These Arab Zionists are in fact directly financing US military supplies to the Israeli state, paying for the bombs and ammunition that are destroying Palestinian and Lebanese lives and habitat. 

In 1982, Ariel Sharon was held complicit in the Sabra and Shatila massacre. However, he later was “rehabilitated” and went on to become Israeli PM in 2001. And recently many Western commentators want us to believe that what’s happening now is all the fault of Benjamin Netanyahu. He will be the “fall guy” and then we’re expected to accept that Israeli society will now return to some level of respectable behaviour. 

But not this time. Zionism has been exposed in a way that did not happen before; it has been shown as the rotten settler-colonial ideology it always was. And once it is defeated, which it will be, we will not forget nor forgive those who were more than ready to participate in oppressing the Palestinian and Arab peoples for so long. 

In December 2023, two months into the genocide, Rev. Munther Isaac said: “Your charity and your words of shock will not make a difference after all of this… we will not accept your apology after the genocide.”  

And now, those words are more than just part of an inspiring message. They are a cornerstone of our approach going forward (although most of the recent “converts” are not even apologizing!). No excuses, no explanations will ever convince us that there was any logical rationale for complicity in Zionism and its devastating impact on Palestine’s people, environment, national cohesion and dignity. 

(Third article in the “I Hate Zionism…” trilogy by Marion Kawas)
Part I: Why I hate Zionism… and so should you! | Al Mayadeen English
Part II: Why I hate Zionism and its backers more than ever! | Al Mayadeen

The Vultures of Anti-Palestinianism

The Vultures of anti-Palestinianism:
What Not to Do When the Cops Come Calling! 

The last 15 months have witnessed an inspiring increase in public support for Palestine; simultaneously, it has also been a time of ramped-up police repression especially in the imperial core. 

Let’s look at the case of Vancouver, Canada that has been a target of particular interest to the Zionist lobby, partly because of the strong presence of Samidoun. For four years, CIJA and other pro-Israel groups pushed for the banning of Samidoun based on flimsy accusations with no evidence. Samidoun has always been a political advocacy group that defended Palestinian prisoners with education and mobilization, and the Canadian government designating them as “terrorist” in October 2024 set a new and dangerous precedent. 

How did this come about, and what lessons can we learn from the Vancouver experience? How should the solidarity movement have responded to these challenges and what might be done differently in the future? 

The first indication that the groundwork was actively being laid to ban Samidoun was the arrest of Charlotte Kates, their international coordinator, on a bus in Vancouver on April 29, 2024. She was charged on suspicion of “hate crimes” and released with stringent conditions. This was all based on her public comments of “Long Live Oct. 7” during a previous rally. Although no charges have been filed after eight months and counting, this did not stop the immediate vilification of Ms. Kates by the political and institutional establishment. 

The pro-Palestine solidarity movement in Vancouver needed to respond forcefully to defend Kates, the right to protest and to free speech, and to show that such actions would be challenged. There were groups that spoke out quickly and decisively, including the BCCLA, but there were also some elements within the community and its supporters that wanted to take a “safer” approach.  

This is not a new issue in the diaspora Palestinian community (or in most immigrant communities, for that matter). Do you take the risk of standing up against the huge forces of oppression lined up against you or do you think you should try to stay quiet and perhaps protect what little you have? Security and police forces are well aware of these contradictions and are very adept at manipulating and exploiting them to advantage; and no amount of appeasement or collaboration with the police will change that agenda. 

These are not academic debates for marginalized people, but the decision by some to disassociate from Kates and Samidoun had negative repercussions. Repercussions that impacted everyone in the solidarity movement and that eventually contributed to the banning of a strictly political advocacy organization as “terrorist”. 

After Kates’ first arrest in late April 2024, Samidoun continued to organize in the Vancouver area. There was increased police harassment of other protestors, most notably on May 31 at a rail blockade, and then the high-profile smear of a protest in July of the Israeli national softball team as “anti-Semitic”. 

But it seems that the Zionist lobby, the Vancouver Police and others were not satisfied with these results…folks were still out on the streets vocally supporting Palestinian resistance and had not been cowed into disavowing Samidoun or others supporting the Palestinians’ legitimate right to resist. And we now know further plans were in the works, as evidenced by what happened on October 15 with the joint Canadian-US banning of Samidoun. 

Although comments made at an October 7 rally were used as a pretext for the “terrorist” banning, it’s difficult to believe that two governments implementing the exact same action on the same day didn’t require weeks of high-level coordination. But the stage was set, public opinion was inflamed and the deed was done. 

But even that wasn’t enough for the vultures of anti-Palestinianism, as two raids on the private residences of local activists have followed. The first one was a high-profile militarized VPD raid on Nov. 14, again on Charlotte Kates, this time at her home; and the second was another raid and arrest of other supporters. Both times, people were eventually released without charge. 

So back to the original question, what are the lessons going forward for the pro-Palestine movement. Samidoun was pivotal in holding space within the movement for radical thought and action, at least in the Lower Mainland of BC. That was their main threat to the establishment, not any calls for “violence” or any “terrorist” fundraising. As such, everything that has been done so far by the VPD has failed, because there are still groups working to hold that space open as well 

But the precedent of censoring political speech and the chill effect on the solidarity work must be recognized. People are afraid (understandably so) but has the “safer” approach still being promoted by certain elements achieved anything for the community? No, the exact opposite. In fact, this ambivalence was just what the Zionist lobby and the government were looking for, and only served to empower and embolden their repression. 

Even for those that felt they had political differences with Samidoun, once people are arrested and targeted, it is our duty to close ranks and defend them. This is the only response that can and will stem the violent repression currently underway, both in Palestine and globally. 

Slogans are not enough, we must be willing to put those words into action. The only reason the Palestinian struggle is still alive is because of the bravery of generations of its fighters during the last century. We cannot shy away now from honouring that proud legacy of Sumoud and resistance, the Palestinian people deserve our last breath of courage and strength.  We fight until victory and liberation! 

(by Marion Kawas, an activist and writer, and longtime member of Canada Palestine Association)

CBC is complicit in genocide!

CBC’s outgoing ombudsman, Jack Nagler, recently released a review entitled “A Divisive Phrase”. This review came about due to complaints over CBC’s repeated use of the term “Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.”   

His conclusion was similar to what we have seen before from his office. Yes, useage of the phrase in the incident cited was probably unnecessary but it “in no way violates CBC’s journalistic standards.” (More on those “standards” later) 

This was the same approach Nagler used with our complaint back in 2021, when we challenged the on-air apology about the use of “Palestine” during an interview. This was when CBC’s infamous language guide received international exposure for its pro-Israel bias, a guide that states: So do not refer to Palestine or show a map with Palestine as a country. Use the term “pro-Palestinian” instead of “pro-Palestine” when referring in generic ways to Palestinian supporters. 

This new review covers a complaint that is now almost one year old, going back to Jan. 11, 2024. As such, it gives us a unique opportunity to see how CBC’s framing of the health situation in Gaza helped lay the groundwork for Israel’s horrific destruction of Gaza’s entire medical infrastructure and the arrest and torture of doctors and other medical staff. 

The repetition of such terminology has consequences and as the original complainants noted: “the addition of the “Hamas-led” qualifier is inherently pejorative in intent. It is also preposterous for reasons we have stated, showing direct bias against the integrity of the Gazan health authority. The “Hamas-run health ministry” is synonymous with ‘terrorist health ministry’.” 

This imaging, this dehumanization of all Palestinians in Gaza as terrorists (even kids) is the foundation for what we have seen recently and are still witnessing at hospitals across Gaza…Kamal Adwan hospital, Indonesian hospital, AlAhli hospital and the list goes on. The cornerstone was laid for Western public opinion to accept these atrocities, although the response in recent days to the arrests and disappearance of Kamal Adwan’s staff and director has defied this racist narrative. 

The CBC ombudsman concludes his rambling review with the following: 

The point for consideration, then, is volume and frequency. I note that the phrase “Hamas-run” is used much less often in CBC’s reporting these days. I would encourage programmers to use it as sparingly as possible, and only when relevant to the story at hand.   

But no, this is too little, too late. The damage has been done and the outcome is there for all to see. Gaza’s health care system will take generations to recover and that was really the Israeli objective from the beginning. An objective that CBC obligingly aided and is now still defending. 

Which brings us back to CBC and its touted “journalistic standards”. 

Don’t tell us your seasoned journalists and editors don’t understand the power of language and the role of media in perpetuating a specific narrative. Don’t expect us to believe that you don’t comprehend how the words you use will help facilitate a certain outcome…outcome of genocide, an outcome of the obliteration of Palestinian society in Gaza. 

Your senior executives can repeat endlessly that they “reject the idea that CBC News is somehow…’cheerleading a Genocide’.” We know that CBC is complicit in genocide, and history has now proven that this is true beyond any doubt. These are your only journalistic standards, whether by intent or cowardice.